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Hacksaw/s Thursday Podcast-1pm
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“THE OPEN–NOT AN EASY DAY”
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They have teed off, in the middle of the night on the West Coast back here.
It was early morning back there, in Troon, on the West Coast of Scotland.

The 152nd British Open Golf tourney, the ‘Open’ as they call it over there.

And over there is absolutely a nightmare, that can ruin a good day’s walk, the title of a book by John Feinstien, about golf.

158-golfers are going after 17M-in purse money, an all time record.  The winner gets an Open record of 3.1M too.

The golfers at this hour are getting a dose of late summer weather in Scotland.  Cloudy, cool, might be rain, will be wind, and definitely there will be high scores.

What a field, a who’s-who of winners from the PGA Tour, from the enemy LIV, and from the European tour.

Scottie Scheffler, carries with him 6-wins this season and a lifetime record of 27M in earnings this year alone.  He has owned the PGA tour this year.

Bryson DeChambeau, coming off an emotional US Open win, represents the best that went abroad, taking all that LIV money from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.  He has reinvented his game, and looks as if he is about to become the ‘Fan’s Man’.

The home country favorite is Rory McIlroy, the Scottish star, but it’s been 10-years since he won a Grand Slam event.  He’s had 2nd place and 3rd place finishes and heart breaking losses.

Tiger Woods is back, but he is a shadow of his legendary career, and so much  is being written and said about what he has become.  5-surgeries on his back and legs have robbed him of his power, and the wear and tear means you never know whether his back or his legs will betray him sometime during the round, any round.  With 15-Grand Slams to his credit, Tiger has not broken par since 2021 in a major.  He will play, whether he can walk 18 without limping is to be seen.  Whether he makes the cut is truly a storyline.

The course at Troon is so different that historic St Andrew’s or any of the other courses that rotate as hosts thru the British Isles.

And then you must consider this course.  There is the 123-yard Postage Hole, good luck getting it onto the green.  There is the Railway hole, with the tracks running alongside the fairway.  There is the monster 623-yard hole, that could be worse if the wind is blowing the wrong way

And then there is the terrain.  The sand dunes and the swales;  the British brush; the gross Gose just off the fairways; thistles, dead grass, flowers and more.  And there is the weather that blows any which way off the Irish Sea.

Sir Tom Moore invented the Open concept back in the late 1800s.

It is almost a religious experience to play in it now.  It is such a rush to watch it back here in the states.  We love Augusta and the Masters, but this is all that, with the elements added in.

The Open, as good as it gets, but not easy to survive, and it’s underway now.

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