The Open final wrap-up: Thoughts ahead of Thursday’s first round
Quotes, stats and social from Royal St George’s before the 149th Open Championship starts.
Best bet
Shane Lowry won't have minded too much - he held on to the Claret Jug for an extra 12 months and he gets to defend his trophy in front of 32,000 spectators instead of what would probably have been none had the championship taken place last summer (or autumn).
Closest to the hole wins? I think the defending champ @ShaneLowryGolf may have won the bet.. 😂💪 pic.twitter.com/QKsYpHbgOy
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2021
Louis Oosthuizen on the reasons for his good form
"A big thing was also sticking to the same putter, the same look, the same feel, and trying to get some kind of a relationship going with my putter. I think the biggest change was consistency in doing the same thing every time, trying to get a really good routine going, and when I do practice work at home and when I do it at a tournament, trying to do the same thing all the time. Just putting the time in. My coach, my swing coach, Justin Parsons, helped me with finding the right routine and doing things every time the same way, and I just think that got my consistency so much better."
.@Louis57TM 2021 Major form⛳️
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2021
The Masters - T-26th
PGA Championship - T-2nd
US Open - 2nd#TheOpen 🏆? pic.twitter.com/OSR6lo3uv6
Darren Clarke on how to win on the course
"This week there's going to be a premium on keeping it on the fairways, as you can see out there. That long stuff is really long and thick this week. My ball-striking was really, really good here. I spent a bit of time with Dr. Bob Rotella on the putting green on the Wednesday prior to the tournament and he cleared my head, because if things aren't quite going well I tend to go back into technique, and that's not always the solution to scoring. Dr. Bob cleared my head a little bit, and I found a little bit of rhythm and a little bit of feel with my putting stroke, and all of a sudden it became a much easier game again. You know, that week, my whole attitude that week changed when I thought I could hole a couple of putts."
The stats
Only four men ranks top 50 for all three categories on the PGA Tour this season: Abraham Ancer, Russell Henley, Brian Harman and Ian Poulter.
Socially-distanced selfie game 🔝 #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/hOrBJAVWah
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2021