There were a few hard holes on Royal Liverpool, but not enough. Rory McIlroy got the job done and played well with exceptional ball striking and precision putting to shoot -17 and capture the 143rd Open by two shots over Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia. But I don’t know why this course is on the Open rotation. It’s too easy. McIlroy needed just a bogey to win the championship, and faced the 18th, a par five, 557 yards of just a straight forward, pretty wide open golf hole. A 10 handicapper or better has a good chance at birdieing this easy hole.
Rory needed a routine par or even a bogey to win, which he got with a par, and captured the third major of his career. He also won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside D.C., and the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina on the Ocean Course. The 25-year old Northern Ireland native has certainly put himself in elite company with three major championships, but he shot 71 yesterday (-1), and didn’t dominate the field. He did what he had to do, I guess, but he wasn’t tested at the end because the course was too easy. Garcia (66) and Fowler (67) made a pretty good run at him, both tying for second at -15. It’s a major, so it’s the ultimate trophy in golf, but it seemed too easy of a course to me to host a major championship.
Rory said to the Liverpool crowd afterwards in the trophy presentation ceremony that he is a “Man United” guy in soccer. The crowd went ballistic. He was referring to the Manchester United soccer club that is the chief rival with Liverpool soccer club. That’s like going to Auburn or Alabama, winning a golf tournament, and saying you pull for the other team in football. Those Brits are fanatical about their soccer, just like we are in this state about our football. That was pretty stupid really. Rory, to me, still has a lot of growing up to do. He can win more majors, no doubt. His game, when he’s on, is spectacular. But we’ll see. The PGA Championship is August 7th-10th at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. Should be fun. Tiger Woods beat Bob May in a playoff there in 2001 in an all time good major championship. In the meantime, the RBC Canadian is this weekend with a solid field, and then the World Golf Championships- Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC, a tournament Tiger Woods has won eight times, is July 31st-Aug.3.
Which brings me to the next question? Should Tom Watson pick Tiger Woods for the U.S. Ryder Cup team? The Ryder Cup will be played at Gleneagles Golf Club in Perthshire, Scotland, Sept. 25-28th. Right now, I’d say no. He’s 70th in the Ryder Cup standings, he’s 214th in the Fed Ex Cup standings and his record in the Ryder Cup is 15 or 16 wins vs 17 losses. He might have tied a couple, but his record is under .500. Watson is in a holding pattern right now. The keys are the Bridgestone and then the PGA . If Woods wins for the ninth time at Firestone, he earns his spot in my opinion. His career has certainly merited it.
He hasn’t played much at all this season because of a back injury, so let’s see what he does in two weeks. If he doesn’t make that cut or doesn’t do very well, he’s still on the outside looking in going into the PGA. So if I am Watson, I just say let’s see how these next two tournaments go and not commit either way. There are guys ahead of Tiger in the Ryder Cup Standings who are young and hungry. Patrick Reed, a three-time winner on the tour this year, is at number 10. Phil is at 11. Guys like Ryan Moore, Brendon Todd, Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley, Harris English and Kevin Na are all in the top 20 in the standings. These are all guys who have been in the hunt in tournaments throughout the year and twoof them have won (Todd and English) and would be honored to be a member of the 12 man team. They would also be hungry. We need hungry guys playing for the U.S. team. That’s what we did in 2008 when we had guys like J.B. Holmes, Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan, who were bulldogs and we won that year.
Getting selected to the Ryder Cup is not a right, it’s a privilege. So just because Tiger Woods has been an elite player in the past, does not guarantee him a spot this year. A lot of that has to do with his back injury, but that’s the way it shakes out right now. Watson has nine automatic guys who qualify and three captain’s picks. Guys like Bubba, Jimmy Walker, Fowler, Kuuuch, Jordan Spieth, Duf and Zach Johnson are in the top nine. I like those guys. Looks like a pretty hungry group. It could change. I like what Bill Parcells once said, “The numbers don’t lie.” The record is who you are, and right now Tiger Woods’ record does not enable him to be on the team. But Watson has the luxury of watching the Bridgestone and the PGA before making his final decision on Tiger. If Woods does not do well in either, he will not qualify for the Fed Ex playoffs and really that should count him out, unless he played in Europe or on the Web.com tour and did well there. If he did well enough to qualify for the playoffs he would have a couple of more opportunities to be selected. Watson makes his choices in September during the Fed Ex playoffs.
But Woods can do well at both tourneys. If he wins the Bridgestone, he’s right there. If he doesn’t fare well, he’s out at that point. He’ll get another shot at the PGA the next week. He does have two weeks to practice and get ready for two venues he’s had a lot of success at, particularly the Bridgestone. Should be interesting to follow.
Who will be the favorites at the final major? I still like Jordan Spieth. He should be in the hunt and the soon to be 21 year old (July 27th) could break through this time. Tiger, Phil, Rory, Adam Scott, Fowler, Sergio, Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer are definitely in the discussion. I want to see how the Bridgestone goes before making a final call.