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Round one of The 152nd Open was nothing if not eventful.
From Daniel Brown’s twilight salvo to snatch the early advantage to Rory McIlroy’s shocking struggle, the first day at Royal Troon delivered talking points aplenty.
However, one thing above all else dominated the conversation almost from start to finish – and the likelihood is it will do so again on day two and potentially beyond.
No, it’s not Bryson DeChambeau inventing a brand-new word (“incalculatable”, seeing as you asked), nor is it speculation over how much longer Tiger Woods will continue to put himself through the misery of missing major cuts.
Instead, it’s do with the television coverage.
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Specifically, the confusing colour scheme adopted for the on-screen leaderboards.
Allow us to explain.
Ordinarily, an eagle is displayed with a yellow background, a birdie with red, and bogeys with a light blue. Pars don’t typically have a colour assigned to them.
Whoever is in charge of such things for The Open evidently didn’t get that memo, applying a blue background for a par and a black one for a bogey.
Cue mass confusion and the first big social media pile-on of the week.
Former Ryder Cup star Ross Fisher was amongst those bemused by the change, tweeting: “Great watching coverage of @TheOpen. Only criticism is the scorecards! Maybe it’s me but I’m struggling with the colour of blue for pars. Why? Birdies red, pars grey, bogeys and worse blue.”
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Veteran Sky Sports Golf commentator Ewen Murray agreed, replying: “I’m with you on that Ross.”
Many other users also chimed in.
Don Mooney (@Don_Mooney ) branded the change “unnecessary and confusing”.
“This colour coding on the scorecards is horrific,” added Eoin Hogan (@EoinHogan6). “Whoever thought of this idea needs a slap.”
Dan Helson (@HelFisher23) called the change “psychotic”, whilst ‘snookeroland’ (@Rolmeister147) said it was “too hard to glance and know what’s going on”.
The consensus? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
ALL ABOUT THE OPEN
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