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Can you believe we’re already onto the 152nd edition of The Open? It feels like just yesterday we were watching Willie Park Sr see off Old Tom Morris at Prestwick.
And while it feels like we say this every year – it really is shaping up to be the best ever.
Golf, sadly, is still at war. Ahead of the 151st Open at Hoylake, I wrote about how it’s hard to get your head around exactly how much has happened at the top level of our sport in the previous 12 months, while bemoaning the fact that everything was still up in the air when it came to any kind of resolution between the powers that be across the various tours. It’s tough to comprehend that, a year on, it’s more complicated than ever.
That, in a perverse way, makes the majors just that little bit special. They are the four tournaments of the year where men’s golf reunites for a few days as the very best of the best compete to win one of the most important prizes on offer.
And it doesn’t get much more special than The Open. For four days in July, we have the opportunity to forget about everything else going on in our lives and appreciate something really quite special.
Golf’s oldest major. The original. The one, the big names frequently tell us, they want to win more than any other.
But it’s not just about the players. Every golf fan has their own personal relationship with the championship.
Forgive me while I take a brief trip down Memory Lane via Schmaltzy Avenue, but I can’t even see a picture of the Claret Jug without being whisked away to a nostalgic dreamland.

I’ve been fortunate enough to cover this championship for many years, but when I think about my fondest memories, I’m not necessarily back on the first tee at St Andrews witnessing Tiger Woods split the most famous fairway in golf, or at Royal Birkdale watching on in utter bemusement as Jordan Spieth works out how he can still snatch victory from the driving range. Nor am I nestled by the 18th at Hoylake as Rory McIlroy finally hoists the Claret Jug into the Merseyside sky to the tune of thunderous roars echoing around the breathtaking amphitheatre that surrounds each finishing hole at this championship.
No. I’m teleported back to my childhood. I’m glued to every hour of the BBC’s glorious wall-to-wall coverage on the tiny TV screen in a quiet corner of the village pub in which I grew up. Or I’m on my grandad’s knee screeching at Nick Faldo’s ball to fall in the hole as grandma scolds us for startling the dozing dog.
It’s the tournament that, for at least one week of the year, brought my dysfunctional-but-happy family together as one.
It doesn’t take a spectacular amount to reduce me to a blubbing mess when it comes to sport. The Open is responsible for a rather unhealthy amount of that.
Why am I telling you this? Because I know you can all relate. You will all have your own version of the above. You will all have that pang when the calendar ticks over into July and you start to smell links season in the air.
It’s why The Open is, quite simply, the Greatest Show on Earth.
Good morning from Royal Troon!
It’s Monday morning of Open week and as you know that means we are legally required to post photos from the 1st and 18th grandstands 👋🏼 pic.twitter.com/kGBMhhK0qj
— Alex Perry (@byAlexPerry) July 15, 2024
No show Bob?
Robert MacIntyre provided the second biggest sporting result for Scotland on Sunday when he rolled home a 20-footer on the last at Renaissance to win his home Open.
His celebrations were a joy to see, and his post-round interview wasn’t far off it…
"I'm going to celebrate this one hard and we'll pitch up to The Open when we pitch up to The Open."
Bob genuinely might not make it to Royal Troon. https://t.co/bnZ7XnEzzD
— Alex Perry (@byAlexPerry) July 14, 2024
Well, he’s not making it for Monday, that’s for sure…
Bob Mac was due to do a pre-Open presser at 3pm today.
That has been pished back to midday Wednesday.
Pushed! I mean, pushed!
— Michael McEwan (@MMcEwanGolf) July 15, 2024
One of us, and yet according to the updated world rankings, there are only 15 people on the entire planet better at golf than the Scot.
Draught excluded
It will never not amuse me that people find the beer prices at golf tournaments so interesting, but at The Open there’s an added twist…
It’s the news you’ve all been waiting for…
The cost of the booze at The Open 🍻 pic.twitter.com/UlnC3mQwa0
— Michael McEwan (@MMcEwanGolf) July 14, 2024
People – most of whom will not be at Royal Troon this week – are cross that the only lager available to punters out on the course is Singha, particularly when Scotland’s most famous tipple, Tennent’s, is brewed just up the road in Glasgow.
There’s a long way to go until the golf starts, folks…
And finally…
I finish, as always, with a little nod to the wonderful work my colleagues have done in the past few days. And you’ll be surprised to hear everything here is Open-based.
Tiger Woods was on the ground Sunday getting his reps in and Michael McEwan followed him for all 18 to see if he could learn anything ahead of his latest tilt at making a major cut, while his interview with Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston is as moving as you would expect.
Ben Parsons met the man who almost pulled off the most shock win in Open history and it’s quite the read. He also went and chatted to the woman who owns that house on the second fairway. And I love this yarn about “the forgotten golf club” at Royal Troon.
And John Turnbull, who was fortunate enough to be one of the last journalists to interview the great Ivor Robson before he passed away, went out to see exactly how the R&A have paid tribute to the legendary starter.
And while you’re here, I ranked ALL 159 PLAYERS IN THE FIELD and it took me an awful long time, so please give it a read if you have a spare 15 minutes or so…
We will be recording daily episodes of The bunkered Podcast from Royal Troon so make sure you’re subscribed!
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