MY PORTRUSH HIGHS AND LOWS
ROYAL PORTRUSH
I NEVER thought any venue would come close to Birkdale and St Andrews as my favourites on the Open rota, but let’s just say there’s now a top three with nothing to choose between them. A mighty three cheers to the R&A here and particularly the architect, Martin Ebert, and former chief executive Peter Dawson. I can only imagine the reaction among the membership when it was proposed they lose the old 17th and 18th holes, but the fact is, what was a 9/10 course has now become a 10/10 Open venue.
LEE WESTWOOD
ON SATURDAY afternoon, Lee Westwood had the chance to bend the rules and earn himself a free drop rather than accept a one-shot penalty. He was right in the mix at a time in life when he might never get another chance to win a major. What to do? Westy didn’t hesitate. He took the course of action that led to the penalty. ‘I followed my conscience,’ he said. Lovely way of putting it. Those who give him a hard time because he has never won a major are idiots.
ROBERT MacINTYRE
PEOPLE are going to love getting to know this quiet soul from the sleepy Scottish resort town of Oban. Just 22, left-handed and a heck of a talent playing in his first major, he did the game a huge service by taking on Kyle Stanley for the grotesque practice that far too many Americans have of not shouting ‘fore!’ when they strike a wild blow towards the fans. Stanley argued other people had shouted. As if you can have too many people shouting when a potentially deadly missile is hurtling towards the gallery.
TOO LONG A WAIT I MADE this point after Pebble Beach and the US Open. The worst thing about the Portrush Open is the thought it might be another decade before the event returns to the Antrim coast. Far too long to wait. I’ve a feeling that when the R&A have digested this outstanding success, they’ll bump it up the rota. At least, they should. You can argue St Andrews is a special case in holding it every five years but Lytham once held it twice in that timeframe in 1996 and 2001. Why not Portrush for 2024? RORY McILROY WHEN Rory began the season with six straight top-six finishes, including a victory, who could have imagined he wouldn’t muster a single such result in the four majors for only the second time in his career? What’s particularly concerning about the five-year victory drought is that he has hardly contended for any in that time on a Sunday afternoon. In three of the four this year, his chances of winning were effectively over after two hours of his first round. That’s no blip. That’s a serious mental blockage. THE WEATHER I TELL you, it’s no fun admiring the view behind the fifth green, miles from any shelter, and seeing one of those vicious storms coming in. Those writers in our other summer sports where they stop play the moment a single raindrop falls from the sky don’t know they’re born. But hey, I enjoyed the gallows humour with the other poor souls caught out — and at least I now know that my stupidly expensive waterproofs work a treat.