🔴 LIVE AT THE RANGE | Tuesday | The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush
From Royal Port Rush and the 153rd Open Championship, this part of the world is absolutely stunning. There’s a sense of anticipation across this awesome stretch of Northern Irish coastline. The world’s best have gathered once again to test their metal on one of the games great links. A course as beautiful as it is brutal. With just two days to go until round one, who is ready for the challenge to become champion golfer of the year? The world’s best together on the same stage for one last time this year. The Open Championship is about all of golf from all of time. I don’t believe it. A gust of wind, a hop of the ball. One more roll could be enough. And at the end of the journey, there may be a clar junk awaiting. Every great player who’s ever played the game has won that championship. The journey is long and filled with obstacles of near misses, of heartache. But as the champion holds aloft the clar jug, we all know it’s bigger than golf. This is history. Welcome once again to live at the range day two and it is major week. It’s open championship week and you can feel the excitement. You really can. Here with Pete Finch on the range. Pete, really good to see you. It’s been We spent 24 hours together yesterday. We We certainly learned a lot. It’s the Tuesday of the Open. Things get a little bit more intense, don’t they? Monday, everyone was arriving. What happens today? I mean, yeah, you’re right. Yesterday was more like a reunion is people seeming to say hello after quite some time apart, especially playing all the different tours. And today, few more coaches, few more launch monitors, a little bit more tension in the air because after the delays yesterday as well with the thunder, this is going to be the point where people are trying to get the games in shape and seeing the course fully, maybe some for the first time. Yeah, it’s going to be absolutely packed, isn’t it? Let’s take a little a little walk down the range, which will be really it’s it’s pretty busy already, but we’ll be in an hour or so. Uh we know that Darren Clark is out with Rory Maroy today. They’re playing together. Darren we spoke to yesterday. He’s got his house just over there. Obviously, a previous open champion. Um he had an event last night. He really enjoys the hospitality of Northern Ireland, doesn’t he? He does. Yeah. I mean, he’s had a hole named after him, which is which is a huge honor. I mean, for a course that you grow up playing like to have a hole named after you to be put alongside I think it’s Fred Daly’s got a hole out there. That’s right. You know, it’s it’s an amazing amazing thing to be able to tell people. And then Gray McDow got a hole named after him on the other course, which I noticed how he slipped that in there. On the valley course. On the valley course. Yeah, this place is just steeped in history, mentioning Fred Daly, who won the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, a Northern Irishman. Uh, but we like to highlight the the the Irish guys. Obviously, Shane Lowry press conference yesterday, a winner in 2019. He was taken down memory lane. He said, you know, it really does doesn’t count for anything. you know, I’m back on the tea on Thursday and I’ve got to prove myself once again. I love the fact in the press conference they spoke about his close relationship with Rory Maroy and just I think it’s really interesting for our viewers to know these guys are really close, aren’t they? They they they already you already know that they live in Florida, but they’ve learned from each other, haven’t they? What What has Shane learned from Rory? Um I I think what Shane has probably learned from Rory is when you get good friends who play together a lot. I mean Shane must have beat Rory so many times in matches that they played and and you know vice versa vice versa. Yeah. So Shane can look at that and say yeah Rory is a generational player, one of the best that’s kind of ever been in the modern era and I can beat him. You know to so you can build on that confidence. Is this why you see friends when one of them wins you often find that others win pretty close after because they feel the confidence. They understand you know I can do this. Yeah. With Shane I I would be thinking that that win in 2019 counts for a lot and not that it counts for nothing. He has to prove himself again because over the past you know five years he’s not won the PJ tour. He’s obviously not won another major. I would be taking every ounce of confidence and every positive memory from 2019 and drilling that into my subconscious and just trying to feed off it again. Yeah. Because he must be he must be stepping on some holes and remembering the great shots and the feelings that he would have had. Well, I what sticks in my mind is that second shot on the 10th hole where he used the mounds, used the contours. We speak about the elevation on this golf course, the ups and downs of it. And he just with his caddy bow, they just that shot was they had quite a lot of discussion about that, but if you check the archives, second on 10 to that round of 63 on the Saturday, it was absolutely brilliant from Shane. So draw on all those experiences, but you’ve got four rounds of golf in the elements. Rory was saying from Shane, he’s learning how to, you know, enjoy life. He said at the end of last year, he wanted to have more fun in his life, and hopefully he’s finding that balance. the Scottish Open last week. He said he’s got loads of positives from What did you see from him at the Scottish? I mean, you saw him come back into form. I mean, we could be honest about it. Since the Masters, he’s he’s not played well at all. He’s not really played a lot from that point because it must have been such an emotional comedown to win an event which everybody’s been talking about for so long, for a decade to finally climb that mountain and think about, well, what am I going to do next? and he’s already mentioned in press conferences about this open was circled in the calendar before the Masters. This is the one that he’s looking forward to the most. What my fear is with Rory is when he starts to build tournaments up and when he starts to talk about them, he very rarely comes through to win because the emotion, he just gets so emotional about these. Do you know I quite liked though in the press press conference yesterday he said in 2019 he tried to sort of close himself off a bit and this year he’s going to go out there and embrace every part of it. So it’s got to get that balance as a golfer because you’ve got the fans who want your attention. You’ve got the practice rounds which are really busy, really packed. Yeah. And then you got to perform on the Thursday. So to to find that mental balance of of how much to give to to sponsors, to crowds, and then to your performance, it’s it’s so intricate, isn’t it? Yeah. And with with Rory, the the mental game and the mindset he takes into tournaments is probably more important than his golf because we all know he’s an incredible player. Like we all know what an amazing he played well last week. You don’t think No, no, he did. He did. He did play well. Um and I’m kind of thinking maybe second place isn’t bad, is it? No. I’m kind of thinking maybe not winning last week’s probably a positive cuz it takes less energy. How many how many guys have won the Scottish and then gone to win the open? I think maybe Mickelson was the last year um a while ago. I think he’s the only one I think he’s the one golf but like there’s different approaches that he can take. So I know Shane’s doesn’t play the Scottish Open. No, he hasn’t played he only played it once in the last eight years and then he went and missed the the cut at Hoy Lake. So he likes Shane’s been having a great time. I’m sure you’ve seen him all over social media. He’s been playing the best courses in Ireland. Absolutely gorgeous. Waterville. Waterville. Um, at Dare Mana, Hogs Head and he said actually the weather’s been too good. He could have done with a bit more wind, a bit more rain, a little bit more prep. I mean, he’s going to get it this week, isn’t it? I think Well, they all are, obviously. I mean, having a local advantage and having knowledge of what that weather’s going to be like and how to cope with it is is is massive. It is crucial. So, we’ve got an amazing team with us this week and I’m hearing that George is is behind us. He’s actually he’s on the 16th. Where is he? 16th green. George, I gave you a lift into work this morning. Can you buy me a coffee later? I can see you. What’s it like up there? Can you hear me? Oh, brilliant. You guys are a long, long way away and I’m very high. Um, it’s a pretty scary hole. We’re here on the 16th at Port Rush. One of my favorite holes and it’s going to be one of the most entertaining holes come later in the week as well. It’s going to be a very exciting day, especially if the weather holds off like this as well. It’s been drizzling a bit this morning, but now it’s clear. It’s beautiful. It’s shorts weather. Hey, look at that. Nothing wrong with it. And look at this for a view, guys. We’ve got the scaries out there, those little islands. Uh, as you can see, it’s very calm at the moment, but later on today, I’m sure the breeze will pick up. And this is where this hole gets extremely hard. So later on in the day I’m going to be here and hopefully we’ll get a few golfers on the tea and talk through what they have. But it kind of reminds me of a a few other holes in terms of toughness. It doesn’t get much harder than this on the open schedule. I look at maybe Carni the 16th there. Um maybe I guess the 17th at Trune last year when they were hitting drivers into that par three as well. Um but look this is right up there with one of the toughest holes you’ll get on tour. It’s playing it. In 2019, it was the hardest green in regulation to hit. So, I think only 41% of golfers hit the green in rig here. And on the weekend, Saturday, only two birdies. Sunday, only two birdies as well. So, that’s pretty incredible. The best golfers in the world, and only two of them could manage a birdie. But this is why it is massively intimidating. Look at this humongous gully right here. to carry the green. It’s 218 just to the front. But the problem is the front is still not the issue. You’ve got to carry it at least 10 yards on to get over this massive gully. So if the pins on the right, it is absolutely crazy. So you have to get it right up there and right back. And I think what you’ll find, well, not I think what you’ll find is I know you’ll find so many golfers bailing way out left here. There’s a nice gully there which will get so much action and I remember here in 2019 there was a fair few shouts of thought because they just aimed left and the wind often whacks it to the right. So this is going to be a very very poignant moment in the open championship especially come Sunday afternoon. But from me here I’m going to try and get everywhere on the course. I’m going to take you down to the fifth hole, which is obviously one of the most scenic spots as well, and we’ll try and get some challenges going with all the players as well. But from me on course, it’s looking like a great day. Always a fun day Tuesday. The players are just getting into their stride, and it’s a good chance to chew the fat. We’ll go back to you guys in the commentary box for now, and we’ll see you soon. Yeah, great, great to see the weather has tidied up. We’ve had quite a bit of rain overnight and we’ve got quite a bit of rain focused during the day um as well. Andrew, that’s going to soften up the golf course, take a bit of sting out of it, but how do you feel it’s going to play? It’s a complicated golf course. Goes all over the place. Yeah, it does. It does go all over over the place, which I think is is great because uh the players never really get a chance to settle into uh to a consistent wind direction, but yeah, any bit of rain always kind of softens up the golf course. It takes the fire out of it, creates easier pin positions, wider fairways. As a result of that, the players have got that spin control on the golf ball from the fairway and uh and they they know their ideal yardages. So, it it does make things a a lot easier. But, of course, you know, that can be negated depending on the strength of the breeze as well. So, we are live at the range and there it is. We’ve got the guys warming up before probably their second maybe some of their first practice rounds. That’s Nicholas Norgard. Winner, Andrew. Yeah, winner. Yeah. Won the bet British Masters last year around uh around what is one of his favorite golf course. Actually, actually, one of my favorite golf courses. I think the Belelfrey has come on leaps and bounds over the years since it pretty much opened in the in the early 80s. And yeah, it was a great win last year. He liveven the race to Dubai. did a very good team cup for the uh continent of Europe side um earlier on this year up there in in Abu Dhabi, but he’s he struggled a little bit on the uh on the PGA tour. He got his dual card last year. He was he was off to the States and uh well, I think he’s played sort of 13 times, missed about six cuts. So disappointing, but it’s it’s not easy, Simon, to go and trying to climatize to, you know, different temperatures, different courses, and and society just just different different places. Yeah. Yeah. Either be in one place or been the other place that the migration between DP World and PGA has rarely been successfully done. Yeah. It’s not for not for everybody. I mean, you you’d think it would just be fairly seamless. the game doesn’t change, but it’s it’s you’re no longer in familiar surroundings and it and it can have an adverse effect on your game. So, that’s interesting. Oh, maybe just checking a bit of impact location there. Um, I mean, kind of 6’4, loads of work in the gym. It’s kind of like the how the modern golfer is going, isn’t it? I mean the guys who come out of college hit the ball even further than the PJ tour players. Yeah. Look, when we were when we were playing, it wasn’t about club head speed, ball speed. I mean, those those things you couldn’t even measure them in in in those days, it was it was about accuracy off the tea and keeping it in the short grass. Uh although Jack Nicholas was ahead of his time because Jack Grout, his coach, always got him to hit it as hard and as far as he could and then he would rein it in. But but you know with the invention of Trackman other distance measuring devices um you know these players that’s arguably that’s what they concentrate on now and and that they play beyond how the golf course designer had set up the golf course. So the bunkers are all being flown rather than balls bouncing into it and and that’s what they’re aiming for. They’re aiming for higher ball speed, bigger carry and just crushing the holes. Do you think you can overpower Port Rush? Is this a course you can overpower? Can you Can you do a bully it with your driver off the tea or do you think it’s going to be more strategic than that? I look I I think you can. Well, loads of factors there. I think you can for one day. You can’t you you won’t be able to bully it for four days because the golf course will come back and bite you. But then again, you get the factor of the breeze and and when you’ve got a breeze up there, it it’s it’s not about losing control of your golf ball. It’s about playing it under the wind. It’s about keeping it on the fairways. So, you can see I think Nicholas is just he’s he’s painting up a golf ball maybe with a pen and then working on his impact location. I think that is Liam from Yeah. The other side of the ball is that big red circle that he’s he’s drawn on and he’s trying to find where the where he’s hits off the face cuz the sweet spot on these big clubs, it’s not really the center. It’s sort of hanging out the toe, isn’t it? More towards the high toe. Yeah. So, let’s have a look. Yeah. No matter how hard you hit it, if you miss the sweet spot, it goes all over the place. So, 185. That’s a bit of a smoother one from him. Another one marked up ball just trying to line that up. Finished fourth in Dubai at the beginning of this year and I kind of expected him to to kick on a bit. I mean you talk about America, you talk about the ball flight, the carry. I mean, is is your stereotypical perfect fit for for the PGA Tour? Yeah. So, looks more like a linebacker than a golfer. Yeah. So, let’s have a look. It’s a good golf swing. Here we go. Working on his impact location. Another look now down at the face. 184 tail and offer. a wee bit. Wonder if he’s getting tired. Yeah, this it was interesting, wasn’t it? Um, you know, 173 is kind of like the PGA Tours average ball speed for a driver launches a little higher than that. Um, you know, I think maybe some of the guys working with some new lofts maybe to flight the ball down. You know, PGA probably, not all the time, but most of the time it’s dome golf, isn’t it? You don’t play, you know, if it’s bad weather in America, you sit in the clubhouse where if it’s if it’s bad weather here, you’re out on the golf course. Right. Let’s have a look at him. Yeah. Expect him to get over 185. I don’t think he’s putting any effort in. Nice balance though at the end consider how hard they’re hitting it. Yeah. 188. There you go. So, his work is done. Tease her up off to the golf course. That’s a good thing for everyone at home. Do you know where you hit it on the face when you miss it? That’s crucial. You got to know that. Yeah. Beautiful scenes. Look at that. That’s proper golf. Amazing. Here are the scenes. The 153rd Open Championship. Becoming champion golfer of the year is rarely a straight line. I got to play my first open very fortunately in St. Andrews. as a golfer is most special place in the world. To play an open there is incredible and I actually play quite well. Nicely done. 300 through 10. I didn’t qualify in 2011. I didn’t qualify in 2012. 2014 I shot 65 in the final round actually to finish ninth which was pretty cool. That was my best finish ever in a major. And then from 2015 onwards kind of all downhill at the open championship. going to break a few eggs before you can make an omelette. I was just going through such a bad phase in my career and then 2018 was Carnusi where myself and my caddy split up and probably one of the lowest points of my whole career. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such good form going into an open. What a start. Same moves to 11 on leading the open championship. I get down onto the tea and I’m looking around the crowd are going mental and I’m just taking it all in. I’m like this is incredible. Oh, what a boys. There’s no in between today. Like it’s either going to be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. What a time to throw in another birdie. I have to go and win and that’s the way I felt. And thankfully I did. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to find out more. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to get started. Why not give golf a go? Just swing. Swing wild. Swing weird. Swing wonky. Whoever, however, wherever. It doesn’t matter. Just swing. Head over to golf. To start playing. Find out where you can learn to play at golf.golf. Yeah, welcome back. We are live at the range bringing you kind of some a new view of what it’s like to be at the open. So, the practice area, the whole of the practice area is lit up. That’s with Top Tracer. We can track every single ball. We can follow what the players are doing with their coaches, any routines, manufacturers. It’s interesting. probably I think the only tournament where the PGA pros come over and say, “Okay, listen. I got to take out this club and put another one in, Andrew, to to find something that’s lower.” You can also scan that QR code. And if you are here, you get a great guide of every single thing that’s happening at the Open Championship. There it is. The scenes of two iron in the bag, Andrew. It’s a new thing for a PJ tour player. Yeah, it is, isn’t it? you know, they they don’t use less loft over there on the PGA Tour or or or in very uh many cases over in over in Europe as well. Um but here they have to again that’s more functionality getting that golf ball in play guarantee and it’s uh it’s going to find the fairway. Obviously not for an approach shot into some of the greens. That’s probably not going to happen. But um yeah, maybe one or two one one maybe one wedge less and stick that that iron in the bag. Yeah. So Thomas Dietri a little bit tied up. Were you a big drills guy? Did you use a lot of lot of gadgets to help you with a feel? Andrew, I I I used a few but but that was that was when I was uh sort of losing control of what was happening really. I I I practice by playing and and uh and establish patterns that way. Um but yeah, he’s trying to create the feeling there. Maybe a bit of separation between the knees. Um is a very elegant swinger. Um got his first win which everybody was delighted to see cuz he’s one of the most popular guys on tour. So yeah, I would say sort of the benefits of that in the back swing, maybe trying to kind of keep that pressure, that stability, maybe not let that left knee come too much across. So almost feel as though you’re sort of a bit more centered. So almost like if you felt like you had a ball on a wall on your left hip and you kind of turn but keep the ball there. So you don’t want to drift too much. Don’t want to have too much lateral. and then maybe feel that once he’s starting that transition puts a bit more pressure back into that left knee and into that left heel. Let’s have a look. Yeah, he’s kind of keeping the same torque on that all the time. So, just a drill. Stabilize yourself. You know, golf swings come from the ground up. Motion comes from sort of the top down, but stability comes from the ground up. Does the phone and the picture and the video represent the feel? That’s a big thing, isn’t it? What it feels like and what it looks like. Do you know what I was just going to say that you know what you could easily be looking at something say I don’t like the look of that even though the feel was quite right. Yeah. Or vice versa. Yeah. Yeah. But I I mean I have never met one tour player and I’ve and I’ve I’ve known a lot of them who likes their own swing. Yeah. No. Have you ever have you Well, you’ve got to be fairly self-critical in the first place, haven’t you? Because media if if if you accept mediocrity, you’re going to get mediocrity. So, you got to push the boundaries, but uh you’re always fiddling at something. I mean, I I mean, I look at that golf swing at many golf swings like you s and think that is absolutely brilliant. I would love a golf swing like that. And yet, there he is trying to pick holes in it. Yeah. But I think that there is a there’s such a balance, isn’t there? I mean, the drive to continually improve yourself, right? That you have to have that if you’re going to be a tour player. Um fascinating. So, we will leave Thomas with his thoughts and head out to George Harper Jr. Yes. Good morning everyone and welcome to the 12th hole, the par five. And a very happy Darren Clark, his favorite major of the year. No doubt when he last time he was here in Port Rush, he absolutely loved showing people around. And today he is showing around Rory Mcgroy and Tom Gibbon. So a very hometown affair in this three ball this morning. Par 512. Lovely hole shaping up at 532 yards. Good to see Tom McGib back. bunkers lining the right edge of this fairway and slopes ever so slightly towards them. So you want to be hugging the left fun hull, no doubt about it. But naturally the crowds have started gathering. These are such a good opportunity to come see your favorite players during these practice days. Oh yeah, that is spanked. Dead center. A1. Right. So, he’s got right down to what looks to be the third trap on this fairway, which is Wow. Okay, that’s 320 y. Let’s see what Rory can do here. The setup looks immaculate as per usual. Lost it. Well, right. Oh, wow. This is drifting a long way right. Would like a reload there. Crazy to think what happened last time in 2019. Starting with that eight, a big old quad on the first and finished with a seven. So outside of that, he was just one over path for the other 16 holes of that first round in 2019. So he can shift it around here once he gets going. And oh my goodness, that’s way left. Okay, it’s a spray can. And look at that very narrow view, but you can see the crowds here. absolutely flooding to watch Rory. Uh and Rory’s first ball went way out to the right and his second ball’s gone left side. So, uh little bit of rust, but this is a really nice fun part of the course, the 12th hole. Good attacking par five opportunity, and then into a fun par three, 13th. So, as you can see, the atmosphere is already electric, guys. So, I think I’m going to follow Rory for a few holes now, just because I don’t know, maybe I’m a fan of golf. Maybe I like that. Um, much like everyone here. But I’ll tell you what, these practice days, it gets better and better as we start ramping up to the 153rd Open Championship. Come on, we’ll see you soon. Yeah, fantastic to see Irish hopes out with those four players or three players I suppose it was. Um Rory, thoughts on Rory Maroy around this golf course, Andrew? H I think he’s going to bounce back after the monumental disappointment of 2019. There’s actually an argument as well that by not winning last week, it actually sort of almost increases his chances here this week because um you know the emotion that takes out of it the possible distraction of of the elation the week before this arguably would be his main focus and uh it it might take something away from him had he had he won last week. It was a sensational Genesis Scottish Open. A great win from from Gotup. But I I think I think Rory’s going to be fine. There’s a there’s a nice we buoyancy in his stride since he’s returned to to these shows over here on this side. And I think that’s going to come out in his golf. Yeah. Obviously hard when you achieve your dream and and it’s there and you’ve done it. You you haven’t planned for for what the next thing is you’re going to do. You know, I I suppose if you if you’re Rory Maroy, winning this event, winning the Rder Cup in America, those have got to be kind of like the laser focuses. Yeah, I mean that’s what he thought, you know, we we all thought that when when eventually he’d finally managed to win the Masters and get into that group of well, it was five at the stage and there’s now six Grand Slam champions. We thought he was going to kick on but hadn’t factored in the human side of of the toll that that takes and and like you said, you know, for the last 10, 12 years, he was he was desperate to try and get into that elusive club. Now he’s finally made it and and understandably, you know, the sort of energyy’s kind of sort of left him a little bit. Yeah. So maybe got to reset some goals. Oh, welcome to the 153rd Open Championship. Henrik Stenson. What a great battle he gave with Nicholson. You know, never really never I mean is is that kind of stretch, you know, we probably never thought after 77 with the Nicholas Watson that we would ever see something like that again. Yeah, it was it was a superb Sunday afternoon over there on the west coast of Scotland. Um when these guys went toe-to-toe and and arguably both of them at the same time found the zone, this this you know mythical type of space where mind and body just work in perfect unison and and and you’re able to to to get some of the some of the best out your game. Uh it was it was an incredible uh final Sunday there and uh and Stenson never backed off. Mickelson tried to hunt him down and just didn’t come up with the goods at the end of the day. No, it was interesting. I also think it it was Miklson is such a he’s such a risk taker, isn’t he? Just kept pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing. I remember speaking to Steve Stricker and he said he was third and never in the he never ever felt like he was in the competition. Yeah. So, Henrik Stenson getting himself ready. Be interesting to see what kind of game he can bring to this Lynx golf course. So, this is the view from behind the driving range. There’s a big grand stand. And if you’re here, I recommend you spend some time out on the driving range. It’s fascinating to see all of the preparation that it takes to get ready for when the gun goes on Thursday morning. lots of different targets. There’s two holes that you can see there. That 160 yard marker is actually representing one of our key sponsors here. That’s HSBC whose birthday it is. Founded in 1865, if my maths is correct there. So, we thank them for all the support they give golf. Henrik has got to stop talking soon and start hitting because we’ve had enough of that. No, he’s practicing. He’s talking. He’s He can talk now. He’s a very unusual Swede, isn’t he? He’s an unbelie He’s a serious I mean, you’ve got to watch yourself. He used to have this pen that he made you sign. Will you sign this for me? Had an electric shock in it. Used to explode in your hand. So, yeah, a good prankster. Henrik Fanny Sunnison who helped Nick Faldo and many others achieve their peak. There it is. Can you find a feel? Do you have to find a feel or you know do you do you do you get to find something and use it? It’s it’s a great question, isn’t it? I I don’t know. Oh, I mean, if if if you’re not playing well when you when you come to the major, chances are you’re you’re not going to find it once you’ve got your So did you did you feel Andrew that if you on these massive events where there’s so much tension if you if you weren’t coming in with something solid did you ever feel like a massive range session could help you? It’s bit volatile around here. So, not really, Simon. I you know, that’s it’s naturally that’s the place to go. But but to to find something, you’ve got to hit an awful lot of balls. And when you do go and hit an awful lot of balls, inadvertently, you know, you you you you consume so much energy, the ability to then concentrate when it matters coming down the stretch. And you know, your rhythm can be massively affected and and the feeling your hands can be affected for such a workload at that stage. you you you will see all the top players. They’ll go down the range and they’ll just go for a warm-up. They won’t go for a a practice session. It’ll be a lot of the younger guys who’ve maybe never had this opportunity, fresh balls, great stands behind them and thought, “Oh, new clubs, new new gear.” They’ll spend longer on the range than the old the the old more experienced individuals. Yeah, it’s funny, isn’t it? I mean, you know, we look at the B obviously we’ve got Top Tracer here helping us. Bryson Dashambo sometimes hits nearly a thousand balls during a week at the masters. He hit this year he hit over a thousand balls. He did. Yeah, he did. I mean, I remember I remember and and and funnily enough though fell away on the final day. And then again, you sort of, you know, you know, your energy levels have to be absolutely at the maximum on Sunday, not drained. Yeah. And there’s an argument that although he although he led the ball count on the range that week, he he he practiced himself out of it. Yeah. No, it is. I mean, you know, you chat to Tiger. When Tiger came over to the Open, first of all, he used to say if he was coming from California, 8 hour time change, he’d come eight days early cuz he took he thought that it would take his body one day to adjust for every hour of time change. That was a rule he had through his whole career. And he was I mean, he was famous for practicing a lot, but I mean, we hardly ever saw him on the range. You could see him on a putting green and chipping green. He always found the speed of the link screens took him a while to get used to, but it is it’s it’s interesting. I I do do not feel that perhaps the modern tour player out of sort of guilt or debt or something feels like they’re thrashing their bodies to death. Well, I I think that’s fascinating because I’ve always said that, you know, you look at maybe football, rugby, athletic sports, none of them will turn up in a foreign country out with set three or four time difference and expect to perform the next day. Like you’ve said, you got to give yourself an awful lot of time to get over the jet like to acclimatize yourself to to those situations. Yet at golf it seems to be expected particularly in the DP World Tour when you travel across the globe uh and you go from tournament to tournament there’s not enough time to acclimatize. Now you can get lucky and have a good week but uh unfortunately a lot of the young players for instance who maybe are battling for the card they don’t have that luxury of time to leave a tournament out to prepare correctly for the next one that they get in and uh and they just have to they just have to get lucky. So Patrick Reed using a little foot wedge there. So he’s just kind of tucking that inside the I’m sorry on the outside of his right foot. And the reason for that is just to keep the pressure on the instep of that foot. So if the weight goes to the outside of your right foot, you can’t push off from that cuz there’s nothing to to go from. So you need to build up the pressure. So if you can think about a line, your right hip’s got to stay inside of your right knee and your right knee’s got to stay inside of your right ankle. So if you drift out, you can see him tucking it in there called a foot wedge. It’s a great little great little sort of sway stopper. So inside of his right foot and push into that left heel. So always working on something tour players. So there it is. Great. So he’s found the feel that he wants. Now he’s going to take it out and see if he can do it without the um the little device there. See him working the inside of that right foot. So the the right hip’s going to feel if you do it properly that it almost turns back towards the hole. It doesn’t drift away from the hole. You know, Gary player Gary Player used to just he used to focus on that right knee almost sort of pointing in it. It never it never resisted. It never wilted. It never opened up on the way back. He always had it sort of almost trying to point at the ball and then so in the down swing you to sort of fire it through and and drive that club head down. A similar feel. Yeah. Well, he used to walk through it. He used to try to walk through it. So, yeah, you don’t want to be hanging back. So, you can see Patrick there loading and releasing. What a magical short game and a great competitor. A great competitor. Um, you know, we’ve seen the fire that he has. Um, especially in Rider Cups, just working on his game, trying to find the feel. You can see how deliberate it is there. Here we go. So, let’s go and find George Harper Jr. Yeah. Good day again. I’m here on the 13th T. And uh as we know we’re following a very fun three ball and getting a nice clap to the tea here is Darren Clark. Darren, always a pleasure. Thank you, mate. You’re showing the young bucks around uh your backyard. How how fun is that? It’s brilliant. The two of them know it well anyway. They’ve played a lot of golf here as well. So, but anytime you get a chance to play with with Roers um the best player, he’s just he’s incredible. And then Tom’s just working away and he’s he’s the potential to be do the same as Roers and just win everything in front of him. I remember seeing you here in 2019 and showing everyone the angles, especially a few American friends. What other key features you are showing boys uh from out of town and this just there’s a few breaks in the greens which are not particularly uh obvious. Um and about it’s more about landing at 5, six, seven on, not taking on the flies cuz you’re going to run into trouble and you got to keep it in the fairways. You got to hit it well off at around Royal Port Rush. Keep it on the fairways and give yourself a chance from there. This is a big week for you not only on the course but socially as well. How do you balance uh both your social life and your professional life? Yeah. Well, it was down down in the harbor barrel last week, so I’m staying away from it this week. It’s going to be a little bit too crazy and the uh the Guinness is a little bit too nice. Nice. You hitting it all right? Yeah. Not bad. Not bad. Not uh little bit too frequently for my liking, but not too bad. Nice. All right. Do you want to give us a brief explanation of what you’re doing here on 13? Well, trying to hit a decent shot, but it’s um the green runs away from me a lot here in 13. So, anything that lands in the front, usually the screen releases a lot. And, uh, it’s very quick from front to back and very slow from back to front. Um, it’s a natural little feed in from from the right, especially getting to that back left flag. Anything in the front, if you try and get cute, you’ll plug it in that front bunker. So, you got to play smart. Just take your sometimes taking your 30 foot past the hole here is probably a prudent play. But, uh, I’m not always that smart, mate. It’s been good chatting to you. Enjoy the round. All right. All right, Tom McKibben now. Yeah, Darren Clark, I suppose our host this week, Andrew Colar. Yeah, you’d have to y kind of 190 to the front. That looks beautiful. Now, judging by Rory’s bag, he’s missing an eight iron. So, great shot. So Tom McGibbons just put that to 3 ft 4T. Rory Maroy with a with an eight iron in hand. Here he is. What’s he got on the bag? Lovely high mighty eight on. It’s drawing back. This is all over it. A little kick to the left. Yeah, dynamite. Absolutely brilliant. Um that was just pure ball striking. Now Darren Clark probably using a slightly different club to Rory Zeton, but he too has gone straight at it here. Well, while we’re here, we we might as well talk to another happy Irishman. Tom, welcome back. How awesome is this an open uh in your home country? Yeah, it’s uh it’s pretty amazing um to be playing an open here at Royal Port Rush, somewhere that I’ve played a lot sort of growing up and um I missed the last one here in 2019. Um I didn’t even get to come up and watch. So to be playing in this one is pretty pretty special and good to be playing with two pretty experienced campaigners. You’ve played a lot with Rory now in warm-up rounds for the Open. Yeah. Um yeah, it’s been good to play again today. We played last year um at Trin all three of us. So, um, to get that arranged again this year and and play somewhere that Dire’s obviously spent a lot of time, I’ve always played um was great. So, looking forward to the week ahead. Yeah, you’re starting to experience some big occasions. How different is it to have a crowd like this all on your side and cheering you on throughout the week? Yeah, it’s it’s different. I mean, it’s it’s so cool to have um so cool to experience. I think these these weeks just definitely feel a lot bigger. Even the driving range, everyone’s sort of a lot busier. There’s a lot more going on. Um, but it’s it’s pretty cool to experience and and the more you get to play them, I think the the more you get used to them. Nice. Well, we’ll let you catch up with the boys, but uh enjoy being at home and good luck this week. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you. Cheers, Tommy. Well, there you have it. A very chirpy three ball and a very talented three ball is that. So, I’m not sure how good our zoom is, but you can see two very, very close little white rocks next to the pin. Uh Tom McGibbon the closest and Rory Maroy just maybe 6 7 ft to the right. He’ll probably dribble that one in for Birdie and this is maybe where he’s going to make his charge come Thursday morning. Yeah, fantastic to see the pre-prep that goes into all of these rounds. You know, Darren Clark talking about the nuances of the golf course. I think that is a part of the Lynx golf course, isn’t it? To know the bumps and the undulations. huge. I you know I think there’s actually an argument that you wouldn’t really have to play a practice round. You’ve got to go around the golf course and learn about these areas. Look at the landing areas off the tea. Look at the areas in and around the greens. Imagine where those pin positions are, where to putt from, where to chip from, where’s a green zone, where’s a red zone. Yeah. The nuances of a Lynx golf course. Proper golf. Really very lush. It’s very green, isn’t it? Yeah. You know, I think the green keeper and the RNA would have liked it browner and dustier and firmer. It just hasn’t kind of worked out like that. The rough is tough though, Andrew. If you go out there, it’s heavy. Yeah, that is the downside. Yeah, I think that’s that’s important. I think uh you know, you can’t control mother nature, of course. And if uh if she gives you rain, you just got to suck it up and deal with it. But it was nice at Renaissance last week seeing those golden crusty fairways, the ball running out, the players in effect losing control over that ball as it runs and uh and the contours, the topography send it to the edges of the fairway. Yeah, it’s going to be a great contest. You have to be able to conquer yourself, the course, and the weather to pick up the clar jug. Now, Windham Clark kind of amazed us at LA Country Club. Yeah, he did. Amazed us at Quail Hollow and then has kind of just kind of sat waiting for the next step. Andrew, yeah, you’re right. He’s he struggled struggled a bit this year. He had to withdraw from the players because of a neck injury earlier on. He’s only had one top uh 10. Where did he finish last? I can’t remember where he finished last week, but he fell away again in the last day. Got himself very frustrated. Had an altercation with a couple of lockers in Oakmont. Um the frustrations bubbling up which is never a nice thing to see. Uh his major record actually Simon you know you got that win in 2023 uh goodness me he’s had five mis cuts from then and uh no top 30. So flattered to deceive you have to say. Yeah he was amazing that week. So have a look at this action. Yeah, I’m going to have a look at the player in the dead center of your screen. That is Windam Clark. as we were just chatting about kind of battling with his performance. But I mean, if you are going to have a peak, at least make that peak a major. I think that’s that’s one of the things. It’s like, okay, I’m not playing that well. But you know what? When I did play well, I won one of the big four. So, interesting to see kind of a blend of ions in his golf bag there. Yeah, interesting to see. You know, we do see quite a lot of that now. You know, more of a forged traditional looking face, maybe six iron and down and then maybe starting five or four going into something a bit more perimeter weighted kind of these mixed and blended sets. Andrew. Yeah. Yeah. The technology is there. Uh we used to we used to say when they brought out the sort of game improvement clubs, oh you know you can’t that’s just for high handicapped golfers and you know the ego would kick in but you know why would you do that? Why why would you not take advantage of a of a slightly larger sweet spot a bit bit of a more forgiving club and more and more players using it? Yeah. Well Monty was really the first player I think that I can remember who came out of his blades and into a perimeter weighted. Um and he was he was a good iron player Colin Montgomery. He was pretty good wasn’t he? Not bad. Not bad. Hopefully Monty’s up here somewhere. Don’t know where. Be interesting to see. Now, let’s have a look. Windom Clark. I mean, that’s very fluid, isn’t it? That’s that’s very kind of like we you see a lot of very positional looking golf swings. You know, I would say that’s more kind of like a fade action. The reason I say that is kind of like almost like he gets to the top of the swing, leaves the club head there, and just rips it through with his hips. Have a look at this. So up and look how early those hips shift down into that left foot and then open up. I’d say that was kind of like his stock shot. That’s what he’s trying to hit there. It’s funny, you know, when you watch players swing, you know, you can almost tell how they walk, you know, in their gate because of the speed. Yeah. Of their swing. He’s he’s quite quick. He’s quite short and sharp and quick and punchy. So, Windham Clark was magical, magic, magic, magic for that one week, 2023 around a very fiery looking LA Country Club. Well, remember he stood on that 71st TE LA Country Club one clear Aurori Maroy and uh you know you think when that’s going to happen well the the less experienced player understandably would wilt and and not a bit of it finish par to to keep Maroy at bay. Yeah. No, it I mean if you can you know that’s what’s so hard about golf. You if you can do that in that week under that pressure and then you can’t really he has he hasn’t really had from his point of view he hasn’t had a result since then. No not really very disappointing uh rider cup as well where he admitted that he failed to prepare. So here we are on the driving range having a look at Windham Clark and now time to speak to Dy Stewart. So many different story lines here at the Open Championship and one of the nine amateurs playing is Brian Newman. Brian, really good to see you from South Africa. You’ve been here for a couple of days now. Um playing in your first open championship. Tell us how you qualified for the Open. Yeah, I was lucky enough to win the Africa amateur earlier this year. Uh just grateful to get an exemption and really looking forward to it. Listen, you’ve been dominating junior golf in South Africa and also you did pretty well in Scotland a couple of years ago. Tell us what happened there. Yeah, I uh came second in the Scottish boys open a couple years ago at London Lynx and I won the best under 16 trophy. So I I really like Lynx golf and I’m looking forward to it. Yeah. Well, you’re a Celtic golfer now. We’ve decided. What is it about Lynx golf that you love? I mean it’s just completely different golf to from where I live in South Africa. Um, yeah, it’s just nice to be exposed to different environments and hit different shots and different grass. Yeah, imagination, creativity, it’s what you need, which you’ve obviously got. Tell us, super exciting. Who you playing with today? Yeah, I’m lucky enough to be booked with Christian Bedo, Minui, and Podrick Harrington. So, uh, if that happens, I’m super grateful and can’t wait for that. How you how you going to keep you cool? I mean, I know these some of these guys, your idols, aren’t they? Yeah, for sure. No, it’s crazy. Um, I don’t know what I’m going to do. We’ll just have to take it as it comes. Listen, it’s such a brilliant story. How how are you feeling about your game right now? Yeah. Um well, we’re on the range right now dialing a bit of practice. Um yeah, I feel good. I mean, looking forward to it. Can’t wait. How do you cope with the nerves? Um I don’t know. Yeah, just I guess visualization on the range so that I’ve somewhat been in the moment before I get to the actual moment. But yeah, it’s going to be crazy. It’s definitely a first for me. really lovely top tip for everybody watching. Visualization to to imagine the shots and create them. Brian, best of luck. We hope to see you towards the end of the week. Thank you very much. Thanks. Yeah, fantastic amateurs. Such a crucial part of the history of the game and we are forged by nature. But it is all about that clar jug. Welcome along to the open. It’s everything you wanted and more. That’s fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Quite an extraordinary day on the tea. She’s staring this one down and for good reason. Look at this. Just delightfully done. She’s on top of the world. Going directly at the whole Well, of course. Oh, get in there. There’s something about the AIG Women’s Open. My goodness. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to find out more. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to get started. Why not give golf a go? Just swing. Swing wild. Swing weird. Swing wonky. Whoever, however, wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just kidding. Head over to golf.golf to start playing. Find out where you can learn to play at golf.golf. Yeah, welcome back. We are live at the range, the 153rd Open at Royal Port Rush. This is our view. So, we are bringing you sort of the behind the scenes look. And if you are interested in coming to next year, you better scan that QR code and enter the ballot. Otherwise, if you think you can leave it late and get in, it’s not going to happen. This is a soldout event with 250 plus thousand people coming this year. So hopefully you will join us at Royal Burkedale. Another magnificent golf course. Sure. Sure is. Sure is. One or two changes there since 2017. Uh looking forward to seeing how how they pan out. But yeah, we’re just we’re blessed with this quality of Lynx Golf. Oh yeah, Burkeell. If you haven’t played Burkedale, you’ve got to put that on your list. Now, Justin Leonard, interesting to see him join us. Winner at Royal Trune in 1997. You know, one of I would say even during his time period, Andrew, he would have been known as a medium hitter with a great short game. Yeah. Right. and the and the medium hitters in the way that the circuit is compiled now, let’s suppose especially PGA Tour, you probably only got three events where you’ve got an equal a fair a fair shot of winning. The the power has overtaken the precision. Well, funny enough, of course, Brian Campbell has just won for the second time over there in the States. He’s he’s one of the shortest hitters that has ever existed, but he’s managed to to find his way through and win. But yeah, um you know, Justin was he was around at the time that the game was transitioning into this one of dynamism and and power. Uh he did it his own way. He was very very handy in and around the greens like you said, a marvelous putter. Who would ever forget that putt at the 99 Rider Cup? I wasn’t going to mention that. Oh, thank you. It’s seared in my memory. I was not going to mention that. But um I think I think what you don’t see it may be small in stature but a guy’s got a huge heart and when it come when it came down that stretch that stretch he believed he could he could take anybody down. Yeah. Beat Jose Maria Lathol but I didn’t think we talk not talking about that. So interesting to see the way he set this up. So two horizontal two horizontal aiming sticks just to really sort of find his channel of view. So one for his feet, maybe one also for target line. Just awareness of that. Then he’s also got a plane liner behind. So you can sort of see, you know, the plane of the swing is obviously just tilted a little bit as the spine is bent over. And so it’s it’s sort of like a circle. It’s like a a it’s like a a clock on a on a on an angle. And even at this advanced level, let’s call it advanced level, what we see the tour players do, Andrew, is mostly work on their fundamentals. Yeah. Well, I’m very pleased to see that. I think that’s crucial. I think your fundamentals can change a little bit. You know, you get off of off of an airplane, you’ve been carrying bags, you get out onto the golf course, and you’re just aiming slightly right or slightly left, you know, over the course of two or three weeks, particularly when you get to this stage of the season and you’re trying to keep the ball down low, the ball will move a little bit further back in your stance. When that happens, the club face a little bit open perhaps. The grip sometimes gets a little bit stronger, weaker depending on things. So, it’s those things you really could those are the things that you physically can work on without losing your feels. But, I mean, I’m having a little bit of a laugh to myself, though. You know, you sit there, you look at he’s 53 years old now, and he’s still still working on his golf swing. You’d think by now he might have figured it out. I don’t Do you ever figure it out? Well, no. I mean, I It was a bit of a rhetorical state, but Yeah. Yeah. No, you never do. But yeah. Yeah. You know, if you if you’ve got the ball 3/4 of a ball too far back, you’re not going to spot that, right? No, for sure. If you’ve got a five iron from 200 y out and you’re aim seven yard left or right, you can’t you can’t pick that out. No. And and that’s a great point because if you haven’t checked those for a while, then it starts to gradually get worse and worse and worse and that’s when you can then subsequently put yourself into into positions where you you really are not connecting with the golf ball properly. It’s going nowhere near where you want it to. Yeah. So, a cue, a tip proved at this tour standard, work on your fundamentals or at least if you’re going to practice, practice knowing at least you’ve got the ball position correct and the aim correct. And then that practice is worthwhile. Otherwise, you’re just grooving in rubbish. Yeah, I that’s a great point. I I always talk about a David Duval scenario where he was leading a tournament, can’t remember which one it was, and he played a bad third round. And and he was interviewed afterwards and and he said, “I suppose you’ll go at the range now and and and and work it out.” And he said, “Well, why would he go at the range and groove a bad swing? He’s got a bad swing that day. It didn’t go well. There was no point going at the range.” And he ended up going out there the next day. Woke up, felt fine, went out and won by Miles. Yeah. So, it’s a it’s a it’s a mad game. Or or maybe it’s a great game played by mad people, Andrew. But nevertheless, we absolutely love it. It’s the best game in the world. Here we go. Leonard grinding. Got a plane line. Try to keep that club low. The tendency is, you know, it’s, if you think about most of the sports, you kind of drive your hands down the target line, but the only thing that goes down the target line in the golf swing is the golf ball. Everything else goes around the center of the circle, which you have to kind of think about maybe as the as the pelvis or something like that, which is on a tilt. So, look where his hands are there, and they come back through that same slot as he’s going around that circle. So, here we go. the precision of Justin Leonard. Look at those shots. He also you also look as well, he’s not one of those players that you would sort of say really uses the ground, is he kind of a top he’s a upper body swinger. Yeah, he Well, I mean like an arm swinger, you know, you can see he’s stable. There’s no kind of like drop and rise of the pelvis. That is now the power move. And it’s a great power move. You know, you look at Marroy Sheffller, but look at the look at this precision of shots here, right? Yes. Pack it up. Just You’ve got it. You’ve nailed it. Pack it up. Got to beat your feet up. That’s it. You’ve done it. I think he likes that one. And what he should do is he should throw a wobbly in so they can another hour. Yeah. So, you know, that’s that’s that’s the key thing when you’ve got irons. I bet you that’s not nearly as far as he could hit that club. But that’s how far that’s how hard he can hit it and control it to that high degree. And so if you’ve got your scoring clubs, let’s suppose you’ve got like, you know, 120 and in, it’s all about how close you can hit it. So Justin takes a little break and we will find out who Dy Stewart is talking to. Great to be joined by Claude Harmon the third on the range. Claude, really good to see you. How are you? I’m good. It’s always good to be back. 19 was so so much fun here and I think all the players loved it and loved coming to Port Rush and uh I had a lot of players say to me after 19, hey, can we just do it here every year? So, I mean I think it was a great success being able to go down to the harbor and the golf course is spectacular. So, um and the weather is the weather. So, I know we we want a bit of inclement weather do it makes it super exciting. You’re here with Dustin Johnson DJ. How’s he getting on? Yeah, he played good last week at at Vald Dorama. 64 around Val Durama. Anytime you can shoot seven under around that place is really good. So, he’s close. I think he just needs to put kind of a good solid week of rounds together. I think, you know, he’s in that stage right now where he’s putting one really good round and then one average round and then one that doesn’t go his way, but he likes the golf course. Um he likes Lynx golf, believe it or not. He’s had chances to win um the open before. So, um it’s he’s comfortable playing Lynx Golf for sure. A massive round of applause actually for you, Claude. They know you’re here. How does DJ feel coming to majors right now? Yeah, I mean I think he loves playing. I mean, you know, when you’ve won two majors before, you know that you know what it takes to win one. I think, you know, they always say the hardest major to win is your first. And I think anytime you can win another one, I think it kind of puts you in a different category in in stature with all the other players. Yeah. You he’s won one major, but if you’ve won two, and he just he likes this style of golf. I think DJ is much more of a creative feel player than people think. He was always known for kind of distance and power, but he does have a lot of creativity and feel, so he likes to hit kind of these like low shots around. So, we played nine yesterday and he likes the golf course and I think it should be a good week. Another player who likes feel the greens. I was I was going to say week obviously you’ve wor some amazing players when you come to many different major championships. Is there anything you do differently with your guys when you come to Lynx Golf? I think you just have to, you know, that the conditions are going to be tough, right? So, it’s a lot of kind of figuring out what your sight lines are and trying to play the practice rounds in the the wind conditions and the rain conditions. He talked about last night when we were trying to figure out when we were going to play. We were looking at the weather forecast and he was like, “There’s going to be some weather.” And then he thought, “Well, I’m probably going to play in the tournament in some rain, so I need to play a practice round in the rain as well to kind of get used to what’s going to happen when you’re in the tournament on the golf course.” But I think this is the one major that is kind of um it’s it’s an anomaly for all the other three because you can just it’s a cliche. We talk about it every year. You can just get on the wrong side of the draw. So looking at the weather forecast, trying to figure out what it’s going to do, where the wind’s going to be coming from, and then a tremendous amount of work around these green complexes, trying to figure out if you can putt, trying to figure out if you can chip, and just trying to figure out the strategy. I’ve never seen a a championship. I think this is the one major where you’re trying to figure out a short game strategy as much as you’re trying to figure out a strategy off the tea and into these green complexes because if you miss one, you’re struggling. And then there are sides of these greens here to where you know if you miss it on that side, you’re struggling to make bogey. Yeah. Phil, what’s your key message to DJ this week? Yeah, you just got to go out and trust the work that you’re doing. I mean, he feels like he’s swinging well and just, you know, let it go and try and I think this championship can get you into trying to not hit bad shots as opposed to focusing on trying to hit good shots. Listen, you’re not going to hit a good shot all the time, but for everybody watching, I think most golfers, we are all trying to not three putt. We’re trying to not hit it in the water, not hit it out of bounds. I think the best players in the world and the ones that are able to play and win on an open championship say, “Listen, I’m going to focus on trying to hit good shots and whatever happens happens.” Great insight. Thanks so much for your time, Claude. And I actually look forward, these two are going to do a podcast together. No joke. It’s It’s difficult to do what you did, right? to put your game out there, obviously being, you know, a big part of social media now, for you to actually put your game out there, as vile as social media is these days, specifically in the golf space, right? The fact that you actually have a huge presence, but actually did the work to try and qualify, man, I I’d take my hat off to you cuz that’s that’s pretty tough to do. Yeah, cuz you So, Pete, just remind everybody, you got through regional qualifying. It’s making me all red now. Great. It’s a really good story. jump from being an instructor to then actually trying to do it yourself. You have to get in that head space of all the stuff that we tell our students to do, you have to then put into practice and and and that’s really really hard to do. Yeah. I I I I got through regional qualify and I got to final qualify and I gave it a good go. Uh I’m I’m here in the end, not in a playing capacity, but I get to talk about people playing, which is the next fantastic which is the next best thing. I thought it was I thought it was a really good story. I I don’t I don’t deal with praise very well. makes me. He doesn’t know how to handle it. You are British, right? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for your time. Good to talk to you. Cheers, V. Seriously. Yeah. Claude Harmon coaching Dustin Johnson. DJ, we’ve kind of he’s kind of disappeared off our radar a bit, DJ. But he had swagger, didn’t he? Oh, goodness me. Did he ever? uh around about 2020 um you know when he won the Masters when it was played it was played was it played in November that year? Yeah. Uh record score um obviously the 2016 US Open at Oakmont but you know I think I think five points out of five at Whistling Straits. Uh we clearly you know at that stage head and shoulders above anybody else in the game. Scotty Sheffley was just coming into it. Rory was on a little bit of a down time. Uh yeah, you know, of course, he’s blinding straight over there at Liv, so we don’t see too much of him. Now, Minu Lee’s got swagger. He does. He does. Absolutely. I like his game. Yeah. I’m still trying to figure out why they call him the chef, but uh yeah. Uh no, he does. He’s got great game. A Rolex winner, of course, Scottish Open several years ago, uh 2021, I think it was. Um beat Fitzpatrick in D3 in the playoff if I’m not mistaken. Yeah. Got his first win over there in America in the PGA tour. I think that was uh that was Houston. Houston beat Scotty Sheffer. Beat Scotty Sheffer and Gary Woodland. Absolutely. Um incredible talent, huge hitter, good putter, good short game. Struggles with his irons or struggles with his approach player. I struggle to sort of figure out why. Yeah, I maybe it’s just sort of like you you practice so much speed as a junior, don’t you? You practice distance, distance, distance. Let’s let’s have a look at his game. kind of a long left thumb there just to wedge some very stable footwork there. Yeah, but if you if you can’t if you if you’ve got power and there’s quite a few players whose game are kind of built around power and then that 80 yards and in is a is a weakness. Let’s have a look at his game here. So, sets it online and then kind of like a bit of left arm rotation at the top of the back swing just to kind of get it into maybe like a little bit of a laidoff position which is kind of like just an impact position but just set earlier. So low hands that’s very rhythmical and balanced isn’t it? So what would you prefer? What would you be preferred to be? An amazing driver of the ball, Andrew, around the golf course like this or from like 125 yards and in just absolutely genius? Yeah, good good question. What’s the What’s the more Well, I’d like to know what it feels like to hit at 320 yards. I’d like to know that, Andrew. Actually, I’d like to know what it feels like to hit at 290. Um I I you can get up to more mischief I think if you’re an absolute genius from 150 yards in and that can really that that can really strike the will and determination out of your opponent. It’s a bit like I keep thinking about like Sean Obias, you know, he’s out the hole and all of a sudden you’ve lost the hole. Yeah. That that’s I was kind of thinking like you know when you think I mean I when I watched the the the 2019 Open you watch Shane Lowry I mean he didn’t drive it amazingly well but he hit so many greens he was amazing at maybe being in the right shape or understanding how to use the contours and I mean for me he just he just made so few errors. He kind of won the golf tournament on Saturday really and then it was for him to to him to be able to hang on and survive the Sunday which he did. Um but his his his iron play and his short game especially around this golf course were were more important than his driving skills. Yeah. It wasn’t like it you you didn’t stand there like you would have done with with the likes of maybe Sebie, Johnny Miller, Tiger Woods and and and listen in awe to the strike. Not for one second am I saying that he didn’t strike it well. Of course he did. But it was his guile, he his creativity, his inventiveness around there, his his understanding of how his game was and what had to be done out at Royal Port Rush that uh that was was certainly very very admirable. Uh, and again, just going back to that that thing, you know, you’re going to make a mistake, but if you can get the golf ball back into a position where you can basically almost guarantee that you can nudge it in there to about 8 ft or something like that and save power or whatever, then uh then you’re always going to be in the mix. Yeah, it was interesting, wasn’t it? Minu Lee just going through his paces. Pick for the President’s Cup last year. Yeah. Yeah, I mean an important kind of global player. I think we need that. And interesting. Yeah. Caddy, he’s got Bo Mart on the back. Of course, Bo who carried for Shane Lowry and that win in 2019. So, who knows, you know, maybe. Yeah, there you go. local well and a very very sophisticated caddy and there’s a lot of I was speaking to Joey Larava and he was just saying with the undulation here the fact that all the holes go in different directions there’s so many different dog legs he actually left Kantlay and just went out to walk the course on Sunday that that’s what that’s what they decided was the best use of his time yeah I I think that’s great I I think it’s so underappreciated that type of practice and preparation uh that that there’s one or two I mean you know they’re ahead of the game when it comes down to others are wasting their time going out there hitting golf balls. Yeah. So Minu Lee clipping a few iron shots away. Looks very very much under control doesn’t it? Just working his numbers. We have on the right side of your screen this is top tracer technology. So, what we’ve done is just light up the whole of the driving range so we can capture every single player’s ball and just working on that carry number. So, the carry number is impacted by lots of different things. Ball speed, the spin, the launch, the apex. So, modern tour players who play PGA probably thinking like 90 to no anything over 90 ft. 100 feet is kind of like a stock PGA tour shot. And then the players have got to make some adjustments this week to be able to well at least they’re anticipating there’s going to be quite a lot of crosswinds. They’re going to be into the wind and and then that’s to be able that’s the calibration that you need to be able to master the weather conditions that we are kind of anticipating that we’ll get over these next uh four days, Thursday to Sunday. So there it is. Minu Lee and his numbers. Let’s have a look. Upper body movement. Kind of working kind of a one piece takeaway. Left shoulder points down to the ball. And it’s all about legs and arms. So Minmu just changing targets. Find another target. I’d say that was a successful shot. There it is. Look at this rugged coastline surrounded by beautiful golf courses. But it is all about that clar jug. And the winner of the gold medal, champion golfer for the year. Winning the Open Changes a life. A hero at 22 and the first Spaniard ever to win the title. A name remembered, a legacy secured. Open. But look beyond the champion and you’ll see that maybe there’s a little more to it. From first swings to final pass. From the back streets to the big stage. From the inner cities to the outer reaches. The open’s impact stretches far beyond the fairways. Every ticket, every fan, every roar drives our mission to shape the future of G. Removing barriers, protecting the land, honoring the past, leading for tomorrow. So yes, the open is life changing, but what begins as a moment for one creates a game for us all. on the tea. Yeah, she was staring at this one down and for good reason. Look at this. Just delightfully done. She’s on top of the world going directly at the whole world. Of course. Oh, get in there. There’s something about the AIG Women’s Open. Oh my goodness. We are live at the range at Royal Port Rush, bringing you all sorts of different features That is the driving range, the big grand stand. Let’s go and find George Harper Jr. Yeah. Well, I’m back where I started the day. It’s at Calamity Corner number 16. And I’ll tell you what, we’re back with this feature three ball. There’s Michael Bannon, Rory’s coach. They’ll get a good applause on here. The crowd looks fantastic if you can come around here. The atmosphere is electric. Everyone’s having a great old time watching these boys. 16th of normally a very very tough hole, but I’ll give you the tip. It doesn’t get too much easier than this on a day like today. Not a lot of wind and it’s great who you bump into here. Look at this. We got Johnny Morgan here. Johnny, how are you, mate? I’m all right, mate. I’m absolutely loving it, man. Buzzing. What an open. How good is this? Looks This looks spectacular, doesn’t it? This is Well, calamity. I mean, just look at it. This is 16 par 3. It could all go wrong here. I mean, you just look at it and just think mayhem. Wind’s going to be up back in their faces all the way up until about Sunday by all accounts. So, it’s going to Was it was it Matt Fitzpatrick at fivewood air about that high all the way and lipped out. If you’re here on Sunday afternoon, the wind’s hard off your left. There’s a few nerves, isn’t there? Oh, yeah. You get ahead of one and it slightly blooms on you. You’re down in that huge mountainous dip down there short and right and you got no shot whatsoever as we see. All right, let’s go watch the golf. Darren Clark’s just playing a driving iron here. How good is it? Let’s have a look. Nice back left. You’ll take that. You’ll take that probably every day of the week. All right, let’s go. Let’s go see Tom McGibbon. Now, I can’t stress how calm it is out here. This is almost bad for their practice to be playing in such beautiful conditions. This is this is not going to be like this all week surely. So just an iron in hand. We’ve seen so many golfers at 3wood over the past 24 48 hours. This almost looks like a five iron. Superb galleries just for the practice rounds. And that is way left, Johnny. There’s a few feature par 3s all around the world, but this is this is getting up there as as the more opens this gets. This will be one of the one of the more famous par 3es on the planet. Oh, we always talk about the small par 3es being the most famous. But this one, oh my god, 236 of devilish undulations in front of you now, Rory. Looks like that looks like a forearm to me. That’s a forearm. Definitely. Look how good this swing is. He looks sexy in all black as well, doesn’t he? Oh, he loves being home, doesn’t he? Little baby fade. Oh, it’s dead center. That is the perfect line with that tucked pin. Needs to sit. Needs to sit. It’s gone long over the back. Little long. Cheers, Johnny. Top man, mate. I’ve had a great time, too, buddy. Great to have you out here. Everyone’s always following this group. Brad Faxton’s there. Just a little bit too much breakfast, Rory. Just need Just need to dial it back. Fasting. Yeah, still fasting, right? Okay. Yeah, tremendous shot. Ball striking superb. Um there’s something special about the energy here, especially when they come near the end of this golf course. So, you know what I’m probably going to do. Let’s follow him home and we’ll see. We’ll see him walk down the grand stand on 18 as well. But it’s good scenes out here. It’s only getting better. Yeah, it is fantastic. That’s one of the marquee groups going out to practice. The 16th hole is now one of the pivotal holes. It’s a It’s a complex finish, Andrew, isn’t it? Well, certainly not easy because you’ve got the very very difficult 18th uh tough T- shot. Second shot, you got to watch out for the big swell over the left hand side of the green. But here at 16, you know, you get got calamity corner here trying to get over. Uh, and you know, the wind can come across and hit the sides of this this swale and play havoc with your golf ball. A good shot can be made to look like a silly shot and then 17 blind tea shot over up over the brow of a hill. Uh, it’s a a great finish. I was so lucky last year, Simon, to be following Lowry during that third round that you talked about and uh you know the sea of Irish fans um you know from the island of Ireland just following their man all the way down you that you could feel the links tough visibly sort of shaking uh under under the weight of their excitement. Yeah, it’s interesting. I was I chatted to Adam Scott on Saturday at the Scottish and even even there he was just saying you know there’s a different sound from the galleries in Europe. There’s a different appreciation like he was saying he hit a shot which was 25 ft away from the hole but it was a great shot and the gallery knew it was a great shot and they applauded him all the way up and he just said it’s a shame there’s only two of these a year because no one else in the world is there just to watch the golf. Everyone’s there for the event, for the party. Yeah. Well, that I mean that’s because these people who are the followers, the spectators at the Open Championship will mostly all have played Links Golf Courses. They know the challenges that they face. They know what a good shot is. They know that the the flag is not always the target. Yeah. You know, that particular area of the green, you know, to be able to hit that side of the green from that side of the fairway, from the rough or whatever, depending on the conditions. That’s how they can appreciate that. Yeah. It is. I suppose that’s part of the uniqueness of our sport is that, you know, if you’re if you’re a fan of NFL, you might not ever have played American football in your whole life. Same with lots of the other sports, basketball, hockey, football, but if you’re a golfer, you’ve played this sport. You might even have played this course or at least you have the chance to play this course. That’s one of the amazing unique things um about our sport. You and I will never get to play on the center court, which is probably just as well. That’s just as well. Yeah. I mean, I’ve I’ve seen you in a pair of shorts. Oh, thanks. But we could go and play we could go and play the old course at St. Andrews or here. Yeah, it’s a great sport. It’s the best sport. Here we go. This is driving range guys probably still at 10:25 getting ready for their first practice rounds. We saw Maroy, Tom McKibben, and Darren Clark coming through 16. So they were offer an earlier start trying to get that round done. Expect all of them to come back to the range perhaps after lunch. So it’s a busy place. Have you got your game? What about the difference Andrew? Let’s suppose you’re coming off the kind of like a lush PGA tour grass surface a fairway and you come to links. What do you think is the adjustment like for an American coming here? You think there’s a lot to do with a with a ball strike? Well, there’s there’s two things. Yeah. I mean, the ball strike slightly different because the turf um is slightly tighter, uh crisper. You maybe going to generate a bit more spin. Of course, spin is your enemy when there’s a when there’s a wind around. Um I I think the difficult thing I remember Tom Watson Tommy Watson used to come over his first couple of years in the in the 70s. He used to hate Lynx golf because, you know, he hit a good shot and it would bounce into the rough or he a bad shot or it would bounce into the fairway and he used to get very very frustrated until he learned how to embrace it and of course then went on to win five open champions, five championships, five clar jugs. Um I I think the the difficult thing is from American perspective is to understand the bounce and run and the concept that a good T-shot just landing two yards in a different different place on the fairway could end up in the rough and you’ve just got to suck it up and deal with it. Speaking of Tom Watson, have you have you forgiven Stuart Sink yet or not? Is that No. No. I mean I still see that second shot though. I mean look I mean Stu with a fiery bounce. Yeah. I mean, Watson landed it exactly where he meant to land it. It went over the back of the green. How did it get that bounce links so crisp from Minu Lee just feel like he’s kind of his career is kind of gaining momentum. He’s hit some fantastic shots. He’s picked up a few big wins including at Scotland. So, his game travels. He’s won in Houston. That was a different test. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. Uh I think, you know, learning a lot as well from his his sister, you know, I mean that’s great. You know, multiple major champion there knows how to handle things. Um I mean, imagine that, you know, being a Rolex winner. Uh you being a winner in the PG tour and not being the best player in your family. It’s a bit tough that actually, isn’t it? I love that. Can you imagine? Say you say what you think is dad turns around and goes so mry like what’s up with you mate just mi you can sit over there and you on the naughty step absolutely you know you you know you you you can talk you can you can you can answer me back only only when you get to a certain level but so far you’re just below the bar well I haven’t contemplated that so Minu Lee just nudging some different shots you can see there that’s the sting A shot launch an apex. So launch is five. Normal launch probably 11. Apex 72 probably normal apex 120 ft. So 179 ball speed. So he’s he’s way hotter than PGA Tour average. I think that’s actually that’s actually I I don’t know. He’s trying to like nudge one down here. Keep it down cuz his ball speed is normally up there again about 187 something like that. Yeah, nice little sliders there. That’s that’s a great shot to hit. You know, every everybody everybody’s out there for maximum distance, but if you’re an amateur golfer, have you got a swing and a tempo that can find the fairway? What like work on finding the fairway? Could be a 3-wood, could be a driver, but can you hit the fairway? We stand up and they just go, you know, the red miss. Thrash it as hard as you can and you’re making so many unforced errors. The T-shot’s a crucial shot. Sets up the hole or destroys it. You’ve got to find a swing, Simon, like a plan B. You’ve got to find one that when you’re not on form, when you wake up and it just feels a little bit off, that your bad swing is still going to find the fairway. Yeah. Uh Woods was great at that. Amazing. Um all the best players are great at that. They understand it. They’re just not feeling it today. But they can nudge something down there that doesn’t put too much pressure on them. Okay. Live at the range. There it is. Every bay I think is packed out there. Andrew, the people in the background could be coaches, manufacturers, support members. Yeah, I think the AR have done a a great job over the years because there was so many people in there behind them at one stage that the spectators couldn’t couldn’t get a view of the players. That was something that they had to obviously take into consideration. uh they had to lift the platform a little bit. They had to pull some of the non-essential personnel beyond a a fence just underneath the uh the the stand there. And and it’s great for the spectators. They can sit there and and learn so so much about what these players are up to. Yeah, the spectators are the heartbeat of the game. The viewer, that’s you guys. Thank you for all the support. Look at the huge cranes in the background. How would you like to be up on one of those on a windy day, Andrew? No, not really. Uh, our camera operators all over the place do such a great job. Uh, particularly in the most torid conditions. I mean, you want to see what they arrive with on a golf course. They’ve got all the gear. You know, they got the warm weather gear, they’ve got the cold weather gear, they got the wet weather gear. Yeah. Because they’re up there for hours. I think the chap up there is in his sleeping bag having a snooze. So there’s an enormous amount of infrastructure around here. There’s the grand stand behind the driving range. That’s a great place to watch. You know, you get to see so many more shots out there. We saw Justin Leonard. He’s now working through his T-shots. Patrick Kentlay has just joined the range. All the different fans from all the different places. Amazing to see so many young people out here. Really become much more of a family affair. all the young fans getting autographs, getting golf balls, getting gloves. That’s one of the things you don’t see so much is the generosity of the players um towards the young fans. They know that’s the future of the game. And there it is, the code for the shop. Now, there’s some fantastic swag that you can pick up. I personally am a huge fan of the yellow umbrella. Andrew, have you have you got one of those? No, Simon. No. So, the yellow umbrella for me is like a signature of I was there and it’s it’s it’s absolutely a treasured gift. I has a particular place in my house. No one is allowed to touch it. Um, so if you’re if you’re thinking about it, join the gang. Get yourself one of these magnificent yellow umbrellas. Let’s get down there and find Dy Stewart. here with John Perry on the range playing in the second open championship. Really good to see you, John. Your previous one was 2022 at St. Andrews. You pick you pick the big ones, which is great. How’s it feel to be back? Yeah, it’s fantastic. You sort of forget how big everything is at the Open, you know? I mean, you play some big events, but this is like huge, so it’s a real big buzz. Yeah. Being in Northern Ireland, Royal Port Rush, have you played the course a lot? No, I haven’t. I played it a couple of I actually played it about four or five weeks ago. um just to get, you know, get a feel for it. Um it’s fantastic. Yeah, really great. How did you get on four or five weeks ago? Uh we walked in after 12 holes because it was hosing it down and coming inside. We got round to the halfway hook and then we played two more and we’re like, “Yeah, we’ll go in.” So yeah, listen, you got such a great story for hearing from Robi. Exactly the amount of days, 14 years and 84 days between your two wins on the DP World Tour. How would you describe your journey on the tour and where you are right now? Um yeah, a lot of up and down ups and downs, but um yeah, I just sort of you stick to sort of working hard and and I think as I’ve got older, I’ve learned a lot more and how how I play. I think sometimes you can look at other players and they do maybe stuff better than you and you try and copy them or and usually you’ve just got to stick to your own plan and it’s worked out in the end. Pete, have you seen that play? He’s trying to copy other players, it doesn’t work out as well. The thing is like like John’s an incredible golfer, but even with that, you come to an event like this and you might be next to Rory, you might be next to Sheffller and you’re watching these guys hit and you’re watching them do things and you’re like, “Oh, maybe if I tried this, maybe if I tried that, it can be infectious.” Well, you know this from like training aids as well. If you see someone using one the next week, everyone’s got one. Yeah. And like you see Rory hit a three and it’s like 260 hours in the air and you’re like, “Well, in reality, I can’t do that.” You know what I mean? But you probably there’s a part of you tries to do it but you can’t. So you’ve just sort of maybe you look at all the players who hit the ball. I’m probably pretty average off the tea. So you’ve got to really look at the ones who have got similar ball speed and how do they play the game. You know even somebody in the top 10 in the world’s got similar ball speed. You maybe try and see what they’re doing more than someone like Rory’s 190 ball speed. So it’s a completely different game. Never start comparing yourself. It’s always the downfall isn’t it? Brilliant setup here on the range and you we’ve got Top Tracer technology seeing how far you hit it and everything, but how how are your emotions right now? You would have got two days until the start of this final major of the year. What what’s the thought process? I I pretty much just try and do what I do for any other tournament. I think it’s helped that I’ve been out here a couple of times six weeks. So, I feel like I’m not sort of trying to cram everything in in two days. So, I’ll literally just play nine holes, do a bit of practice, try and get the pace of the greens. And it’s the same old thing. If you hit it straight and put well, you’ll have a good week. If you don’t, you won’t. So, it’s pretty simple. First, we’re speaking to a lot of players about that first team walking on in a major championship. Um, can you remember what it was like in St. Andrew’s 2022? Yeah. Nervous, but it’s probably the nicest T-shot you can have in an open where this is probably the worst. OB left and right. It’s not the nicest, but it’s completely It’s like if if that OB was replaced by just trees, everyone would hit the fairway cuz you’d be like, “Oh, it’s fine. It’s it’s pretty wide.” But as soon as you see a white steak, you’re like, “So interesting.” Well, John, we’re going to be following how you do over the next few days. Hopefully, see you at the weekend. See you at the top of the leaderboard. That’d be great. Thank you very much. Nice to chat. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers, guys. Going to go and chat to Rob about the these 14 years and 84 days. Very specific winner in 2024. Great stuff. Yeah, great to hear from all of the players, all of their insights. This is what we can see from behind the driving range. An enormous expanse, tons and tons of targets. Great to see Andy Stevenson join us in the coms box. How are mate? Very well, thank you. Very well. Nice to be with you. Nice to be here. Yeah, live on the range. It’s kind of a new It’s an innovative new look. Oh, there you go. The young golf fan. with his dad. Father and son day out. There you go. We are definitely seeing a lot more of that, Andy. A lot more families coming out as a as a day, as a feature of and and joining us at the open. We are, aren’t we? And I I heard you speaking a few moments ago about the the generosity of the players and you see so many young people queuing up to get their well, it’s their selfies these days, really, isn’t it? You don’t see so many autograph books anymore, do you? But you uh you see them being given golf balls and and having photos and it’s it’s fantastic, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s it’s a priceless souvenir, isn’t it? I I still think having a player’s signature. Do you have an autograph book? Oh, I I did when I was where was I? the Bill Rogers Open at Royal St. George’s. I think I got everybody and Trun. So, we got Minu Lee there. Guys really grinding out. Patrick Hovland to the right of your screen. Let’s have a look. Oh, Victor Hovland. Now, an interesting story. He’s been working really hard with Grant Weight who has got his back to us. Victor great finish last week. Kind of a turnaround in his season. You know, had a had an interesting story. One of the worst rounds he’s ever had was at um TPC Sawrass. Calls up Grant Weight, who he fired earlier in the year, and says, “Okay, I get it. I’ve got to do this.” So there he is, Grant. Great player and really good coach now with the glasses up on his hat and worked all day sun Saturday, all day Sunday, all day Monday. And then Victor says, “Do you think I should go to Valspar or not?” Right. And he and and Grant’s like, “You absolutely got to go and test what we’ve been working on.” Win. It’s It’s a mad game. And Hoffing definitely one of those players. There’s a big bunch of them, isn’t there, that wouldn’t necessarily be coming here as one of the favorites, but certainly a huge group of players that could with the right conditions for them. And we know Hland deals with weather pretty well, doesn’t he? You just feel like the next thing that’s going to happen to him is he’s going to tip over into that major champion. He’s going to he’s going to pick up one of the four. And you can see Oakmont was a great chance. I mean, it was such a weird competition because I mean, JJ Spawn before the weather delay looked as though he was absolutely done and dusted and he comes out of that weather delay and turns like like into a different bloke. So, it’s a fickle game, isn’t it? So, Hland and Grant off, I think, for the golf course. Huge respect for Victor Hovland. Really good. and and they think they’re um maybe heading out with Henrik Stenson. Yeah. Stenson, the 2016 Open Champion at Trune where we were last year. So another feature, an indepth chat we can have in the open zone. Let’s join Josh Antman. It’s been a wonderful last couple of open championships for the man next to me, Matt Jordan. Matt, two top 10s in a row. Tell us what’s the secret to links golf. You’ve cracked it. Do I want to tell you the secret? Yeah, I mean, obviously being brought up from well in a links or on a links, um I kind of maybe have that kind of those kind of natural feelings and um yeah, the way it sets up, the way it looks, you know, it just it just feels more like home. So maybe that plays plays to my advantage quite a lot. Yeah. You grew up in the whirl near Hoy Lake. Yeah. And a couple of years ago, I want to take you back. I don’t know how many times you would have watched this, Matt, but let’s take a little look back, shall we? At um Hoy Lake and that finish on 18, you had you had incredible. It was just an amazing finish, man. Just tell us what this was like. This walk up 18 in front of your home crowd at an Open Championship. Yeah, it it’s amazing. I mean, normally you’re kind of fairly focused and you’re you’re kind of in the zone and you’re you you’re trying your best, but one thing that I wanted to let myself do throughout the week is kind of embrace it and enjoy it at times. like the first tea here. Um, obviously finishing with the birdie and afterwards I could actually finally say uh you could tell I mean that was just kind of me with like the cherry on top of like how the whole week’s gone because there’s so much pressure and you know each and every day you’d wake up and it would build and build and build and you get the adrenaline and then you’d crash the next day. So for then just to finally be able to release a bit of it and show like a almost a thank you to to everyone for for supporting. So kind of that’s where that came from. But um yeah, it was it’s um it I I have so many memories and I could I could go on about it for a long time. That putt there, everyone talks players I hear talk about the open roar. That final part on the 72nd hole in front of your home fan. Tell us what that open roar is like. Yeah, it’s it’s just an experience that I don’t necessarily think you can describe. Like I can kind of go on and tell you, oh it’s, you know, it’s loud and it’s great and it’s for you and stuff like that, but until you actually experience it yourself, do you actually then understand like kind of the hair stand up, the goosebumps, the Yeah. the appreciation for like, you know, how many people actually um support you and want you to do well? Because that’s what I find over here is that, you know, whoever you are, people will always clap. They’ll always cheer if something goes right. So, um, yeah, unfortunately I can’t I I could try and explain it to you, but it it it would just it just wouldn’t be the same. Yes, it was that was incredibly special moment for you. And a special moment coming up for you now is the Shane Lowry challenge that we’re going to get you to do. We’re going to get you to try and recreate this golf shot from 2019 at this golf course, Royal Port Rush. He was I mean, he was well clear here. Um, you trying to say it’s easy? It’s look, every player before you, Matt, has made this look really easy. So, um, but this was it for Shane. It was an amazing moment. A bit like, you know, a bit like you at Hoy Lake him coming home. Yeah. Well, the amazing part is that because he had such I mean, you could see it there. He had such a lead. Um, then you can start to appreciate it and and the emotion and everything like that. Um, yeah, I don’t think he was taking however many puts, seven or eight puts from there. So, I think he could enjoy it. But I mean that’s that’s why I said in talk about embracing it is that’s what you you want to do because the week is so amazing that it goes so quick um as well and that you want to look back and say that yes I was focused. I did everything right but at the same at the same time I still enjoyed it and I you know I still appreciated the open for what it actually is. Okay. So we’re going to as near as the pin now the the thing you’re you’re basically aiming for is the mini giants. Giant causeway. The mini giants causeway out there. So it’s 175. That was Shane’s That was Shane’s yardage in 2019. Uh we’ve given you a 1 and a half% slope here on our True Golf platform. Okay. Okay. What you think? What club you thinking here? Well, I’m probably thinking seven. I don’t think I can quite get eight there. What do you know what you hit? I’m not telling you. Do you think I’m going to let give give you the information? Well, that I don’t think that matters. You know what my producer just said? It was a seven. What we’re going to do before Let’s look at the leaderboard. So, this is what you got to beat. Okay. This is what you got to beat. Um, so this was yesterday. This is these all the contenders from yesterday. Dan Brown, you can see there’s an asterisk by Dan Brown. You know why? He he wanted a mulligan. We gave him We gave him the mull. We gave him the mulligan and 13 ft. That’s That’s what you got to be. Okay. He went with eight iron. So, was it downwind as well? You were saying it was downwind yesterday. So, it was a lot easier yesterday. It was a lot lot easier yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, what you thinking here, Matt? Talk us through it. Well, yeah. In true link style, there’s absolutely no wind, is there? So, let’s just let’s just hit it at that. And uh I love that. Let’s just hit it. Okay. But yeah, I mean, this is this this is quite rare, but that’s all I’d be doing. I would just be trying to hit like a a 3/4 7 or close to a full 7 and just um it just add it like it. Okay. Love it. I mean, the there literally is no win. There’s no excuse. Kind of freaky. There is no excuse. Oh, Matt Jordan, stay there. Be the club today. That So now what’s interesting there is you’re the only player to have hit the mini Giants causeway, but I hope so. Oh, we It’s 21 ft away from the pin. That’s the problem. I don’t know what’s happened there. Yeah, Matt Matt’s disgusted looking at that. Here we go. Here’s a replay, Matt, of your shot. Oh, okay. I see what you’ve done. Right. I mean, weirdly, it landed where Shane did as well. Oh, you So, there we go. Yeah. Here we go. Here’s your swing. Do you watch your swing a lot back, by the way? Um, a bit. I’m not um Yeah, I’m not loads. I’m not one of those who’s like admiring it at night time just before I go to bed kind of thing. But uh I’m just still in shock that that was actually still 20 foot right. I mean you’ve hit the middle of the middle of the giant causeway there. You know what more am I supposed to do? I tell should we put an asterisk by yours on the hit the wall. Matt, thanks for coming to zone. Have a great week you have the last two years. Thanks very much. We’ll do it. Thank you. Cheers. Thank you. Yeah, what a shot. What a charming guy. I think he’s always come across since he we knew him as just that young guy going out at his home club. He’s just come across as just an absolute gent. He’s a thoroughly decent guy and and and we were talking about the the young people in the in the crowd earlier and and and Matt Jordan went and watched Tiger Woods in 2006 at Royal Liverpool and then what was it eight years later watch Rory Maroy there. So for him to then come out a couple of years ago, play at his home club, get that top 10 finish. It was absolutely incredible. I I remember interviewing in near the 18th green after every single one of his rounds a couple of years ago and all of the other members would be out on the balcony and they’d be, you know, cheering him up the staircase and they’d be like saying, you know, giving him really supportive comments. It was it was a wonderful story and yeah, a good shot as well there with Josh as well. Perfect shot. So great solidarity I think in golf. You know, so many times a club will come together, raise some money, take one of their young juniors and try to promote them out and perhaps onto this amazing driving range to be playing at this open championship, the 153rd Open at Royal Port Rush. There’s a bit of blue sky there, Simon. Only a tiny bit, Andy. That’s unbelievably optimistic. Unbelievably optimistic. Now, one of our great sponsors, a great sponsor of sport, but especially a great sponsor of golf is HSBC. And the 160 yard marker is the birthday of HSBC. So, that is 1865 in British Hong Kong and we are most grateful for all the support that you give to our game. Let’s go and find Dye Stewart. Somewhere down there is Dice Stewart. Thanks so much, Simon. I’ve really enjoyed listening and learning from the commentary box today. Here with in member in really good to see you. What did you do after we released you from your shift yesterday? Well, I do have a little stamp on my hand, which is thankfully rubbing off. I had a lovely time in the harbor bar, uh, which is an amazing atmosphere. We had an event there and, uh, Oh, brilliant. Yeah, lots of, uh, the kind of locals came out, which was brilliant. We had Nile Horin hitting a couple of shots. Raz was got the whole team. They were out there just showing off trying to rack up some points for an event. Uh, yeah, it was truly brilliant. Try my first ever proper mini Guinness as well. Excellent stuff, Nile. Corin, let’s go in one direction, shall we? Straight down here. How good was that? See what I did there? Ding, ding, ding. Who have we got on the range right now? I can see I’ve spotted Patrick Camplay. Who have you spotted? Oh, we’ve got Ryder Cup captain. Or is he going to play as captain? I mean, that’s the big question, isn’t it? There’s a plenty of rumors. He’s playing probably some of his best golf at the moment. He’s looking so got Brian Campbell over there who won on the PGA Tour at the John Deere Classic as well. Not particularly long hitter, but super accurate. And it just proves, you know, it’s not all about power hitting. That’s so true. San Burns as well. I’ve spotted I’ve had a lovely chat with John Perry, the Englishman playing the second open championship. Chatted to some of the amateurs as well. Obviously, so many different ways of getting into the open championship. Brilliant story lines. Louis Us was here earlier, the winner in 2010. Loads of questions coming in as well, Iny. And if you want to let us know any questions, send them to our social medias. yours, mine, Pete Finch, George Harper Jr. as well. So, one here from Simon saying driving iron hybrid or high lofted fairway wood for the open. Which one would you choose? Hot topic at the moment. It is. So many players are throwing in the seven the ninewoods in the bag. You know, Tommy Fleetwood is a great example. Tristan Rose, he’s done that over the years as well. And depending on where you’re playing, you’re going to make those changes, right? I think on a golf course like this, I’ve seen a lot of two irons in the bag. So many. Exactly. put some lead tape on the back as well. Yeah, just to make it a little bit heavier at the bottom, but um you know, just to help the club get through that rough. But it is really interesting. I think hybrids can get quite floaty and it’s actually quite difficult to keep it nice and low when you know that the winds and the breeze is going to be up. Uh you got to make those changes. But yeah, seven woods are also great out the rough. You know, you just got such a hot face. You lean it on the back of the ball, it just blings out. It’s amazing. I love my seven wood. Do you like your sevenwood? Let’s just Great questions by one here from Sarah. Oh, who’s going to win the Open this year? That’s quite as if Well, yes. Are we gonna win the open? Do I have to sit on the fence on this one or It’s a bit of an obvious call, isn’t it? I would love to see Rory Mroy win. Great stuff. Who’s your favorite player to watch on the range? That is really interesting. Who do you learn from with all these devices? We’ve got such different types of golfers. We got players like Matt Wallace who’s a super super mechanical technical golfer. And then you get, you know, another one, Aaron Ry to my right over there. Also quite mechanical uh with his movements. And then you get other players like Tristan Lawrence. He will be much more creative trying to shape shots. Uh very different style of practicing. Just look how technical Aaron Ry is getting. I’ve actually seen this on socials process going on. I I mean this respectfully. Yeah. Like his takeaway rehearsals looks like an 18 handicapper and he’s Do you want to go and tell him? He’s just there. No, I I have I have commented on socials and it got a bit of a reaction. He is so precise. Whatever he’s doing is clearly working. He’s absolutely really made his way on the PJ tour. Um, another question for you. Do players practice at the range with their preferred branded ball? Absolutely. Are they stumble balls? It’s a little It’s a little secret, I guess. Not everyone knows this. You, you know, you got all the spectators sitting in the grand stands, but basically you go at the end of the range, you can choose a type of ball that you play with and try and match it. All the manufacturers, you can see the tour trucks behind us. That’ll pretty much provide every single option. So these players, they’re not all using the same balls because it’s so important on the type of balls that you’re playing with. Great stuff. Well, we’ll stay down here for just a moment. The sun is coming out, which is amazing. But George Harper Jr. is somewhere. Where are you, George? I’m in one of the most beautiful parts of the Gulf and almost the golfing world. The walk down 18. Super special to be here. Look at the grand stands. The sun is almost bursting through as well. It’s if anything, it’s pleasant. So when you face the elements of the open which is forged by nature, it’s sometimes a relief not only mentally but on the body to have days like today. Such a beautiful morning for golf. They’ve cruised around. It’s been a fast round too which has been helpful for everyone involved. But look at this. What an atmosphere. Feels like the open’s already started here. The grand stand will be packed as the week goes on. Rory Maroy obviously getting a lot of attention. I can say after the last 90 minutes or so of following this group, Tom McGibbon has been playing very well, too. So, keep a keep an eye on him throughout the week in his backyard. But this just is super special. I remember Shane Larry charging down here, smile on his face. the world was a zoyster. It doesn’t get too much better than this. In terms of golfing, you can see a lot of these plers, Rory in particular, hug the right edge of this green because if you miss left, there is a huge drop off. So, that’s really one of the only issues. And then there’s a little gully over the back here which we might be able to take ourselves to. But this is simply stunning. The atmosphere is electric. And here’s Rory now. Let’s see if he can bin his birdie putt. What have we got here? 18th hole. Trying to get a little read for you. Looks to be pretty straight. Maybe slightly slightly off the left. Yeah. Bang on. Game on, baby. Yes, boy. shaking hands. He’s looking good. The new haircuts in play. The crowds always gets excited, let alone in this part of the world, Northern Ireland. Absolutely fizzing for this week. Right. Well, let’s head back to the range. These boys are shaking hands. A few haggles, one off to the gym, off for a little rest, and we’ll be done. Really great to hear from George there. He’s always out and about, isn’t he? Finding stories and bringing us some pictures from different parts of the course. Um, we have got in front of us actually, where is Chaon? The defending champion. He’s actually to our right hand side dressed in the black. I was listening to his press conference and uh watching him hand over the clar jug, bringing it over from Royal True. My goodness, what a performance. And coming off the back of the Scottish Open at tied eighth position there, top 10 for Xander. Uh what do you make of how he’s playing right now? Well, do you know what? I went to an event yesterday and he sat down and it was a brilliant interview. I made a couple of notes. It was it was a social event and I still took notes. I love the fact you’re so diligent. It was really interesting actually. Uh, I think just about his upbringing, you know, his his dad is half French, half German, his mom’s half Taiwan, he’s half Japanese as well. He’s got a real mixture, but American. He was talking about how his friends used to bet on him at every major, and the first one that they stopped was the PGA, which is a little bit unlucky. Um, but really interesting how he talked about how he likes to play golf and how he likes to practice. Talked about actually practicing with his eyes shut as well to try and not think about his swing as much. and his dad didn’t let him look at his golf swing on camera until he was 18 years old. He said, “You’re not going to look at it until it’s perfect. It’s not perfect.” And he accidentally saw it when everyone was filming him and showing him basically. So, just a really interesting kind of insight in the way he grew up learning to swing a club, but also, I guess, be a bit more focused from a performance side of things as well. So, plenty of plenty of notes in just one social outing. It’s so easy, isn’t it? um as we’ve seen over the years for players to overanalyze and to also to be coached at such a young age to be almost overcoached. So, it’s that case of letting the natural ability flow, but having a coach that you can rely on that’s not going to change everything too dramatically. Yeah, I think it’s a really good example why he’s he really enjoys playing Lynx golf because he doesn’t need to think about swings anymore. he can just go out there and just think about playing golf. You know, pick a target, pick a shape, you know, really focus on visualizing the trajectory and everything that comes with pulling these creative shots off. And also just that dynamic between him and his Caddyy Austin. Like, you know, great friends. He’s a great golfer himself. What an absolute duo. They’ve been on the bag together for quite a few years now. Yeah, great stuff. It’s always great to have a defending champion here. It’s hard to defend the the championship the clar jug title, isn’t it? I mean, the last person to do that was who? Podrick Harrington, who we’ve just walked past. He’s got the first t-shot. 6:35 on Thursday morning. Uh, he’s in fine form and always highly entertaining. Ask him one question and it can be an hour and a half. Honestly, is one of my favorite people to bump into. So approachable, filled with knowledge as well. You ask him one question, he’ll give you a an essay response, but just so thought out and uh descriptive. I I love picking his brains. If we talk to him all day, we would. More questions for you, Insy, that are coming in. Which clubs do you take out of the bag and which clubs you put in the bag? We touched on it before, didn’t we? Two iron you put in the bag. Yeah, two iron. I I’ve seen a few more hybrids out of the bag. Interestingly, I don’t think it’s as much of a trend. Um, but it’s definitely something new, but mini drivers. Mini drivers. Yeah, lots of chat about them as Marco Penge walks behind us. Uh, we’ll speak about him in just a moment. Let’s get back to our commentary team. We’ll take a another wander. Yeah, fantastic insights. Now, Xander Shalay caught an injury earlier in the year, Andy, and I mean, doesn’t look like kind of that he’s found that old form that he had. Yeah, I’m not so sure, you know, because it was it was a rib injury. He’s only had one top 10 all year, but that was at the Masters, as you can see there. He was also tied 12th at the US Open. So, he’s managed to pull out some big performances at the majors. I don’t know. I I fancy Xander Schae to have a strong week here in defense of his title. Um, not necessarily winning, but I think he’s he’s one of those players at Major. He is always there or thereabouts, isn’t he? And for some reason, I don’t know whether this is going to change this week because he is the defending champion, but he always goes under the radar as well on on leaderboards. He’s not necessarily somebody you pick out. He seems to just slide up a leaderboard and be there in the mix when it really matters at the end. So, I I I think he might have a strong week. I really do. Okay. Well, for Shalay fans, that sounds like good news. Let’s have a look. So I think that his club when he’s not playing well gets a little bit too much across the line and he’s trying to it looks to me like trying to shallow that so to work it around him. So I mean he’s a draw of the ball. You can tell he’s a draw of the ball. Stands away from it. Arms away from it. Swings around himself. You know if you think of faders faders have really high left arms. Shalay is a fader. Monty was a fader. JT is a fader. drawers have much more around their body, left arms like more towards their right shoulder. Maroy Shalay drawers of the ball. So, we can kind of tell his his intention from his address. He also loves the challenge of Lynx Golf, doesn’t he? He’s one of the American players that absolutely relishes coming to this tournament, Scottish Open as well. He’s not one of he’s not one of these who comes and fears this this style of golf. No, I like the way he takes his game on the road. I think we need the lead Americans to to sort of find out where their passports are and get themselves around the world much more often. I think that’s crucial. So, Shalay working on some posture drills, maybe a little bit more chest and arms working together there to keep the club more neutral. If he goes in behind him, he’ll get across the line, then it’ll drop in behind him and he’ll flip it. So, let’s have a look. That’s That’s I’d say a hair too much of hook spin there. He played yesterday, didn’t he, with Jordan Spe and Justin Thomas and that’s a that’s a three ball to go around and watch in a practice day. Yeah. Remarkable power, just so you know. So 173 mph is the PGA Tour average for a driver. Now, he’s a very slightly built guy, but he’s got some serious superpowers in the way that he shifts his weight and he and he gets kind of like the upper body falling back a little bit, the upper body and the lower body leaning forward. Let’s have a look. And you can just see. Yeah. So, working on some pelvis tilt there, making sure he’s got the right angle, gets over the ball enough, and he push down into that left foot and then almost bounce back away from it. Watch that left leg. So, it kind of compresses down and then pushes up. Kind of like a high jumper’s front leg, posting that front leg. 180 ball speed. So, tons of power for a slightly built guy. Yeah. So, trying to shallow that angle. That’s a hard feeling to do. So shave really working hard on the mechanics, Andy. I mean, it’s Tuesday morning. There’s a lot. It feels like there’s a lot of thought process in there. Yeah, you got to be conscious of of not overthinking things, but he’s clearly working on a very particular aspect of the swing there. 31 years old now, show world number three. Still high up in the rankings despite his tricky year fitness-wise. That’s largely because of the open championship victory last summer. 183 ball speed this time. So he’s really whipping them away. Yeah. Let’s see. Okay. So sets away from him. You know faders will have their hands very close to him. Think like John Ram Morau drawers with the arms more away from them to help them be more around. quite deliberate in his process here. Watch that left foot just take the pressure and then push up and back. And I mean that is not his natural shape. So I I’m with this is not normalized. So I believe I don’t think the wind No, the wind’s right to left a hair. So, Xander Shalay fans, does this give you the feel that this is a man in control? Be interesting to see. He’s a great thinker. Just perhaps a question mark if that’s exactly what he’s trying to do or if the pattern of shots is what he’s trying to do. You don’t have to drive it amazingly well around here though, Andy, do you? You know, if you think of Shane Lowry, he didn’t drive it that well. Hit the most greens, but he didn’t drive it that well. So, maybe there’s going to be some other skills. Now, that looks very, very peaceful and calm. But on the other side of that, that is just beauty. Royal Port Rush. becoming champion golfer of the year is rarely a straight line. I got to play my first open very fortunately in St. Andrews. As a golfer is most special place in the world. to play an open there is incredible and I actually played quite well. Nicely done. Three under through 10. I didn’t qualify in 2011. I didn’t qualify in 2012. 2014 I shot 65 in the final round actually to finish ninth which was pretty cool. That was my best finish ever in a major. And then from 2015 onwards kind of all downhill at the open championship. Break a few eggs before you can make an omelette. I was just going through such a bad phase in my career. And then 2018 was Carnusi where myself and my caddy split up and probably one of the lowest points of my whole career. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such good form going into an open. What a start. Shane moves to 11 on He’s leading the Open Championship. I get down onto the tea and I’m looking around. The crowd are going mental and I’m just taking it all in. I’m like, “This is incredible.” Oh, what a boy. Zane Lowry, there’s no in between today. Like, it’s either going to be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. What a time to throw in another birdie. I have to go and win. And that’s the way I felt. And thankfully, I did. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to find out more. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to get started. Why not give golf a go? Just swing. Swing wild, swing weird, swing wonky, whoever, however, wherever. It doesn’t matter. Just swing. Head over to golf.golf to start playing. Find out where you can learn to play at golf.golf. Well, fascinating to see Xander Shalay working on his game, especially that driver trying to find a bit of form. We are live at the range. Now, here we go. If you are here or if you want more insights, scan that QR code, open the open app for all of the insights. So, if you’re here, great navigation, when the tea times are, where the players are, all sorts of different little golden nuggets within that app. Fascinating to see the driving range packed. It’s not a not a massive driving range. We do have bigger ones. So, little bit of congestion, Andy, on there. Will you allow me to say blue sky now? that there was plenty blue sky in that previous tiny bit of blue sky. It’s very optimistic look. So we were looking earlier at Xander Shalay and one of the great traditions in the place of all traditions is the return of the clar jug to the RNA. And we can see that now Xander and meeting the RNA and having to give back that beautiful trophy. Yeah, returning the Clair Jug is a little bittersweet. You know, it means obviously means I was the the open champ, which is an awesome feeling, but all good things come to an end, so you have to reearn the possession of it. I think my memory sort of peel back. Sunday was obviously a really good round of golf. You know, true open golf I I felt. And then of course, you know, the walk the walk up 18 is something you never forget and something you want to relive as as many times as possible. I’m I’m really looking forward to to getting back on property. I I remember liking Port Rush a lot when I played it. From what I hear, it’s it’s going to be completely sold out. It’s uh you know, potentially going to be one of the biggest opens ever. Growing up as a kid, that’s that’s kind of all you want to do is is play on the biggest stages and and in front of the biggest and best crowds. Yeah, the open’s completely different to to most majors just purely based on one, its lengths, and two, you have uh no idea what sort of weather you’re going to get when you’re on property. Lots of different challenges uh present themselves when when you’re competing in in in this tournament. Just something you stare at all the time. I’ll have to uh I’ll have to reearn this one. Sand, great to see you as well. Welcome. Thank you. Great to have you here. Good to be back. Great to see you. Come this way. It’s fantastic to have you here. I’m afraid it’s time to to pass this back, unfortunately. I hope you’ve had a great year with it. I’m kidding. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. If I can just join you for a brief chat. Xander, you told us how incredible it was to receive the clar jug a year ago. How are the emotions now you’ve had to hand it back? Yeah, it sucks to be honest. Um, but uh definitely, you know, obvious motivation to to to win again and and to to get it back. Mark, your first open championship as chief executive of the RNA. How special to be part of this process of receiving the trophy and passing it on to a new champion? Well, very special. Zander’s been a great champion, so we’re delighted to have him back. Looking forward to a good week ahead. Um, this also marks really the start of our championship week. It’s the culmination of lots of hard work from the RNA staff and lots of our partners. So, we can’t wait to get going. Mark, Port Rush is such a special venue. Tell us exactly why it’s perfect for an open championship. I think first and foremost, it’s a brilliant test of links golf. Uh, we’ve got a great stage here for some of the best players in the world. It’s also just a wonderfully scenic golf course. Great views of the Causeway Coast and Dunloose Castle and the surrounding area. And I think it’s also special because the Northern Irish fans are so passionate about golf. Knowledgeable. Last time out in 2019, noisy. So, we’re looking for more of the same this week. Sander, what does the clar jug mean to a guy that’s won it? A champion golfer of the year. It it’s a it’s a dream. It’s it’s what we dream of as kids. Uh winning um my dad being European. It’s something that, you know, him him being my swing coach for quite some time, it’s definitely something that he he brought up once or twice uh while we’re preparing for tournaments and and as I got older. So, it’s it’s a moment we’ll cherish forever. Pri Harrington, the last man to successfully defend. How do you fancy your chances? Yeah, I was just actually with Patty at the airport. So, um hopefully he can he can rub off some good vibes. Mark, as you say, this marks the start of this championship. How much anticipation and excitement are you now feeling? We’re underway. Xander’s here. The trophy’s back. Huge anticipation. The golf course is in great shape. Uh we’ve got 278,000 fans coming through the gates this week. Record attendance yesterday before the action really even gets started. So we’re ready to go and looking forward to crowning the next champion golfer of the year. Gentlemen, really appreciate your time. Good luck this week. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely fascinating. part of the traditions. I think the RNA do that better than anyone else. Andy, yeah, it’s a bittersweet moment, I suppose, isn’t it? Handing the trophy back, but uh obviously the memories will be yours forever. And uh I’m sure they get to keep some kind of replica, but the real thing has to come back. It looked in pretty good shape. I think Xander behaved himself with that thing. That is that is not always true. Um but we won’t go there. Ernell’s Aaron Ry on the driving range there. I can see shadows actually Andy. So you were right about your call of the blue sky, but I suppose on this coastline, you know, it could be hosing it down two miles away and nothing here. It’s all absolutely pretty much uh a random thing. Four seasons in one day here in one hour. There you go. Look at that. I told you you’re right. It matches your matches your t-shirt. That’s uh very nice to see. Yeah, it is great when we have good weather. Beautiful part of the world. You won’t be able to tell, Simon, but I was actually born in Northern Ireland. Is that right? Yes. Not too far away. I was welcome home then. I was born in Newtonards near Banga, just east of Belfast, but my family left when I was 2 or 3 years old. Okay. Well, that still counts. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Still counts. Very proud. Excellent. Well, well done. This is some amazing event. So, the range is packed. It is Tuesday before lunch. Some of the players we’ve seen, Rory Mroy, Darren Clark, Tom McKibben have played early and got done. So, we imagine they are lunch. Matt Fitzpatrick now. What an open at US Open at um Brooklyn. Yeah. Three years ago already for Fitzpatrick. his first major championship down in the rankings at the moment 59. He’s got married since last year’s open married his fiance Katherine but he has left his famous caddy Billy Foster. Foster working with Colin Morakawa this week. Yeah, been interesting. I I was amazed, you know, at Fitzpatrick’s ability, especially to increase the amount of speed by how he, you know, by how he did it, using a lot of um Sasha McKenzie drills, which is which is great stuff if you’re a keen follower or you’d like to get more speed. Sasha McKenzie, Chris Cuomo, all those sort of biomechanics guys, the guys at the at TPI, really understanding how your body works. You know, if your body can’t physically do it, you’re not going to be able to do that in your swing. So, Fitzpatrick, there is results 40 kind of hoham for him round Augusta, the PGA quail hollow. He really did feature magnificent load by Scotty Sheffller. big Sheffield United fan in the football as we know. Just missed out on a return to the Premier League. Back in May, usually has the Sheffield United badge on his yardage book and on his golf bag somewhere. Yeah, but record at the open. You’d kind of fancy him. He’s a he’s you’d fancy him around an open, I think. You know, he’s that sort of a player. Quite gritty. His swing looks better to me. He looks happier with it. I watched him at the Masters hit a bunch of balls on on Saturday and Sunday morning. He spent a lot of time out there. Kind of didn’t feel didn’t look as though he had the pattern of shots that he wanted. He was the low amateur in 213. So he he he knows Lynx golf. You know, that’s what’s funny about amateurs. We were just doing the the amateur at Royal St. George is the amateurs probably play more Lynx golf. European amateurs play more links golf than any other person. so many of their competitions around those marquee links golf courses. Yeah, I think you’re right and and and there there’s plenty of amateurs in the field this year by the way. But Fitzpatrick, I mean that 2013 year was was a superb one for him. Low amate here at the at the open, but he won the US amateur that year as well. So it was a stellar introduction to his line, isn’t that right? Yeah, correct. Yeah, same same tournament. Well, same course where he went on to win the US Open as a pro. 30 years old now. That fits Patrick. Yeah, we’re kind of hoping he’ll get onto our RDER Cup team in America. Kind of need some punch. We’ve got nine amateurs in the field this year at Port Rush. Always interesting to see how they get on and one of them one of them usually breaks through and uh really makes a name for themsel. Yeah, fascinating to see. Fitzpatrick with the woolly hat on. Uh Liam from tight list dispenser of wisdom and many many golf balls. If Bradley’s still there, Keegan Bradley’s still there. Should we suggest? There it is. Extremely busy. Tons of targets. See all the little range targets there? The little mini flags? Those are all like little inside 90 yard shots that the players will need. You know, normally in America, you just hit it up in the air, land it on the green, it stops pretty close. Not so here. Lots of nuances where you’ve got to be able to visualize moving the ball in and around. A Bob McIntyre. He’ll be fancy his chances around here, aren’t you? Yeah. He He’s one of the players I I absolutely love looking forward to speaking to to Bob when he’s in a good mood. He is fantastic to chat to. Always gives you a nice line or two. Dry sense of humor as we know usually with his dad on the bag as well. Yeah. Oh, that was amazing. There is his caddy and his coach. is coach Simon Shanks. He’s an amazingly good bloke, great coach. So with the purple neck band, his accreditation working with his manufacturer just getting maybe the grinds on the wedges there. There are more equipment changes here than anywhere else, Andy. And that must be a fairly risky thing, Simon, to to make changes at the biggest tournament or certainly one of the biggest tournaments you’ll play all year. But I guess you can go for broke. Yeah, there’s always lots of chat to get it exactly right. Yeah, Rob McIntyre. He made the cut last week. Didn’t really get it going in Scotland. The golf course looked magnificent though. He’d been runner up the year before. Yeah. Renaissance. And he had a fantastic start to his open championship career. He’s tied sixth and then tied eighth in his first two appearances at the Open. Yeah, he’s a shot maker. You know, if you watch him practice, he’s not linear. He’s not just hitting straight shots. He’s starting it here, moving it there. Likes to play a bit more curve, bit more handsy and through the ball. So, you can see, you know, a lot more variety. You see some of the guys really very linear every single shot. 10 shots the same. Not with Bob. Hits it up, hits it down. You got a little ballie there. That’s just a little connector between maybe it’s a little bit too firm. No. And that’s air going in. So, just firming it up. Sits in between your arms. Helps a lot with sequence. I I like that as a as a swing device. It’s hard to get the coordination sort of like there’s this thing in biomechanics, the kinematic sequence, which is the kind of the golden sequence to hit good shots with the most power you can do. And it’s a hard thing to learn. Looking forward to seeing this in action. Yeah, it’s amazing what they come up with, isn’t it? Yeah. So, if you want your kids to learn good kinematic sequence, get them to play like Frisbee. Frisbee is a fantastic thing with both arms to learn that kinematic sequence. Sort of like look at that interlocking grip there. Dug in pretty hard, isn’t it? Deceptively powerful player. Okay. So, just to get the feel of something there, keep your elbows a bit more together and keep your arms your hands kind of in front of your chest. What you don’t want to do, especially in transition, is get those hands to kind of keep running and their chest goes and you leave your arms behind and you come in wide open and late. That was Tiger or used to call that those little stuck unders. It was the Canadian Open, wasn’t it? Last year that he won and his dad was caddying for him. Really special images and uh special memories for the McIntyre family. Yeah. Yeah. He’s so likable. Him and his dad are. Yeah. Great fun to be around when things are going well. Yeah. Amazing. And that that’s the that’s the thing about golf, isn’t it? You can go out a family unit with your with your wife, with your with your mom, with your grandmom, you know, just a a magical mixer of a sport. So yeah, great scenes and you could tell, you know, Bob was grateful for all of the things that his dad had done for him. Interesting comparison here doing the same drills that we were just watching Xander Schaef do. Aiming club. A little baby draw that is for the leftander. Just looking to see if he likes that. Maybe too much shape there. Let’s have a look. Doesn’t really have a stock driver. Kind of, you know, if this if the hole requires a fade, he hits a fade. If it’s a draw, hits a draw. Great skillful shot maker. Not onedimensional. Some guys just try to fit their fade into every single shot. Fit their draw into every single shot. I think that’s the one that he would probably like more. That kind of a little lower bullety one there. If the conditions are calm, Simon, how many holes around here would you expect the player to be pulling out driver roughly? Well, there’s well, there’s 14 opportunities. I’d say 8 to 10 would be the absolute maximum. I don’t think some of the dog legs that you’ve got 18’s probably not a driver, you know, that. So I I think it would be it’s a it’s a great question of and and I mean I think we’ll see different people manage it in different ways. I mean it’s not as firm because of the rain that we’ve had as you want but it’s still you if you if you’re out there you can hear the ball land on the green and and hit hard. So you know a look at that. It’s a beautiful little slider there. Just 7° of launch. Not his that’s that’s not his full bean shot there. But look at where those balls are finishing. Quite tidy lines, aren’t they? If the wind blows, we we’ll see a few players not take driver route at all. Well, I mean, think about Tiger had that strategy a couple of times, didn’t he? Had that at St. Andrews, had that at Hoy Lake, um which was just to sort of say, okay, listen, if if I keep the ball in play, I’ll fight from there. And and fascinating, I mean, when Shane won, I think if you look at his stats, the thing that was the most obvious was how many greens he hit. I think he hit the most greens of anybody. So, um, and and just kind of like avoid, you know, that was Tiger’s magic rule, wasn’t it? Tiger used to say, well, like his thing was, “Whatever I do, I’m not going to three putt and I’m not going to make a double bogey.” Those were that that was his whole goals. As unsophisticated as that is, if he felt like he did those two, he’d probably win, which he did a lot. sliding away to the right. Yeah, but I I like the way he’s just kind of moving the ball around. He’s I I like the fact that he’s a shot maker. I think that’s something that you learn not in America. I don’t think you learn that where where you play dome golf from the wind. Golf with no wind and it’s linear and and height is your height and spin are your two goals. You know, he’s just moving the ball around. Dad has arrived in the background. Bit of shadow boxing. Yeah, senior there with Jamie We nice relaxed atmosphere down here. Practice day Tuesday. Here we go. It’s very fluid, isn’t it? Very, very fluid. Oh, Bobby McIntyre. Our victory would go down extremely well in Bonnie Scotland. Here we go. I don’t think the driver is the key club here around this golf course, but it can certainly help. You see the wind picking up little lower launch there. Keeping it down. There it is. We are live at the range. See if we can pick you out. Another player. to examine. Plenty to choose from. It’s a packed driving range Tuesday, just coming up to noon. Some of the guys have had their round already and come back in and we expect to see them in the afternoon. Other guys, that first is a congested thing. You got to put your name down. Find one of your pals. Scotty Sheffller went out with Sam Burns yesterday. Xander Shalay. Scotty Sheffer’s just been speaking to the assembled press back in the media center. But we found another famous face and big name down there on the range. Colin Morawa, open champion in 2021 at Royal St. George’s. God, that was clinical the way he played round there, wasn’t it? and just teeter to green them. Talk about a player who can manage going round without a driver. I mean, his iron play that week especially was absolutely sensational. Yeah. Burst onto the scene, didn’t he? Yeah. Um the USPGA, wasn’t it? Harding Park. He burst onto the scene. Yeah. When COVID was disrupting the golf calendar. Yeah. Interesting grip. Very very weak left hand on the club there. Yeah, Morawa. Long time coached by Rick Sassinghouse. It’s a very interesting philosophy Rick has got about from breathing all the way through to tension all the way through to mechanics and he’s just been with him for such a long time but there it is a topsyturvy record isn’t it one on debut at Royal St George’s what a performance that was but he missed the cut the next two years tied 16 at Trune last year but Moraua one of the classiest players out there and he’s had Billy Foster on the bag. Can’t see Billy down there at the moment, but he had Billy on his bag last week, which surprised a few people. Very different personalities to say the least. Yeah, you can see. Interesting to see the amount of work. Yeah. Well, around Royal St. George’s, Colin Maracawa was supreme. Maybe have a look at some of those images and memories just to remind you. You want to have all aspects of your game, especially in a on a Sunday at a major championship. You know, I’m ready to go out and make birdies ready to go and contend for the open championship. I knew that momentum was kind of shifting my way. And you just know that if if you’re able to keep putting pressure on these guys, hitting quality golf shots that it’s going to be very hard to catch. They’re going to have to do something very special. From that point, you know, you want to just keep your foot on the pedal and just keep making more birdies. Walking down 18, it’s so surreal. You know, you’re trying to take in as much as you can. And that’s the first time I really just walked and looked around and and you could see the fans just surrounding the entire 18th green and it’s one of the coolest walks uh in golf for sure. Champion golfer of the year. You hear it almost every time you tee it up now and you get chills. Yeah. Smiley face and a clar jug. I don’t I don’t think we were kind of expecting that. I mean he came out of college. He built his game around his accuracy. I mean just you know if you can imagine if you me if you were measuring him he was as accurate in proximity to the hole with his six iron as the PGA Tour average with their 9 iron right that’s another level so he’s built his game around this absolutely superb iron play TA green game he’s battled with the putter a little bit heading out I would think for well possibly his second look on the golf course. It was a great final round that at Royal St. George’s if you remember he was he was second going into that final round overnight. Louisen was in the lead by a shot. Jordan Spe was in the mix as well. I remember John Ram had a great final round but Moraua ending up the victor by two shots from Spath. Yeah, Jordan Spith Houdini always fiddling, always chatting and speed is now the golfer with the grand slam monkey on his back. Maroy having resolved that by winning the Masters. Now SP the next player people might look at to complete that exclusive. Amazing. Who else has got a chance? Mickelson needs the US Open, doesn’t he? So, um Cameron McCormack is the coach of Jordan Spith. Long long long long time. Great coach. Cameron McCormack. Not not a method coach. Able to sort of maneuver his thoughts around the individual needs of the player. There he is just giving a bit of feedback through the camera. This is what it looks like. This is what it feels like. That mixture of or that separation of those two things. You’re trying to always narrow that gap. So you can see, you know, Tuesday afternoon, Jordan Spreo working hard on his game. I think a lot of amateurs don’t don’t think that’s how the pros behave. 10 years now since he burst onto the scene. phenomenal. Won the Masters in 2015, won the US Open, was second at the PGA Championship, went on to win this Open Championship a couple of years later at Burdale, where we’ll be next year, and he is still a huge star. Jordan Spe went through a real dip in form, which he’s battled through. He’s down at number 47 in the world rankings. If I asked man on the street, where is Jordan Smith in the world rankings of golf? I dare say most people would still say, “Oh, he must be top 10.” Yeah, he’s down at 47. Yeah, it is interesting though, isn’t it? It’s like you can see there’s a lot of complex chat. Maybe trying to find When I first met Jordan, he was an amateur golfer and honestly, he just hit kind of like a little steep low fade on every single shot he hit. I think he’s done a lot of work to try to improve himself. Um, and a lot of times, you know, his strength, I would say, with his putting, right? Astonishing putting. And what happens is maybe you do a bit of too much work on your long game and you damage your short game, you damage your putting. So, it’s very difficult to keep improving yourself. And probably, Andy, you don’t want to be you don’t want to damage your strengths to improve your weaknesses. Like, that’s not the way to do it. Look at that record at the open. Five top 10s from 11 starts. That will be right up there amongst the best recent records at this championship. Yeah, he’s like a he’s like a they they called him for a while the golden child, you know, when he first came out cuz kind of everything he touched turned to gold. He was magnificent. He was definitely a Houdini. He was like a Sevy Mikkelson short game, wasn’t he? escaped from trouble all the time. Great visualization. The other slightly irritating thing is he doesn’t look any older than he did a decade ago when he when he arrived on the scene. 31 years old now. Let’s have a look at this move. So, he used to kind of get it try to load it right and then try to not be too closed to the target line at impact. tried to open himself up a little bit kind of he called it like a turn and burn. Remember that extraordinary practice swing that he had kind of like a George Gankers golf swing. Right. So kind of sets it a bit more maybe on the line. I think I think he’s I think he looks like a left-handed I wonder if he’s left-handed. kind of pulls that more of a pull through than a push through, but certainly a lot of really in-depth chat. So, back to the camera. So, what is it Cameron? What do I do? No, look here. So, speed set and burn. Let’s see if it works. Interesting to watch speed working with his coach, working hard with his coach. Yeah, as you say, there’s definitely a significant amount of chat when when you compare it to what we saw Xander show, Bob McIntyre in a sense, they just kept on hitting ball after ball after ball. There is a lot of analysis going on here, isn’t there, between speed and his coach. It feels like that’s speed driven though, doesn’t it? Is speed is speed is saying so is this the feel I’ve got? How is it something right that we kind of get which is up on the plane? Then there’s some sort of a shallowing and rotation. So maybe shallowing off with that the shaft there and then a real kind of deliberate rotation of hips and chest to open up. So what you never want to have is kind of like well if you’re going to fade the ball you don’t really want your hands to go past your hips. So hips have got to beat your hands to keep that club face nice and neutral. Otherwise it can get a little flippy through there. speed. Okay, let’s have a look there. See how much See how open his hips are. So that that we know up on the plane. And then watch those hips open. That that that belt buckle is almost like facing down the target line at impact there. A lot of consultation. He’s seeing those numbers. So we’re on top tracer technology there. You can see Spith just clipping a few away. Spith now just on what looks to be a 60deree wedge just working his fields. New turf Yeah, the driving range looks magnificent. It’s an absolute hive of activity. And somewhere down there is our own Dy Stewart, a player who’s certainly on form right now. Marco Pen behind me in you know really well. You played England golf together. He did fantastically well at the Scottish Open last week. But tell us tell us about him. Why is he so good? He’s always been so good. Um you know I grew up playing England golf with him and uh his wife Sophie Lamb. Sophie Penge now. Better get that right. And yeah, he’s just always been such a powerful hitter of the golf ball. Always had such an amazing attitude. But I also think it’s just obviously golf is an independent sport but there’s also a greater team that surrounds one. Uh so I think you got to really take credit to his team you know amazing caddy you know coach Alex and wife family uh on both sides in fact so supportive travel so much with them wherever they go and it it just helps and I think ever since his first win and I was just speaking to Sophie about this it’s quite difficult to feel settled it’s very easy to get an element of kind of imposture syndrome and I think until you find something something can actually click you get to walk around with a bit more confidence and it’s got that domino effect of how you treat your practice, how you, you know, treat your colleagues, your opponents and competitors and and yourself actually. Um, so I think it’s it’s really interesting to see how he’s really settled in and now playing some of the best golf ever. I think we can just walk over and just kind of pick his brains a little bit to be fair, but look at this golf swing. Super athletic setup. He’s always been mega powerful and I just think filled with confidence. Do you know what I um noticed last week with how highly the commentators were speaking about Marco? Can you can we just talking about a second? We just we’re just bigging you up a little bit. Well, a lot actually just saying um all the commentators last week on Sky Sports were and around the world was saying how how well you strike the ball, how brilliant you’re doing at the moment. How you feeling about your game and coming off that second place finish last week? Well done by the way. Um thank you. I know last week was obviously um a big confidence booster for myself. Um you know having a top finish against the best players in the world was pretty cool. So um yeah, feeling pretty good going into this week and uh hopefully I can just produce the same stuff. You two know each other well, don’t you? She’s a decent golfer, isn’t she? She is very good indeed. We just mentioned about how it’s more than the individual, but it requires a good team. And you look over, you’ve got some of the world’s best golfers. They’ve got all the money in the world. They could have whoever they want, but you’ve got quite a big team. Just tell us a little bit more about your team and the impact that that has to your performance and also how you can take on a week like this. Yeah, definitely. Um, yeah, my team’s pretty big. You know, I got my coach, Caddy, physio trainer. He’s busy down here. Yeah, he’s probably trying to reorganize cuz he leaves it pretty messy. Extremely messy. Who’s that if it’s messy? It’s mine. There’s no doubt about it. Um, yeah. I mean, everyone plays plays a big part and uh I wouldn’t be where I am without them. So, um yeah, I really like having them around. We’re all staying together in a house this week. So, yeah, just taking uh taking the mick out of each other 24/7. That’s what you want to do. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. You’re here at the Open Championship, Royal Port Rush, seen it before. Yeah, I came a few weeks ago for a bit of early prep. Um it’s still pretty new to me. So, I’ll be going out this afternoon to play nine holes and maybe 18 tomorrow. So, yeah. I mean, it’s a great place. Crowds are good already for a Tuesday and uh just looking forward to getting going. Can I ask Max a quick question? How impressed were you with his demeanor last week on the course? Yeah, he was extremely nervous on the quiet. Why are you so nervous? New side of him never seen. No, he was great. He was remarkably chilled under the circumstances to be honest. Um I think PGA was a big help. We’d done something that week that was quite new and then it wasn’t new last week and I think sort of home turf as well was a little bit different. So I kind of knew he was fine. It was fairly simple all in all I would say. What does preparation look like this? You know the start of the week because you can get super technical. You’ve got your coach here as well. It’s a golf course you don’t know that well although you were here a couple of weeks ago. So I mean who has to work harder here? Is it more of the kind of technical execution work? Is it the kind of studying? Is it a bit of both? What does that look like? Yeah, I mean me and Max um probably do things a little bit different to some players. Um you know, we feel like when we’re walking the course together, that’s when we kind of get really good, um productive information. So, yeah, it’s not just a matter of just sending Max out on his own and him learning the golf course. We, you know, he does his stuff and then we kind of do a lot together. So, um, yeah, I mean, I’ve got to make sure I’m hitting the ball straight for his information to be any good, but, uh, it’s just a big all round team effort. Really problem is when he hits the ball straight and that turns out to be really bad. That’s the only time we ever fall out is when it’s your fault. Listen, we’re really enjoying watching you golf right now. It’s super super exciting. Well done last week and well done on your first DP tour world win. And good luck this week. Thank you guys. Have fun to you. Thanks for your time. And the winner of the gold medal and champion golfer for the year. Winning the open changes a life. A hero at 22 and the first Spaniard ever to win the title. A name remembered, a legacy secured. Started again champion Jack. But look beyond the champion and you’ll see that maybe there’s a little more to it. From first swings to final parts. From the back streets to the big stage. From the inner cities to the outer reaches. The open’s impact stretches far beyond the fairways. Every ticket, every fan, every roar drives our mission to shape the future of Gulf. Removing barriers, protecting the land, honoring the past, leading for tomorrow. Yeah. So, yes, the open is lifechanging, but what begins as a moment for one creates a game for us all on the tea. Yeah, she was staring this one down and for good reason. Look at this. Just delightfully done. She’s on top of the world going directly at the hole. Tell you what, go. Oh, get in there. There’s something about the AIG Women’s Open. My goodness. Yeah, history is such an important part of our game. History and tradition and you just can’t buy that. You have to earn it. And it’s at events like this, the Open Championship, where you can become a part of that kind of historical steel thread that takes our game from the past to the future. Royal Port Rush will on Sunday evening host a new champion. Maybe a past champion, maybe a first time champion, but here it is. This is the driving range. The world number one has come from Scotland. He is in Port Rush. Let’s hear from him now. in the four or five years you’ve been playing Lynx golf. How does it how does it fit your strengths and are there any do you feel like any weaknesses you have? Um I think it fits it fits my strengths because I like to do things very creatively and I think out here you kind of have to and I think each year we come over I start learning a bit more and more and so I guess you know one of the weaknesses would just be it’s a little bit fresh. You know my first time coming over playing Lynx golf was when I was a when I was a professional. I never came over and played as an amateur. Um, so I feel like I’m learning more and more each time I come over here. And um, each golf course is very different, too. Like Irish links, I’d say so far is is quite a bit different than, um, Scottish Lynx. Um, it’s a bit greener over here. Uh, you have to play a lot more shots into the air. Like this golf course has a few false fronts on the greens, which is, I would say, a bit unusual um, for Lynx golf. You know, a lot of times people talk about running it up, but it’s it’s quite difficult to run it up if there’s a false front on the green, especially if you’re playing into the wind. So here there there’s a lot of different shots you have to play and um you know it’s an interesting golf course and from what I’ve seen it’s it seems to be really fun to play and very fair. Um the the pot bunkering here is also different than the other links courses that I’ve played where in terms of these bunkers I think you’re going to it’s going to be quite rare for you to see guys with you know one foot out of the bunker with their knee up on the side where they’re only you know I think some of the Lynx courses that I’ve played it was kind of hit or miss when you went into a bunker. what kind of uh lie you’re going to get. There are some sometimes you going to be putting the ball into the middle of the bunker just to have another shot. Whereas these there’s a lot more uh slope in the bunkers to where the ball kind of funnels into the middle and um I would argue that might be a little bit more fair than two guys hitting a similar shot and one guy has to putt it back into the bunker and the other guy has a a clean lie and um so I think I would prefer this this type of bunkering just in terms of fairness. Um so that that’s another you know good thing about this golf course. Okay, next question. Microphone number one in the middle. Scott, you’re once again favorite this even though you haven’t played that much lin golf. What does that put extra pressure on you? And how close do you think you are solving the riddle of link golf? You were seventh last year, so you’re clearly improving. Yeah, I mean I could not care any less about being the favorite or not being the favorite. We all start even par and um tournament starts on Thursday. That’s pretty much all that matters. Um and in terms of Lynx golf, I I love the style of golf. I think it’s a ton of fun. I think you have to be creative. Um, you have to hit a lot of really good shots. Um, and there’s, you know, there’s a challenge to it, but I think it’s a lot of fun. And, you know, we’ll see how the weather turns out this week. Weather has a pretty, uh, dramatic effect on how the golf course is going to play. And so, you know, you can play your practice rounds and prepare, but ultimately I think when you step on the tea on Thursday, um, whatever the weather presents is going to be probably the strongest part of the test. Next question from microphone free just at the front. Uh, Scotty, how would you define a successful year for you? And is that something you kind of write down before the year? Does that change yearbyear? It doesn’t really change year by year. You know, I don’t I don’t look at at wins and losses or stuff like that. I don’t I don’t sit down at the beginning of the year and say, I want to win x number of times. I want to win this many majors. I want to win this many tour events. That’s that’s not something that I do. That’s not something that works for me. You know, I have some dreams and aspirations that I’m always striving towards, but at the end of the day, I try to stay present. I try to practice hard each and every day. And um I feel like for me when I start looking too far into the future, I I think I’m a bit of a procrastinator. That’s how I always was in school. And so if it’s like if I wanted to look at my career and say I want to win, let’s say five majors, you know, I I think sometimes when you’re a human, you just have that invincibility where you’re like, I’m just going to play professional golf my whole life. Like this stage is never going to end. But you know, ultimately it’s not. And I’m only going to be doing this for a finite amount of time. And so what works best for me is just to stay present, continue to put in the work, which I would argue is probably the most fun part for me. I I love being able to practice and um that’s what I enjoy doing and um you know, just trying to get the most out of myself each day. Yeah, fascinating insight. Just some incredibly intelligent comments. seems like a guy who really sort of observes, you know, the golf course, notices everything, has a great attitude. Um, so fascinating. That is the driving range and somewhere down there is D Stewart. Oh, thank you, Simon. Thank you. And really good to hear from Scotty Sheffer in that press conference. Lots of press conferences happening today. We had a couple yesterday, Shane Larry and Rory Maroy talking about their friendship, but we’ve got it’s a star-studded range right now. Tommy Fleetwood behind us. Of course, he finished second in the 2019 Open Championship, so he’ll be coming back here with some great memories. Absolutely. I think it just plays a massive part for these players, you know, rocking up to a venue where you’ve got fond memories of where you’ve pulled off some amazing shots or maybe not so good shots, maybe you know some better angles, uh, and you’ll know the golf course of places to miss it or not. You know, he’s he’s a super intelligent golfer. Not only does he have an incredibly pure swing, he’s pretty he’s pretty switched on up there as well. So, he’s definitely going to activate that. He certainly is. And I was giggling actually because Ian Finnis, his caddy, Finno, is literally staying about 200 yards. It’s in a in an apartment overlooking the car park and he gave us a wave last night as we were leaving. I was like, “Finno, hello.” But um recently, Tommy, I mean, it was a tie second finish, wasn’t it? The travelers on the P on the PJ tour uh came so incredibly close. How’s his form right now? Yeah, I think really good. Every time I I watch him, you know, I just think he’s so on it. It’s amazing that, you know, he hasn’t quite hurdle that line the American side, but um you know, all in all, it’s super intelligent. Like I said, works with There’s Billy Foster over there. Absolutely Marco. Yeah. Interesting, isn’t it? That’s just a territory sort of kind of scenario. Obviously used to be in good to see Billy Matt over the years. Yeah. I chatted to Matt actually and he had a good finish in Scotland, didn’t he? Matt Fitzpatrick at the Scottish Open just spotted Jordan Speed at the other end of the range 2017 Open champion of course looking for a good result here. I mean these a lot of the Americans they love coming and playing link golf don’t they? You know what back on Billy Foster I was in Consontana in Switzerland and you know you’ve made it as a Caddy because he had his son carrying the bag for Matt Fitzpatrick and Billy was just walking around. That’s that’s when you know as a Ci that you’ve really made it as a Caddy. You’re not carrying the bag in the practice rounds. That’s so good. I I’ve loved the stories from Billy Foster um cutting for Seviaster over the years. Uh he’s gone that way, isn’t he? But this range right now is going to get super busy. Kev, if you pan round, can you see how packed the grand stand is? And everyone watching eagle-eyed getting some top tips and watching these players two days before the start of the Open Championship gets a little bit more nervy, doesn’t it? Tuesday. Wednesday does. Everyone gets a bit quieter. The pros do, don’t they, on a Wednesday? It’s pretty cool. It’s amazing with the technology just sitting in the grand stands. You’ve got the big screens over there that basically picks up every single shot here on the drum range. We’re going to catch up with more players this afternoon live at the range. If you’ve got any questions for us, send them to me, to Iny, to Peter Finch, to George Harper Jr. He’s out on the course. We’re going to be back at 2:00. We’ll take another walk right now. But from all of us, see you in two hours. See you there for now. Six years ago, a Walport Rush delivered one of the most emotional chapters in open history when Shane Lowry roared on by the home fans, won by six strokes. Today we return to this rugged stretch of Northern Irish coastline where the world’s best will try and tame this links and win golf’s oldest and greatest championship. The big question is who will lift the clar jug this year. The world’s best together on the same stage for one last time this year. The Open Championship is about all of golf from all of time. I don’t believe it. Gust of wind, a hop of the ball. One more roll could be enough. And at the end of the journey, there may be a clar junk awaiting. Every great player who’s ever played the game has won that championship. The journey is long and filled with obstacles of near misses of heartache. But as the champion holds a loft the clar jug, we all know it’s bigger than golf. This is history. Such iconic moments over the years. We are back for the 2025 Open Championship. The 153rd staging of the event. Just look at this landscape coming off the Atlantic there overlooking the Dunloose course which will stage this prestigious event. We cannot wait for the action to begin. All the buildup over the next three days for you. We’ve got every angle covered. Pretty special place to stand right here next to the Claret Jug and also next to Pete Finch. Absolutely delighted to have you back, Pete. Thank you. That was a wonderful introduction. It’s wonderful to be standing here by you as well on such an amazing setup here for the range as well. I think out the previous years that we’ve done this, this might be my favorite. Oh, it’s an absolutely fantastic place here at Royal Port Rush. Just tell us why the players love coming back here. It was first staged actually in Northern Ireland in 1951. We’ll speak more about the history in just a moment. Second stage in 2019. This is the third time ever that it’s been in Northern Ireland. I I think for me and I think a lot of the players, this is the ultimate test of Lynx golf. I think for many of the professionals here this week is probably their favorite links as well. Like the course, each hole is so individual. It changes direction so many times. The elevation differences from literally one hole to the next can be quite extreme. So there’s so many challenges. There’s so many unique little features of this course. And it’s in a part of the world which is just so ruggedly beautiful that every time you come here it’s it’s inspirational for a lot of the players. It’s stunning. And speaking to everyone around the place, they’re so excited that it’s back here. Shane Lowry last etched his name onto the trophy in 2019. It’s just around the front here. But he, my goodness, created such special memories. We can’t forget that new course record of 63 on on the Saturday of the Open in 2019. played some of the best golf of his life. Do you still get goosebumps thinking about his performance back then? Yeah, I mean it was such a special open in many respects because all the all the pressure and all the eyeballs were on Rory Maroy obviously come back to Northern Ireland and all the hopes really of the of the island of Ireland were pinned on Rory and then all of a sudden kind of Rory falls away, misses the court obviously very emotional and then Shane just comes through with an incredible round on Saturday still the course record and sets himself up for that six shot victory and the scenes afterwards it just meant so much to so many people and even think you’re back on it now. It was amazing. He loved celebrating, didn’t he, Shane? For a few for a few days afterwards. Went to Dublin. Uh, but one of Well, he went to the Harbor Bar first. Yes, he did, which a lot of the crowd actually have been talking about. Have you been Did you go? I I I’ve been there a couple of times from what I remember. I don’t know. Oh, great. I think a bit of me is still there. Possibly, but I remember as well Shane talking about his daughter in the yellow jacket being at the back of the green on 18 bringing back such amazing memories. He’s done a feature recently walking down that 18th with Andrew Cotter and it just gives you goosebumps and actually that yellow jacket he’s now handed to his younger daughter. Absolutely fantastic. But in terms of you saying coming under under the radar so to speak with the attention being on Rory this year I listened to a press conference with Chauffe the defending champion obviously went at Royal Trun in those battling those conditions at the weekend up in Scotland last year. He’s kind of coming in under the radar this year. We’ve got all the focus on on the Norish northern Irish players a little bit. I think with Sander last year watching him play certainly Saturday and Sunday there was a real aura about him like he looked untouchable for a lot of those rounds and he’s had his injury problems at the start of this year and he’s not quite got back to the form that we saw. I mean he’s obviously a world class player. You do have to consider him a contender but I’d say there are other names up there that are more likely to walk away with this amazing trophy. Yeah. So many different storylines developing. So much to talk about. It’s it’s pretty special standing here and thinking about the history of Royal Port Rush. As I say, the first uh open here was 1951 won by Max Falner. The fashion back then was amazing. And then 2019, to get an open back here in 2019, quite a lot had to go on in the background. It was a what, a 68-year gap. Yeah. I mean, there were huge changes to the golf course to make it tournament ready for the modern game because as far as the design, it it’s a classic. It’s it’s a wonderful golf course, but obviously length and distance and the the kind of strength of the players nowadays, it does mean that some of these classic courses do have to be altered. And that’s what they did. I mean, they transformed this incredible golf course into something truly world class, into something truly special. And and that happened around 2014, didn’t it? Yes, he did. Because we had all the Irish players winning majors 2010, 2011. So, it was a spur to to get the club to make those changes for it to be possible to be held here. Yeah, absolutely. And it’s now it’s now going to be looking like especially this week, we’ve had a fantastic run of weather. Last week, it was boiling hot yesterday. This week looks a bit more unsettled. So, we’re going to get Do you want that? I personally do. Yeah. because we’re going to get such changes as well within the weather like we’re going to have wind, we’re going to have sun, we’re going to have rain and the look of the draw at the open is something which is so integral to choosing a champion and it looks like this week if you get a morning afternoon or an afternoon morning it looks like it’s going to be absolutely crucial. Yeah, we were as we were getting the buggy in we were saying we we kind of want this inclement weather, don’t we? And the winds to pick up it makes it a a real battling the elements open championship a force of nature that’s for sure. Okay. Well, just to confirm that the weather prospects for today, it’s about 17°. What’s the wind doing, Pete? Uh, the wind is doing whatever the hell it wants at the moment. But I would say that with Lynx golf, you need the wind to make it interesting. If it’s a little bit damp, but it’s still like even the longest, the best links course, these players can absolutely tear it apart. So, especially when you get down to the fourth and the fifth and the sixth and that little corner, if the wind is whipping there, it can make some of these holes so challenging and it can switch as well here. Yeah. So, it can come off the coast, it can go towards the sea because this isn’t a straight out and back links course, is it? It zigzags all over the place. You’ve got to be paying attention to almost every shot. Like there are so many courses, St. Andrews for example, like Trun to an extent where you’re going to go out, you can play the same win pretty much every hole, then you switch back and then you play differently. at this golf course, it can change from one hole to the other and then if the wind switches, then it can completely confuse a player and completely confuse a caddy. I mean, those guys have really got their work cut out this way. Just to tell our audience, why is this clar jug before we head to our commentary team? Why is it so special? Why do the players want to live this? I mean, you’re looking at the most famous trophy in golf. It’s so steeped in history. The names on here and the the legacy that goes with getting your name etched on this is truly unlike any other event. I mean, the mass is obviously fantastic with the green jacket, but to have a Clara jug, it means you are a complete golfer. It means that you’ve tested the some of the toughest conditions that you can and come out the other side and you know, you got Tiger, you got amazing players on here. Just down there. You have. Thank you, Pete. Your hand actually was quite close. Do not touch the clar jug. Keep your hands away. I’ll keep mine away as well. Right, we’ve got cameras everywhere. Top traces technology, all angles covered. Let’s get to our commentary team for now. I hope you’ve got a cup of tea. Settle yourself in. It’s going to be brilliant. The start of the open championship week. Let’s get to George Harper and to Simon Holmes. Yeah, thank you D. Welcome to Live at the Range. This is the viewpoint that you’re going to get to see a unique view, the driving range. Um, there it is. Two holes on the valley golf course. Lots of targets. Give you an opportunity to see what the players do in preparation for the competition round. George Harper, we were out there yesterday. It is a great spot, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s simply stunning. Simon Holmes, the weather slightly different to yesterday. uh almost got a tan here in Port Rush, but it’s one of the most picturesque golf courses that the Open comes to. Uh it was one of my first opens back in 2019 and still is one of my personal favorites as you can imagine. Um we’ve talked about Shane Larry a lot and I’m sure we’ll talk about him even more over the coming days, but it was truly reme truly memorable. Yeah, there it is. That’s the 160 marker and HSBC, one of the great sponsors in golf and especially um you know this week a partner of the open championship 160 is how old that bank is. So that means it’s founded in 1865 in British Hong Kong and it has gone global and we thank them for their amazing support bringing all of this to you. So, we’ll have some of the players maybe take a shot at that marker. There you’ve got the big grand stand behind the driving range. It was very rainy this morning, so it was kind of a quiet morning. Um, but there was one man who was out there, the 2019 champion. And I think that’s a big difference, George. You know, when the rain was pumping down, the Americans were all huddled under their umbrella. Shane just kept hitting. I think that’s a big advantage for him. It’s not something that phases him 100%. And you look back to 2019, the weather was miserable. He fought the elements and better than all of them and by a country mile as well, winning by an immense six shot. So, he loves this and I think if you are from this part of the world as a player, you wouldn’t mind a couple of days like this to maybe scare away some of the field. But, it’s great to see him back. He’s had an amazing preparation. I was talking to him yesterday on the range. He’s been playing all over Ireland and Northern Ireland. Lynx Golf, different courses every other day and yeah, he’s licking his lips. No doubt about it. Yeah, it was it was that 63 really. He kind of won it on Saturday and he just had to hang on. Um, finally won by six from Tommy Fleetwood who who again must be kind of trending into this competition. Yeah, look, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if those two were going head-to-head come Saturday, Sunday, this coming weekend as well. Well, Shane’s clearly been in good form, but hasn’t delivered on the big stage thus far this season. So, he’s had his eyes on this one for a while, and um he’s put in so many hours. He’s visited Port Rush a couple of times um prior to this week. So, look, if he’s not going to he’s not going to lose this on lack of preparation. He’s as ready as he’ll ever be um for an open championship. So, so let’s just explain some of those numbers to you. So we we are the whole of the driving range is lit up by top tracer technology. So what what happens you’re going to see players hit shots and then look across to their left where there is an enormous screen which basically shows that. So um this is sort of like not normalized changes. So that’s exactly what the conditions want and it’s interesting to see them just kind of play around with the apexes. That’s the height of the ball. So obviously if you’re coming from the from the PGA Tour it’s just rip it up there. It’s like playing in a dome not here. So let’s have a look at the Larry swing. What you’ll notice as well Simon is Larry’s well on the left side of that range just so he’s got the best seat of the big screen as well for all these stats and facts. So let’s take you through. So um that the carry is just carry carry 160 ball speed guys look at a lot of that kind of 173 174 is kind of ball speed for um PJ tour average with their driver launch direction and apex. So a lot of work goes in. You’re going to see guys working with manufacturers this week because of the wind. You’re going to see them working with different sort of shot shapes as they know they got to work it around. We saw that yesterday. Yeah, that was magical. We were lucky enough to have a front row seat with Aldrich Porgetter, one of our recent PGA Tour champions, uh the young South African. He won the amateur championship at Royal Rhythm and Sans and now he’s gone on to do amazing things. But wow, watching him absolutely launch the driver. He’s one of the biggest on tour at the moment. Uh and it was just such a simple change, Simon. Um he was there with his manufacturer changing the shaft ever so slightly and the ball was quite spinny so he was losing it out to the right and then as soon as he changed that shaft bang one drive magic and it just he just started nuking it straight through the wind and it’s incredible Simon and you’ll you’ll love talking about this all week here at live at the range but the tiniest little changes in technology for these guys in particular is just so big. Yeah. Well, if you don’t have that technological support, um, you know, we’ll never hear of you. So, the manufacturer, the player skill combined with the technology combined with the the amazing fitting skills that those guys come out and they can just go, “Oh, I know how to fix this.” Yeah. And that’s right. The the manufacturers love to say, “Look, every player’s different. We want to do what what the players want to do, but their job is just to make it a little bit of a cheat code, a little bit easier.” Yeah. So, let’s have a look at the Shane Lowry swing. What I love about this, you know, you see a lot of kind of tension. You see a lot of people trying to hit like rigid positions. Justin Rose hitting rigid positions. Ricky Fowler, JT. Um, and for me, the Lowry swing, the magic of the Larry swing is the freedom. It’s like if you watch this, there’s no tension. Softer arms, not so rigid, not so position conscious, much more kind of just playing different shots. Well, we we all know about his short game prowess and it doesn’t look too dissimilar with driver at hand, does it? He is just relaxed, silky smooth. Look at that narrow stance and just full rotation as well. He just keeps going at the end there, losing that one slightly to the right, but he’s also joined there by Neil Manship, his coach. He’s been helping him out for a very, very long time. So, there you have it. Top Tracer will bring you all of the data, all the ball speed data that the players are working on all the time. Look at that high right side through Lowry just moving around. That’s the lower one. 78 ft of apex. So that’s kind of more of his bullet shot knowing that he’s going to have to play some crosswinds. Yeah, that’s the great thing about Port Rush. So Shane Lowry, we wish him well. You are watching live at the range from Royal Port Rush. We are the Open Championship and we are live at the range. There’s the scene. 24th to the 27th of July is is the Senior Open. That’s at Sunningale. That’s magical. And then the AIG Women’s Open 31st and into August at Royal Pool RNA Magic. We are at the 150th fourth. And if you want to come and join us, you have to enter the ballot. This is a packed out place. 250 plus,000 tickets sold. So enter the ballot. scan that QR code and hopefully you’ll be able to join us next year. That is our overhead. That’s what the gallery are looking at. Players starting to go out. The gallery going out with their home favorites. Shane Lowry is out there. The far right of the screen, Darren Clark. No one more passionate about this golf course and this part of the world than Darren Clark. So, Kentlay in the white hat as we move in to join him. Very methodical, George, isn’t he? It’s like slow motion everywhere. Agree with that? Yeah, absolutely. Um, almost boringly so. He is just barely moving. Very simple, very quiet, very relaxed. And I guess that’s what happens on Monday at the Open. A lot of people are arriving today, especially if you played in the Scottish Open. It’s all about acclimatizing, knowing you where you are, getting your bearings at these major venues. There’s so much going on both inside and outside the ropes. So, finding your way to the range. How long is it going to take from the range to the first TE, which you need to know when it comes to Thursday? Every little timing counts. When do I have to leave the locker room to get to here, to get to there, to get to there. It’s a somewhat of a Yeah, that’s a very good point. Like to get your rhythms going. I like that. Yeah, that’s that’s chat. So, 210 is is Kently hitting a six iron that far? Yeah, that’s a six. Yeah, amazing the speed there. So, just having a look at the footwork there. Very deliberate kind of works into the inside of that right foot and then watch him finish. Pushes across to the outside of that left heel. Just shifting the pressure. That straight left leg. Some fresh wheels for the open, no doubt. Here we go. Evidence of the six iron. Yeah. Slowly making his way up and it looks like he’s just pulled a driving iron out of the bag. Yeah, it’s interesting. You know, watch him. He’s always He’s always move. He’s not just throws it down. He’s moving the ball around and that’s Link’s turf. You know, the Americans are used to seeing the ball present itself much higher. Their grasses are much stronger. They hold the ball up in the air sp slightly spongy and yeah and ours links is the ball sits on the ground. So let’s have a look. This is a club specially put in for this week. You’ll see a lot of that throughout the range sessions. A lot of testing of two irons, different driving irons because a lot of players haven’t used them in some time but heavily rely on them throughout this week. Okay. Let’s just have a look. A little bit more wind. You can see Can’s pants just moving there. There it is. Perfect. Little waggle. And dispatched. Looks like that was a little higher by the way that he would work there. So guys working through it. We can take you out now out onto the golf course. We’re going to take you have a look at the what is now the 16th hole. Calamity. This is it. 16th. Brutal. Yeah. For those at home, this is an absolute killer of a hole. There’s some islands in the distance which you can’t see from this footage, but they’re called the scaries. And when you’re on the tea, if you look at the riot and if you look straight, you get the scaries. There is nothing fun about this hole. It’s extremely intimidating. That huge drop off to the right runs parallel with the driving range, but it is a donkey of a hole. 230 odd, 234 to get there. And the wind is traditionally humming off the left and right there. That is a bad miss. Later in the week, I saw Minu Lee miss three in a row out there yesterday playing a practice round. It is literally calamity corner. Yeah, we heard from Darren Clark when he was speaking to Dye to say just hit it down the left. A bad shot, you know, middle of the green is a bad shot. So, let’s have a look. So we can take a canlay shot off the driving range and with our top tracer technology put it out onto the golf course just to give you a sense of what the golf course looks like. The 16th is perched and there’s a massive cavernous cliff of horrific fescue grasses all the way down the right. So it’s the discipline. You can see the flag. The flag only shows you where the hole is on a Lynx golf course. It does not mean you have to aim there. No. We heard Darren Clark talking about it earlier in the broadcast. If the pin’s on the right, don’t you dare go near it or else you’ll find yourselves in trouble. There it is. Patrick Kentley, his major championship record. Best is third. It’s decent. Tied eighth in 2022. So interesting. not to have really peaked been part of a competition really more than that. So, Kentlay working graphite shaft, long iron again, just fiddling the rain, fiddling the ball position there on the ground and just getting used to the flight. Let’s have a look at that carry. Yeah, 250ish. Just kind of working it down. So, Kentlay working in some new clubs, especially for this week, the test of Lynx golf courses. Now, a man of the moment we must talk about and we’re excited to hear from is Richard Ted. Look at this. At West Lanc, an 80yard Eagle chip. He was in a fourman playoff and if you’ve ever seen a more dramatic way to punch your ticket to the open, this is it. He will be the first ever Estonian to play this week and we’re lucky enough to chat to the man himself. He is now with D. So many story lines down here at the range and really happy to be with Richard Tedar from Estonia who qualified at West Lanks and won on the third playoff hole. Richard, it was dramatic. My goodness. It’s a a social media moment that’s gone crazy. You chipped in. How are you feeling right now? Uh, it’s very overwhelming to be honest with you. Um, all the people here, it’s it’s just just a dream. Feels like I haven’t woken up from a dream, but here I am, which is fun. Listen, Pete, you were watching it. That chip in on the third playoff hole. I mean, I was magic. Yeah. I mean, I was going through final qualifying. I’d just come off the last green and I was obviously disappointed I didn’t make it. Um, and I thought, yeah, well, you know, open qualifying. Oh, it’s so annoying. I hate this. Why am I doing this to myself? And then I literally opened up Instagram and Richard’s pitching was there and it was honestly it was one of those moments that it’s kind of like for me it’s what the open is about, you know, it’s about people being able to get here. It’s fulfilling dreams and yeah, it was such a amazing moment and just the reaction and everything was fantastic. And like you said, it’s it really kind of started to hype up the Open. It really made Open qualifying in many respects. It’s the most kind of viewed clip from there from anywhere. Yeah. You’ve you’ve obviously watched the clip a few times. And what’s the feedback been from family and friends? Um yeah, I’ve watched the clip way too many times. Um still watch. You might watch it again. We’re just going to get out. Just going to get out again. I’ve seen it today quite quite a few times. It’s all over the place. And what were you what were you thinking playing the shot? Um where was the third playoff hole? We we played hole 10 already. So um made par. I told my caddy if we somehow end up here again I think I hit it really close and um just hit the perfect golf shot and um just wouldn’t change a thing really. Yeah. So I can see Dan behind you smiling ear to ear. It just fantastic. Really really wonderful. But just in terms of playing in a qualifier, Pete, you played it so difficult to to keep your nerve when everybody wants to there. So only a very few number of spots up for grabs. How did you do? What was your sort of mental attitude going into it? Well, I was just trying to take it shot by shot, hole by hole. I mean, I was I was in I was in for the qualifying uh by two shots on the last TE. Uh, ended up hitting it right, had to play another ball, end up in the rough, had to chip out, chipped it to 15 ft, and then I knew what what that put was going to mean. I mean, either miss it and go home or make it and have a chance. So, really happy I made that play. So, you made it to get into the to the playoff. Never a good double bogey. It wasn’t forward getting a double bogey on the last hole. But to have that ability to come back and regroup is really impressive. You’re 20 years young. you were saying, “Oh, I’m old now.” He’s not old, is he at 20? Fabulous to be here at Royal Port Rush. Lynx golf, do you do you enjoy Lynx golf? I love Lynx golf. Um, I think it suits my game really well. I hit the ball quite far and the ball rolls out quite a bit here. So, and I’m a pretty decent putter here on the link, so it’ll be loads of fun. We like to hear that. You know, I I’ve never been that confident. So, I mean, it was could possibly be why. No, Pete, you’re a brilliant golfer. Didn’t quite make qualifying, but he’s going to try again next year, Richard. Definitely. But tell us, you know, your your mom’s flown in, your your girlfriend’s flown in, you’re the first player from Estonia to qualify for an open championship from the the Baltic region. In fact, Baltics. Yeah. Yeah. So, you must feel incredibly proud. Yeah. I mean, it’s an honor being the first Estonian to be here and um play golf in front of all these people and compete with the best in the world. Um I’m excited. Do you feel quite comfortable in front of people? Yeah, I I like when the crowds are walking with me and stuff. It’s um gotten quite used to it like the British Ham and stuff. Uh yeah, I love it. You’ve been in Ireland for what, a week? You’ve been in Keani. What have you been doing? Uh we had a European team championship there with uh with the boys. So, it was it was loads of fun. Great stuff. You did you did okay. Not too happy. Yeah, I mean performance wasn’t wasn’t the best for the team, but we all have fun, so that’s all that matters. I’m sure you played very well. I just spoke really quickly to your coach, David. He’s been with you since you were 10. So, so 10 years in total. How important is to have that close team around you? uh that influence. Um I mean I started working with him actually two months ago. Um Oh, he said when he was when you were 10. Uh I saw him for the first time when I was 10, but um yeah, we’ve been working together for like 2 months and it’s it’s been a hell of a two months to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s um it’s pretty fresh, but it’s uh it’s fun. I was going to say cuz what’s the actual golf like so in the the Balkans region? So you got Estonia, you got Latvia, you got kind of Lithuania all along that coastline. I mean obviously it’s not it’s not produced a player to play in the open yet. So, as have something been going on over the past few years to actually bring golf to a new audience there. Um, yeah, I mean, the game’s growing. Um, always growing, which is fun to see loads of loads of little kids starting to take the game up. And, um, I’m sure it’ll be it’ll be growing much much more over time, especially now I’m here. So, hopefully I’ll be a good motivation to uh, some younger kids. Great stuff. You’ve been doing all your numbers and I’ve just seen actually most people have a two two iron in the bag this week. How far do you hit your two iron? uh 2 carries about 240 250 mters like 270 280 yards. So all our viewers out there, does your 2 carry 280 yards? I would I think pro probably not. Richard, it’s really great to meet you. Best of luck this week and enjoy the links and we hope to see you near the top of the leaderboard. Yeah. Awesome. The calm before the storm. George Harper, it certainly is. But the storm is growing. It is brewing because the world number one has just cruised on to live at the range. That’s when you know it is go time. The best in the business from all across the globe reside here now in Port Rush, Northern Ireland. There he is. Hat off. Don’t normally see that. Very interesting process, isn’t it? Scotty Sheffller. It’s like, look at that. Like, check the grip, check the face. You see him do that a lot. He’s got a practice club with a a molded grip on there. Very much a fade action. Sam Burns, that’s his buddy in the background. Certainly see the tan line without the hat. Can’t you Oh, let’s There it is. Let’s cover it up. Come on. Get Get rid of it. There we go. Oh. Oh, no. Just a little bit tight. Haven’t had a haircut in a while, so it’s just filling out the hat. Here we go. There we go. Clarky grip. Hands in pockets. holding office. He’s half spectator, half player this week, isn’t he? He’s got a lot of chat. Just holding court enjoying his week in the spotlight. Yeah, very interesting action. A lot of chat about his footwork, but not about his performances. Pretty clearcut there, isn’t it? somehow battled away to a T7 at Omont as well, which is arguably a bad week for him, but just super impressive, super consistent, and he is at the top and of amazing field and consistently as well. Yeah. So, let’s just sort of understand the Scotty Sheffler action. So, wait for him to have a hit. New glove. That doesn’t feel quite right. What else you got for me, Ted? New glove, please, mate. No good. Or maybe he’s just kind of breaking in gloves. You often find that, you know, just kind of getting like four or five or six that this week really fit properly. You you’re kind of figuring, okay, I’m going to probably have three or four gloves if it’s going to be rainy. Well, you’re not sure you remember Brian Harmon winning at Royal Liverpool, but he had about 20 gloves under the umbrella. And you’re right, like when you do get a fresh mitt out of the packet, it’s quite stiff and quite you’ve got to stretch it out a bit. So, you’ll rotate about five or six over the next couple of days. So, they all feel slightly molded as you mentioned. Yeah. So, all the little details count. Let’s have a look. This is a pretty This looks like a pretty brisk warm up. I guess he must be going out with Sam Burns fairly soon onto the golf course. That would be a great watch. And there you go. Those are his records at the open. His results trending nicely. Never out of it. Two top 10s. Just hoping to be able to hoist the most important championship trophy in the game. Yeah, you get the sense it’s um the career grand slams certainly on his mind and this feels like the hardest league for him. So, he’ll have ultimate focus this week. that that’s Yeah, it is. It’s like it’s hard to know what suits him, what doesn’t. I mean, the best part of his game, you can’t see it because it’s in his head, right? His mental side’s amazing. Look what he did at the PGA when everyone was kind of flying up the leaderboard at him. So, Scotty checks the face, hands on the club. Have I got my grip? And so, what happens to him? Very, very vertical hand path. Hands on. He’s got his aim. He’s got his training club in there. can see with the um reminders of where his hands need to go. How crazy is this? You know, think of all the amateur golfers. Think of the beginner golfers that use the same tool and then our world’s best player is still using it. The the challenges in golf are the same. You just get closer to perfecting them or your mistakes are more small. It’s not it’s it’s we play what they play. You know, that’s the magic of the game. And you know, and it’s all about your game, isn’t it? It’s like if you’re if you’re 5% better than I am at tennis, I never beat you, right? You don’t have a good game. I don’t have a good game. And that’s not true in golf cuz we go around like next month you guys could come and play on this golf course and and walk the test that these guys felt and and that’s one of the magical parts of our of our game. So, the Scotty Sheffller footwork and and what you have to understand is like he he moves very little by the time the club head is parallel to the ground, he’s already moving left, right? And then he just keeps moving and moving left. So, when that left foot is rolled to the outside and even as he gets into the longer club bounces, it’s only just supporting himself. It kind of like almost feels like he jumps like he he gets so much vertical force off that left leg. Very high left arm, very steep left arm plane which which faders do. Monty feder he had the same. So working with his hands on the club. Now watch that left foot. So you’ll see it kick. This is only probably a nine, so it won’t be that much, but it kicks and jumps. Interesting to watch him at the Scottish Open last week. Seemed to uh well get real relatively aggressive on the putting greens when he was missing a few short putts. Couldn’t understand how the ball didn’t drop on a few occasions. No, I I I calm as he seems to us, right? But I mean, he’s I I’ve never he is like tigers in the competition. He’s like he he will be the last man standing. He he will die on the course to try to get one extra shot. I love that about his game. So high left arm, two training clubs, two aiming clubs getting his pictures right. Extremely high left arm, isn’t it, Simon? Yeah, it’s it’s it’s very steep the left arm. So Scotty Sheffller’s last nine results from the Masters. So fourth kind of hoham. Um, and then CJ win, PGA Championship win, fourth win, seventh, sixth, eighth. Um, that tied eighth intrigues me because that’s almost like a perfect warm-up for the open. You gets your blood pumping enough. He’s worked out plenty over the last week. So, ominous signs for the rest of the field. Yeah. And he wasn’t super hot. He had that hand injury which he kind of said took a while for him to get used to, but I would say the Sheffler team, the Sheffler camp game is back on Ford. Three wins and a fourth in a month. That that’s kind of like Tiger Wood stuff. You know, you hear guys saying, “Ah, you know, I I’ve just won. I’m exhausted. I’m taking three weeks off.” And not Scotty Sheffler. Where’s the where’s the next competition? So, that is the best man in our game. stands very close to it. Hands close to his body, left arm high, goes left early, and then just working that ball up to the apex and drops it down. I think he feels the face as well as anybody that I can see in the game right now. that those little microc calibrations that he makes. Superb at that. Amazing to think that when he played his first open at Royal St. George’s, we barely barely looked at him. Barely knew who he was. Well, he he he did come out, I would say, as a as a as a hot hot college player. And there were many. Yeah. And then he went on to he went on to cornfairy. Finished top of the pops in corn ferryy and then he came out. It didn’t take him long. I think you know the putting on the tour was something that he you know maybe the green speeds or just finding the lines something he’s worked on a lot. Phil Kenyon putting whiz putting guru putting whisperer has helped him a lot. I actually flash back to the Waste Management Phoenix Open. And it was one of my first ever gigs in America. And Scotty Sheffller was one of my first ever interviews. And I believe that I was one of his first ever interviews because he’d just come from the cornfy tour. And people are like, “Oh, you need to go talk to this this shiflla guy.” I was like, “I was that are you talking about Schoffé or Shiffler?” And it was a little bit of confusion. I’m like, “Oh, yeah. Right.” So went and played a hole with him and and spent a good 20 minutes and it was great fun. And and at the end I kind of jokingly said, “Oh, remember the name.” and I didn’t remember the name. And boy oh boy, do I remember it now. Absolutely incredible looking back at the video and seeing the same swing, but yet so unrecognizable back then. Still a lovely guy. Oh, a great interview. He’s a very He’s such a polite guy, isn’t he? So, so respectful. and and golf is always lucky like we’re so often times our great champions are great ambassadors global ambassadors for for our game that I think that’s such a a crucial part we’ve been maybe we haven’t been lucky but like for me the best the best professional of maybe of all sports Arnold Palmer man he had time for everybody and I think that you know bless him he he created a legacy where pe where his way of behaving to the fans who are the who are the heartbeat of our game. Set set a benchmark. Set a set a respect. So, Sheffller, here we go. Let’s have a look at that left foot now. A little bit more action. Yeah, it’s like a landing the way that that left side launches up and then comes back down to the ground. So, you can clearly see this is a relatively quick range session, purely a little warm-up session. as he’ll go get his bearings at Port Rush. We’re going to do a little little walk actually if we can down uh down the range, but we don’t want Kevin, our cameraman, to to walk into anything, but we’ll uh That’s the hardest gig really. It’s really he’s doing a brilliant job, isn’t he? And then the C is protecting it. Nearly went into a couple of bags. But um it’s Yeah, we’ve got the the grandson to our right, everyone’s here on our our left hand side. But as you say, you’ve just you’ve just arrived and today it’s about getting to know the property, finding your hotel, sourcing out your equipment as well. We’ve seen a lot of two irons in the bag. Would you expect that? And and a one iron. We’ve seen one one iron so far. Wow. A little butter knife. I love that. Uh yeah. I think typically in terms of what a Monday would look like, especially if you’ve maybe just come from the Scottish, there’s a certain degree of maybe taking a lot easier. it like you said just kind of getting your bearings uh taking your time maybe just doing a basicote check as well you know just fine tuning making sure your fundamentals you know your alignment’s great you’re you’re feeling good and it’s all about mapping out the golf courses as well so golf being an individual sport it’s a team effort too caddies will be going out there you know really mapping out the strategy you know what’s my finish line you don’t really want to pick out your start line because that could change throughout the week so it’s just really kind of gauging that sort of confidence and being comfortable with your arena absolutely you did a a drone shoot here which we’ve seen which was brilliant and you were throwing golf balls on the green and they were going in all sorts of directions. It just shows how much the undulation plays a part and all these elevations as well. We spoke to Darren Clark earlier of course a former open champ and and lives literally a stones throw away. He says he knows this cause like the back of his hand but anything can happen once the wind picks up. You don’t know exactly where the ball’s going to go. Yeah, you could pitch the ball in the same spot but two different trajectories could result into two completely different outcomes. Mon’s a great example with that fool’s front. Uh you know, anything pitching in that front section, you could just end up 50 yards away. You know, it can make you look like a fool at times, but this game is hard. It it certainly is actually. Matteo Maner said occasionally it’s easy. So, we want to speak to him more about how he makes it so easy. Listen, we’ll keep you up to date with what’s going on here. We’re on Rory watch as well. He’s just been in the press conference and he says he wants to have have fun here in Northern Ireland. He’s meeting up with mates and and family. He said, “Gosh, we can’t wait to see him, can we?” But for now, let’s get to George. He’s out and about. George, where are you? Yes. Hello everyone. It is great to be back at the open here in Port Rush. I am your man on the ground for the week. I’ve been in the commentary box this morning, but now I am off the leash and I’m excited to be here. It’s such a good setup. Once again, the RNA have done an amazing job. We’ve got the open clubhouse here. So, we’ve just seen a cohort of players rushing off after the little rain delay. So, there is plenty of the best talent here at Royal Port Rush. and they come along this massive gang way uh down to the first tea and the practice screen. But look at this. Just a reminder, this is a Monday, but the crowds are massive and I’m here to take you behind the scenes. If you’re not here as part of this great crowd, my job is to take you where you would want to go. So, please leave us some comments, but also we’re going to get some interviews with as many players as we can over the next three or four days. uh will be doors stopping a lot of them. It’s pretty hectic out here because there is literally so many players that are just the best of the best. So, here is the putting green. Uh a lot of the players will start here and finish here relaxing. We’ve got Cameron Smith out there. Tommy Fleetwood’s out there. It just gets better and better. So, it’s an amazing setup. And you can see here the fans arrive through this shoot. And can you imagine this walkway later in the week when the crowds are everywhere, the players are on fire. Sunday afternoon, the juices are flowing. It’s going to be great. And then, as you can see, the first tea. So, it’s can be quite a nervous walk at times, especially if you are in contention. But long story short, I was here in 2019. Lots of memories, lots of good, some bad. But this first hole, looking straight up the chute here, absolutely stunning. uh a few a few bad memories if you Mr. Mroy who’s in the press center. But there’s a lot of good memories for players like Shane Lowry and whatnot. Got some great golfers on here. Look, we got young Daniel Hillier from New Zealand there. A bart is out there. It just doesn’t stop. So hopefully when I head out on the course over the next few days, I can give you all the very best access interviews that I can. So keep in touch and uh hopefully we’ll see you very shortly with some of the best in the business. Justin Rose instantly into vision. A very very nice finish last week. What about his masters? yourself. Very rarely do you actually remember who finished second to someone. But I think because the way Justin Rose behaved and the way that he respected the stage and the occasion that Rory won, I think you would remember him based on his sportsmanship and his like respect to the game. I mean, it was an unreal round, wasn’t it? Was it six under par? Yeah. Final round. That put on 18. He knew it was at stake and he still performed under the highest of pressures. I think had things not gone well for Rory, you could have soothed yourself as a golf fan with the fact that would have felt absolutely okay. It would have more than okay. Yeah. More than okay. Yeah. Yeah. More than okay. And you would have felt like Yeah. He went out there and he did earn it. Yeah. But then if we think back to 12 months ago at Royal Trun when he came through qualifying at Bernham and Barrow final qualifying, didn’t he finish runner up? Yeah, he was second. Yeah. Yeah. He’s someone that I think could absolutely We’re talking about older players winning an open. He is absolutely, as we fist pump here in the commentary box, one that could get it done this week. My next question. My next question, Henny. Could someone like Justin Rose do well around a golf course like this? I think we don’t even need to add in there someone like we can just say could Justin Rose do well around this golf course. Yeah, I think the answer is yes when we look at this. Tied 20th back in 2019. Arguably he’s playing better now. Yeah. 1998. Henny the before you were born. No, no, I was I was 8 years old. I was I just started golf. Man, let me do the talking. I was pumping you up there. Sorry. Continue. Continue. the very young Henny Zul 21 starts 46 maybe some rows anyway so let’s have a look works really hard on his game he was he was out on the driving range for a long time on Saturday I was at the Scottish and just an hour and 45 minutes I mean Victor Hofflin came on play with Victor it was like literally Victor Hofflin 30 balls rose 120 balls by the way, which is no mean feat physically at that age, having played 18 holes in a grueling schedule. To be able to do that is very impressive indeed. I’ I’d say that he’s mentally stronger now than what he was back in 2019 or even at the start of his career. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. a lot of Justin Rose fans. Plays the game in a really, really nice way. It’s a great ambassador of the game as well. Yeah. Global. Yes. Yeah. Nice. I agree. A great guy plays golf in the right spirit. Always does the right thing. Works diligently. I think if you had a child in golf and you were thinking about who to tell them to look up to, Justin Rose, you couldn’t really pick a fault in that. Copy that child. Choosing. Yeah. On and off the course. So Fuji with his back to us with a hoodie. Long long serving caddy. As Rose said he can’t live with him, but he can’t live without him. So they keep their relationship going. Who are they chatting with? Is that Liam? That’s Liam from one of the manufacturers. So that must be some chat around equipment. Yes. A lot of players going back and forth in caddies to the tour trucks. cuz you said Monday is the day to figure it out to try and make some changes to get new wedges with different grinds on. Typically, you want less bounce on a Lynx golf course, but maybe they’d have figured that out the week of the Scottish and then doing some finetuning, finding out what works and what doesn’t. Yeah, that’s maybe a chat about the different golf balls, maybe talking about some spin numbers, what have you. So Justin Rose, you can’t get closer than you can. You can be second. I suppose you can get closer. Tied second last year. And then Burkedale again. Burkeale. And then St. Andrews 2015, his 23rd on that. Yes, I think he would love that. He would love that. And I mean that’s another thing of the the great part of the game is there’s so many different ways of playing the game. You know it’s like you look at the tennis and it’s so demanding like if you don’t have the speed to get to the ball by by Jovovic is such an exception. You you’ve you’ve you’ve got that tighter window. American football even less football even less. You know there’s there’s such shrinking windows whereas golf has this longevity. Tom Watson nearly 60 years old lost to Stuart Sink Rose. Maybe have a look at his numbers a little bit here. A bit more of a scientist Henny than a than an artist in a way. works works a lot of his positions. I would agree with that. So aiming club, arms hanging in towards him a little bit. That’s more because he’s going to try to fade it. The more your hands hang out away from you, the more you’re going to draw it. So Xander Shalay has his hands out, he’s a drawer. Rory hands away from him. He’s a drawer. She closer. Ludvigbo. There’s certain patterns that you can start to see kind of like you know those matchups um happen though. So Rose for me very much about his numbers, his angles much more routine around his game than let’s say as Shane Lowry for sure and I think you know to your point about the hands being high and low the reason for that is hands high club head comes a little more on the inside hands low club head comes a little more on the outside. Uh, I was missing a left all last week. So, actually, this just given me a new swing thought. I know what you’re going to say. My posture was out. My hands were high. That swing thought you gave me didn’t work. Well, it did. I just didn’t practice it and my posture went out. But that just reminded me that my hands are probably a little bit too high. I need to zero. Dear dear work diligently on my game like Dustin Rose. Well, there are two types of students. Some players can’t actually do it. And then there’s another group who I can’t actually remember what they’re supposed to do. It’s like that TV show, isn’t it? Can cook, can’t cook, can’t cook, won’t cook. Yeah. Anyway, here we go. Let’s move on. Swiftly. Rose. Always feels for me like, and it’s interesting, isn’t it, when you watch players get older, for me, it’s like that hip speed is one of the things that decreases. You know, if you look at Morau, it’s like just lightning. Ludvig Lightning, you know, and then as you get older, Rose Scott just I was looking at Darren Clark and I I’m used to coach Darren. I played college golf with him. He the fastest hips and legs you’d ever seen. And you can just see that that’s probably takes the punishment over time and just kind of slows down. That’s another thing you see, you know, faders typically have much faster hips. You know, Liam in the background just maybe putting us a different iron in the bag there. Let’s have a look and see. Maybe talking about the lie angle. Here we go. Rose arms hang in pretty neutral in his hands. Always has been that little sort of trying to keep the club head outside of his hands there. just holding that ball on the line. You don’t want that face closing down too much. You know, that’s one of the things with higher hands and the further they get away from you, there’s more rate of face closer. So, you need almost either to get ahead of it or to play that draw. Whereas, if it’s if it’s closer to you and you’re quicker hips like a Moraua, that club face stays much more stable through that hitting zone. Um, those are the different combinations. my associate henny nodding and oh no now not nodding now hand hands in head. Yeah because this is everything that was wrong with my game last week had I just listened then I wouldn’t have missed it left and even further left and then left again. But on the plus side I know exactly what to do to remedy it. What are your thoughts on his footwork here? very on the outside of the left foot. Yeah, it’s it’s interesting. I think that, you know, it’s kind of giving giving yourself space to get the matchups as you get slower. So, let’s have a look. And, you know, much more planted, much more steady feet. You know, we see from some of the younger players, Scotty Sheffler in particular, much more, you know, dancing feet. The feet are just trying to balance the body. Justin Thomas has got both heels in the air, almost both toes in the air. So that huge vertical force is a modern part of the game. Rose is more kind of lateral and rotational kind of staying on a flat. So who’s working hard yesterday on just trying to keep those body angles look to us like keeping that left arm on his chest a bit more coming down. I always felt like when I watched him years ago when he wasn’t playing well, it was almost like that transition speed, you know, he got kind of almost like almost started the down swing too quickly and kind of got a bit wipey and then that left arm comes off his chest, gets stuck under it, kind of too grip first into the ball. Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? Because you’ve got multiple different things going on and different points at which things can go wrong. You got the setup, height of the hands, and this is where someone like Justin Rose being so diligent is helpful because he stays on top of everything. Then you’ve got top of the back swing in that transition which speedwise can throw things off. And then you’ve got holding the hands off through the ball. Yeah. And the footwork. It is interesting. It’s like, you know, you look behind the best players and so many times you just see the best coaches standing there. It’s not it’s not a game I think you can play independently because the feedbacks that you need are so micro, aren’t they? But they make such massive mistakes once you get downstream towards impact. So Rose just working through some longer shots here. Holding that one up nicely. I think that’s kind of what he was trying to do there. Let’s have a look. Is that the Is that the uh Looks like a mini driver. Yeah, I would I would say so. There he is. What do you think, Luke? Do you think Luke Donald’s looking and saying, “Yeah, foregone conclusion, Justin. You are on my team or you’ve got to do something to show me.” I think Dro has done enough going to America as well. On top of that, I think he’s done enough, especially if you look at the dynamic within the team and the fact there’s a lot more younger players coming through. Who is your stalwart? who’s the one that’s going to guide them, help them be that almost vice captain or captain in the team room and lead the players, the younger guys. And I think Justin is perfect doing that. And he showed it with Bob McIntyre in Rome and how he led him to greatness really. And then Bob went on and had a wonderful year. Rose never let him get a foot away from him. He just took him by the hand and took him all the way through. So yeah, given how he’s performed so far this year, I think the Masters put him firmly on the radar and then he’s been consistent since then. Yeah, I think that I think last week at the Genesis was important for him. He put some really good shots together. Was fascinating to see him go out there with Holland on Saturday. Hopefully both of those players will be in our team in September. Amazing to think this is the last men’s major. We’re kind of done with the we go this PJ tour a bit, boom, FedEx, then a big break and then ride a cup and that’s the end of 2025. They come thick and fast these majors through the summer, don’t they? From Are you Are you a fan of that? Do you know what? I am a fan of the condensed season. I’m a fan of the season ending at the Tour Champs. And then you’ve got the full series events which essentially play for positions 51 on the FedEx Cup rankings upwards to see who gets what category for next year ahead of Q school. I am I’m a big fan of the season ending at Tour Champs cuz I didn’t like it rumbling on and being a wraparound season and ultimately I think the majors being squeezed up together are a product of that. Oh, stop it. Have a look at that. Justin Rose, you’d missed that. Kenny, you were looking at me. I was. Oh, you It’s like James Bond. I That’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like that. Misses the ball. One foot up in the air. Doesn’t get it back in. But two back in. Straight in the hand. Ball on the tea. I’m in luck because our esteemed producer has just said that there is a replay lurking around somewhere. Come on, Rosie with some different skills. I don’t think we were expecting that. Not at his age. Do you think you could do that? You had that level of coordination. Dangerous level of coordination. Thank you, Henny. You’re going to add this to your repertoire. That was so impressive. Now you see now he’s got Look at that. See, no one’s he’s got seven people working for him. No one’s paying attention. He’s done it again. No, no, no, no. It wasn’t that. I suppose we feel that’s well we’re just seeing some different skills now so non zone here we go miss one two a what you think of that iconic isn’t it hey I mean you don’t see that every day I am very grateful to our team for finding that for me because that is what I’m going to be practicing in the zone all week long until I get it you could actually have that as part of your challenge Yeah, the Justin Rose challenge. What’s it? What’s the keepyuppies? Well, I think of football skills there, which is concerning for me. You think the Americans wouldn’t be good at that? I don’t think I would be if I had to demo that. Well, you got the wrong shoes on for that. But I think Thank you. Here we go. Back on to Rosie. Still got tons of speed. Plenty of speed. 173 ball speed. still right on top of PGA Tour average. Here we go. So, Shane Lowry. Yeah. Wandering past. Yeah. Shane was up early. He was first on the range, I think. Had his rain has. Yeah. In the pouring rain. Now, here we go. Have a look at this. Look how open he is to us when he hits. Easily can see his belt buckle. See his how the rotation there finish that. Yes. I love that move from impact up to the following fish. If you could bottle that and sell it, I think he would be a bazillionaire. Welcome once again to Live at the Range day two and it is major week. It’s open championship week and you can feel the excitement. You really can. Here with Pete Finch on the range. Pete, really good to see you. It’s been we spent 24 hours together yesterday. We certainly learned a lot. It’s the Tuesday of the open. Things get a little bit more intense, don’t they? Monday, everyone was arriving. What happens today? I mean, yeah, you’re right. Yesterday was more like a reunion is people seeming to say hello after quite some time apart, especially playing all the different tours. And today, few more coaches, few more launch monitors, a little bit more tension in the air because after the delays yesterday as well with the thunder, this is going to be the point where people are trying to get the games in shape and seeing the course fully, maybe some for the first time. Yeah, it’s going to be absolutely packed, isn’t it? Let’s take a little a little walk down the range, which will be really it’s pretty busy already, but we’ll be in an hour or so. Uh we know that Darren Clark is out with Rory Maroy today. They’re playing together. Darren, we spoke to yesterday. He’s got his house just over there. Obviously, a previous open champion. Um he had an event last night. He really enjoys the hospitality of Northern Ireland, doesn’t he? He does. Yeah. I mean, he’s had a hole named after him, which is which is a huge honor. I mean, for a course that you grow up playing, like to have a hole named after you to be put alongside I think it’s Fred Daly’s got a hole out there. That’s right. You know, it’s it’s an amazing amazing thing to be able to tell people. And then Gray McDow got a hole named after him on the other course, which I noticed how he slipped that in there. On the valley course. On the valley course. Yeah, this place is just steeped in history, mentioning Fred Daly, who won the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, a Northern Irishman. Uh, but we like to highlight the the the Irish guys. Obviously, Shane Lowry press conference yesterday, a winner in 2019. He was taken down memory lane. He said, you know, it really doesn’t count for anything. you know, I’m back on the tea on Thursday and I’ve got to prove myself once again. I love the fact in the press conference they spoke about his close relationship with Rory Maroy and just I think it’s really interesting for our viewers to know these guys are really close, aren’t they? They they they already you already know that they live in Florida, but they’ve learned from each other, haven’t they? What what has Shane learned from Rory? Um I I think what Shane has probably learned from Rory is when you get good friends who play together a lot. I mean Shane must have beat Rory so many times in matches that they played and and yeah vice vice versa. Yeah. So Shane can look at that and say yeah Rory is a generational player one of the best that’s kind of ever been in the modern era and I can beat him you know to so you can build on that confidence. Is this why you see friends when one of them wins you often find that others win pretty close after because they feel the confidence they understand you know I can do this. Yeah. with Shane. I I would be thinking that that win in 2019 counts for a lot. And not that it counts for nothing, he has to prove himself again because over the past, you know, 5 years, he’s not won the PJ tour. He’s obviously not won another manger. I would be taking every ounce of confidence in every positive memory from 2019 and drilling that into my subconscious and just trying to feed off it again. Yeah. Yeah, because he must be he must be stepping on some holes and remembering the great shots and the feelings that he would have had. Well, I what sticks in my mind is that second shot on the 10th hole where he used the mounds, used the contours. We speak about the elevation on this golf course, the ups and downs of it and he just with his caddy bow, they just that shot was they had quite a lot of discussion about that. But if you check the archives, second on 10 to that round of 63 on the Saturday, it was absolutely brilliant from Shane. to draw on all those experiences, but you’ve got four rounds of golf in the elements. Rory was saying from Shane, he’s learning how to, you know, enjoy life. You said at the end of last year, he wanted to have more fun in his life, and hopefully he’s finding that balance. The Scottish Open last week, he said he’s got loads of positives from What did you see from him at the Scottish? I mean, you saw him come back into form. I mean, we could be honest about it. Since the Masters, he’s he’s not played well at all. He’s not really played a lot from that point because it must have been such an emotional comedown to win an event which everybody’s been talking about for so long for a decade to finally climb that mountain and think about well what am I going to do next and he’s already mentioned in press conferences about this open was circled in the calendar before the Masters this is the one that he’s looking forward to the most what my fear is with Rory is when he starts to build tournaments up and when he starts to talk about them he very rarely comes through to win because the emotion you just get so emotional about these things. You know, I quite liked though in the press press conference yesterday, he said in 2019 he tried to sort of close himself off a bit and this year he’s going to go out there and embrace every part of it. So, it’s got it to get that balance as a golfer because you got the fans who want your attention. Yeah. You’ve got the practice rounds which are really busy, really packed. Yeah. And then you got to perform on the Thursday. So to to find that mental balance of of how much to give to to sponsors, to crowds, and then to your performance, it’s it’s so intricate, isn’t it? Yeah. And with with Rory, the the mental game and the mindset he takes into tournaments is probably more important than his golf because we all know he’s an incredible player. Like we all know what an amazing he played well last week. You don’t think No, no, he did. He did. He did play well. Um and I’m kind of thinking maybe second place isn’t bad, is it? No. And I’m kind of thinking maybe not winning last week’s probably a positive because he takes less energy. How many How many guys have won the Scottish and then gone to win the Open? I think maybe Mickelson was um a while ago. I think he’s the only one I he’s one thing. But like there’s different approaches that you can take. So that I know Shane’s doesn’t play the Scottish Open. No, he hasn’t played he’s only played it once in the last eight years and then he went and missed the the cut at Hoy Lake. So he likes Shane’s been having a great time. I’m sure you’ve seen him all over social media. He’s been playing the best courses in Ireland. They’re absolutely gorgeous. Waterville, Waterville, um, a Dare Manner, Hogs Head, and he said, “Actually, the weather’s been too good. He could have done with a bit more wind, a bit more rain, a little bit more prep.” I mean, he’s going to get it this week, isn’t it? I think Well, they all are, obviously. I mean, having a local advantage and having knowledge of what that weather’s going to be like and how to cope with it is is is massive. It is crucial. So, we’ve got an amazing team with us this week and I’m hearing that George is is behind us. Yes. Good morning everyone and welcome to the 12th hole, the par five and a very happy Darren Clark, his favorite major of the year. No doubt when he last time he was here in Port Rush, he absolutely loved showing people around. And today he is showing around Rory Mcro and Tom Gibven. So a very hometown affair in this three ball this morning 512. Lovely hole shaping up at 532 yds. Good to see Tom McGiban back. bunkers lining the right edge of this fairway and the slopes ever so slightly towards them. So you want to be hugging the left fun hull, no doubt about it. But naturally the crowds have started gathering. These are such a good opportunity to come see your favorite players during these practice days. Oh yeah, that is spanked. Dead center. A1. Right. So, he’s got right down to what looks to be the third trap on this fairway, which is Wow. Okay, that’s 320 y. Let’s see what Rory can do here. Setup looks immaculate as per usual. Lost it. Well, right. Oh, wow. This is drifting a long way right. Would like a reload there. Crazy to think what happened last time in 2019. Starting with that eight, a big old quad on the first and finished with a seven. So outside of that, he was just one over path for the other 16 holes of that first round in 2019. So we can shift it around here once he gets going. And oh my goodness, that’s way left. Okay, it’s a spray can. And look at that very narrow view, but you can see the crowds here. absolutely flooding to watch Rory. Uh and Rory’s first ball went way out to the right and his second ball’s gone left side. So, uh little bit of rust, but this is a really nice fun part of the course, the 12th hole. Good attacking par five opportunity and then into a fun par three 13th. So, as you can see, the atmosphere is already electric, guys. So, I think I’m going to follow Rory for a few holes now, just because I don’t know, maybe I’m a fan of golf. Maybe I like that. Um, much like everyone here. But I’ll tell you what, these practice days, it gets better and better as we start ramping up to the 153rd Open Championship. Come on, we’ll see you soon. Getting a nice clap to the tea here is Darren Clark. Darren, always a pleasure, mate. You’re showing the young bucks around uh your backyard. How How fun is that? It’s brilliant. The two of them know it well anyway. They’ve played a lot of golf here as well. So, but anytime you get a chance to play with with Roers um the best player, he’s just he’s incredible. And then Tom’s just working away and he’s he’s the potential to be do the same as Roers and just win everything in front of him. I remember seeing you here in 2019 and showing everyone the angles, especially a few American friends. What other key features you are showing boys uh from out of town? There’s just there’s a few breaks in the greens which are not particularly uh obvious. Um, and about it’s more about landing at 5, six, seven on, not taking on the flies cuz you’re going to run into trouble and you got to keep it in the fairways. You got to hit it well off at around Royal Port Rush. Keep it on the fairways and give yourself a chance from there. M, this is a big week for you, not only on the course, but socially as well. How do you balance uh both your social life and your professional life? Yeah. Well, it was down down in the harbor borrow last week, so I’m staying away from it this week. It’s going to be a little bit too crazy and the uh the Guinness is a little bit too nice. Nice. You hitting it all right? Yeah, not bad. Not bad. Not uh little bit too frequently for my liking, but not too bad. Nice. All right. Do you want to give us a brief explanation of what you’re doing here on 13? Well, trying to hit a decent shot, but it’s um the green runs away from you a lot here in 13. So, anything that lands in the front, usually this green releases a lot. And uh it’s very quick from front to back and very slow from back to front. Um it’s a natural little feed in from from the right, especially getting to that back left flag. Anything in the front, if you try and get cute, you’ll plug it in that front bunker. So, you got to play smart. Just take your sometimes taking your 30 foot past the hole here is probably a prudent play, but uh I’m not always that smart. It’s been good chatting to you. Enjoy the round. All right. All right. Tom McKibben now. Yeah. Darren Clark, I suppose our host this week, Andrew Colart. Yeah, you’d have to kind of 190 to the front. That looks beautiful. Now, judging by Rory’s bag, he’s missing an eight iron. So, great shot. So, Tom McGibbons just put that to 3 feet, 4 feet. Rory Maroy with a with an eight iron in hand. Here he is. What’s he got on the bag? Lovely high mighty eight on. It’s drawing back. This is all over it. A little kick to the left. Yeah, dynamite. Absolutely brilliant. Um, that was just pure ball striking. Now Darren Clark probably using a slightly different club to Rory Zeton, but he too has gone straight at it. I hear. Well, while we’re here, we we might as well talk to another happy Irishman. Tom, welcome back. How awesome is this? An open uh in your home country. Yeah, it’s uh it’s pretty amazing um to be playing an open here at Royal Port Rush where I’ve played a lot sort of growing up and um I missed the last one here in 2019. Um I didn’t even get to come up and watch. So to be playing in this one is pretty pretty special. And good to be playing with two pretty experienced campaigners. You’ve played a lot with Rory now in warm-up rounds for the Open. Yeah. Um yeah, it’s been good to play again today. We played last year um at Tron all three of us. So um to get that arranged again this year and and play somewhere that Dire’s obviously spent a lot of time, always played um was great. So looking forward to the week ahead. Yeah, you’re starting to experience some big occasions. How different is it to have a crowd like this all on your side and cheering you on throughout the week? Yeah, it’s it’s different. I mean, it’s it’s so cool to have um so cool to experience. I think these these weeks just definitely feel a lot bigger. Even the driving range, everyone’s sort of a lot busier. There’s a lot more going on. Um, but it’s it’s pretty cool to experience and and the more you get to play them, I think the the more you get used to them. Nice. Well, we’ll let you catch up with the boys, but uh enjoy being at home and good luck this week. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you. Cheers, Tommy. Well, there you have it. A very chirpy three ball and a very talented three ball is that. So, I’m not sure how good our zoom is, but you can see two very, very close little white rocks next to the pin. Uh Tom McGibbon the closest and Rory Maroy just maybe 6 7 ft to the right. He’ll probably dribble that one in for Birdie. And this is maybe where he’s going to make his charge come Thursday morning. Live on the range. It’s kind of a new It’s an innovative new look. Oh, there you go. The young golf fan with his dad. Father and son day out. There you go. We are definitely seeing a lot more of that, Andy. A lot more families coming out as a as a day, as a feature of and and joining us at the open. We are, aren’t we? And I I heard you speaking a few moments ago about the the generosity of the players and you see so many young people queuing up to get their well, it’s their selfies these days, really, isn’t it? You don’t see so many autograph books anymore, do you? But you uh you see them being given golf balls and and having photos and it’s it’s fantastic, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s it’s a priceless souvenir, isn’t it? I I still think having a player’s signature. Do you have an autograph? Oh, I I did when I was where was I the Bill Rogers open at Royal St. George’s. I think I got everybody and Trun. So, we got Minu Lee there. guys really grinding out. Patrick Hovland to the right of your screen. Let’s have a look. Oh, Victor Hovland. Now, an interesting story. He’s been working really hard with Grant Weight who has got his back to us. Victor great finish last week. Kind of a turnaround in his season, you know, had a had an interesting story. One of the worst rounds he’s ever had was at um TPC Sorrass. Calls up Grant Weight who he fired earlier in the year and says, “Okay, I get it. I’ve got to do this.” So there he is. Grant, great player and really good coach now with the glasses up on his hat and worked all day sun Saturday, all day Sunday, all day Monday. And then Victor says, “Do you think I should go to Valspar or not?” Right. and he and and Grant’s like you absolutely got to go and test what we’ve been working on. win. It’s It’s a mad game and Hofflin definitely one of those players. There’s a big bunch of them, isn’t there, that wouldn’t necessarily be coming here as one of the favorites, but certainly a huge group of players that could with the right conditions for them. And we know Hoffland deals with weather pretty well, doesn’t he? Well, you you just feel like the next thing that’s going to happen to him is he’s going to tip over into that major champion. He’s going to he’s going to pick up one of the four. And you can see Oakmont was a great chance. I mean it was such a weird competition because I mean JJ Spawn before the weather delay looked as though he was absolutely done and dusted and he comes out of that weather delay and turns like like into a different bloke. So it’s a fickle game, isn’t it? So Hland and Grant off I think for the golf course. Huge respect for Victor Hovland. really good and and they think they’re um maybe heading out with Henrik Stenson. Yep. Stenson, the 2016 Open Champion at Trune where we were last year. So another feature, an indepth chat we can have in the open zone. Let’s join Josh Aman. It’s been a wonderful last couple of open championships for the man next to me, Matt Jordan. Matt, two top 10s in a row. Tell us what’s the secret to links golf. You’ve cracked it. Do I want to tell you the secret? Yeah, I mean, obviously being brought up from well in a links or on a links, um I kind of maybe have that kind of those kind of natural feelings and um yeah, the way it sets up, the way it looks, you know, it just it just feels more like home. So maybe that plays plays to my advantage quite a lot. Yeah. You grew up in the whirl near Hoy Lake. Yeah. And a couple of years ago, I want to take you back. I don’t know how many times you would have watched this, Matt, but let’s take a little look back, shall we? At um Hoy Lake and that finish on 18. You had Come on, Mar. You had incredible. It was just an amazing finish, man. Just tell us what this was like. This walk up 18 in front of your home crowd at an Open Championship. Yeah, it it’s amazing. I mean, normally you’re kind of fairly focused and you’re you’re kind of in the zone and you’re you’re trying your best, but one thing that I wanted to let myself do throughout the week is kind of embrace it and enjoy it at times. like the first tea here. Um, obviously finishing with a birdie and afterwards I could actually finally say uh you could tell I mean that was just kind of me with like the cherry on top of like how the whole week’s gone because there’s so much pressure and you know each and every day you’d wake up and it would build and build and build and you get the adrenaline and then you’d crash the next day. So for then just to finally be able to release a bit of it and show like a almost a thank you to to everyone for for supporting. So kind of that’s where that came from. But um yeah, it was it’s um it I I have so many memories and I could I could go on about it for a long time. That putt there, everyone talks players I hear talk about the open roar. That final part on the 72nd hole in front of your home fan. Tell us what that open roar is like. Yeah, it’s it’s just an experience that I don’t necessarily think you can describe. Like I can kind of go on and tell you, oh it’s, you know, it’s loud and it’s great and it’s for you and stuff like that, but until you actually experience it yourself, do you actually then understand like kind of the hair stand up, the goosebumps, the Yeah. the appreciation for like, you know, how many people actually um support you and want you to do well? Because that’s what I find over here is that, you know, whoever you are, people will always clap. They’ll always cheer if something goes right. So, um, yeah, unfortunately, I can’t I I could try and explain it to you, but it it it would just it just wouldn’t be the same. Yes, that was incredibly special moment for you. And a special moment coming up for you now is the Shane Lowry challenge that we’re going to get you to do. We’re going to get you to try and recreate this golf shot from 2019 at this golf course, Royal Port Rush. He was I mean, he was well clear here. Um, you trying to say it’s easy. It’s look every player before you Matt has made this look really easy. So, but this was it for Shane. It was an amazing moment. A bit like, you know, a bit like you at Hoy Lake him coming home. Yeah. Well, the amazing part is that because he had s I mean you could see it there. He had such a lead. Um then you can start to appreciate it and and the emotion and everything like that. Um yeah, I don’t think he was taking however many puts, seven or eight puts from there. So, I think he could enjoy it. But I mean that’s that’s why I said in talk about embracing it is that’s what you you want to do because the week is so amazing that it goes so quick um as well and that you want to look back and say that yes I was focused. I did everything right but at the at the same time I still enjoyed it and I you know I still appreciated the open for what it actually is. Okay. So we’re going to as near as the pin now the the thing you’re you’re basically aiming for is the mini giants. Giant causeway the mini giants causeway out there. So it’s 175. That was Shane’s That was Shane’s yardage in 2019. Uh we’ve given you a 1 and a half% slope here on our True Golf platform. Okay. Okay. What you What club you thinking here? Well, I’m probably thinking seven. I don’t think I can quite get eight there. What do you know what you hit? I’m not telling you. Do you think I’m going to let give give you the information? Well, that I don’t think that matters. You know what my producer just said? It was a seven. Was it what we’re going to do before Let’s look at the leaderboard. So, this is what you got to beat. Okay. This is what you got to beat. Um, so this was yesterday. This is these all the contenders from yesterday. Dan Brown, you can see there’s an asterisk by Dan Brown. You know why? He he wanted a mulligan. We gave him We gave him the mull. We gave him the mulligan and 13 ft. That’s That’s what you got to beat. Okay. He went with eight iron. So, was it downwind as well? You were saying it was downwind yesterday. So, it was a lot easier yesterday. It was a lot lot easier yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, what you thinking here, Matt? Talk us through it. Well, yeah. In true link style, there’s absolutely no wind, is there? So, let’s just let’s just hit it at that. And I love that. Let’s just hit it. Okay. But yeah, I mean, this is this this is quite rare, but that’s all I’d be doing. I would just be trying to hit like a a 3/4 7 or close to a full 7 and just um it just add it like it. Okay. Love it. I mean, the there literally is no win. There’s no excuse. Kind of freaky. There is no excuse. Oh, Matt Jordan, stay there. Be the club today. So now what’s interesting there is you’re the only player to have hit the mini Giants causeway, but I hope so. Well, we It’s 21 ft away from the pin. That’s the problem. I don’t know what’s happened there. Yeah, Matt Matt’s disgusted looking at that. Here we go. Here’s a replay, Matt, of your shot. Oh, okay. I see what you’ve done. Right. I mean, weirdly, it landed where Shane did as well. Oh, you So, there we go. Yeah. Here we go. Here’s your swing. Do you watch your swing a lot back, by the way? Um, a bit. I’m not um Yeah, I’m not loads. I’m not one of those who’s like admiring it at night time just before I go to bed kind of thing, but uh I’m just still in shock that that was actually still 20 foot right. I mean, you’ve hit the middle of the middle of the giant causeway there. You know, what more am I supposed to do? I tell you, should we put an asterisk by yours on the wall? Please say hit the wall. Uh Matt, thanks for coming in today. Have a great week. You have the last two years. Thanks very much. Do it. Thank you. Cheers. Thank you. I’m in one of the most beautiful parts of the Gulf and almost the golfing world. The walk down 18. Super special to be here. Look at the grand stands. The sun is almost bursting through as well. It’s if anything, it’s pleasant. So, when you face the elements of the open, which is forged by nature, it’s sometimes a relief not only mentally, but on the body to have days like today. Such a beautiful morning for golf. They’ve cruised around. It’s been a fast round two, which has been helpful for everyone involved. But look at this. What an atmosphere. Feels like the open’s already started here. The grand stand will be packed as the week goes on. Rory Maroy obviously getting a lot of attention. I can say after the last 90 minutes or so of following this group, Tom McGibbon has been playing very well too. So keep a keep an eye on him throughout the week in his backyard. But this just is super special. I remember Shane Larry charging down here, smile on his face. The world was a zoyster. It doesn’t get too much better than this. In terms of golfing, you can see a lot of these plers, Rory in particular, hug the right edge of this green because if you miss left, there is a huge drop off. So, that’s really one of the only issues. And then there’s a little gully over the back here, which we might be able to take ourselves to. But this is simply stunning. The atmosphere is electric. And here’s Rory now. Let’s see if he can bin his birdie putt. What have we got here? 18th hole. Trying to get a little read for you. Looks to be pretty straight. Maybe slightly slightly off the left. Yeah. Bang on. Game on, baby. Yes, boy. Shaking hands. He’s looking good. the new haircuts in play. The crowds always gets excited, let alone in this part of the world, Northern Ireland. Absolutely fizzing for this week. Thank you. Well, fascinating to see Xander Shalay working on his game, especially that driver trying to find a bit of form. We are live at the range. Now, here we go. If you are here or if you want more insights, scan that QR code, open the open app for all of the insights if you’re here. Great navigation, when the tea times are, where the players are, all sorts of different little golden nuggets within that app. Fascinating to see the driving range packed. It’s not a not a massive driving range. We do have bigger ones. So, little bit of congestion, Andy, on there. Will you allow me to say blue sky now? There was plenty of blue sky in that previous tiny bit of blue sky. It’s very optimistic look. So we were looking earlier at Xander Shalay. And one of the great traditions in the place of all traditions is the return of the clar jug to the RNA. And we can see that now Xander and meeting the RNA and having to give back that beautiful trophy. Yeah, returning the Clair Jug is a little bittersweet. You know, it means obviously means I was the the open champ, which is uh an awesome feeling, but all good things come to an end. So, you have to reearn the possession of it. I think my memory sort of peeled back. Sunday was obviously a really good round of golf. you know, true open golf I I felt. And then, of course, you know, the walk the walk up 18 is something you never forget and something you want to relive as as many times as possible. I’m I’m really looking forward to to getting back on property. I I remember liking Port Rush a lot when I played it. From what I hear, it’s it’s going to be completely sold out. It’s uh you know, potentially going to be one of the biggest opens ever. Growing up as a kid, that’s that’s kind of all you want to do is is play on the biggest stages and and in front of the biggest best crowds. Yeah, the open’s completely different to to most majors just purely based on one, it’s links, and two, you have uh no idea what sort of weather you’re going to get when you’re on property. Lots of different challenges uh present themselves when when you’re competing in in in this tournament. Just something you stare at all the time. I’ll have to uh I’ll have to reearn this one. Sand. Great to see you. Welcome. Thank you. Great to have you here. Good to be back. Great to see you. Come this way. It’s fantastic to have you here. I’m afraid it’s time to to pass this back, unfortunately. I hope you’ve had a great year with it. I’m kidding. Thank you. Thank you. Gentlemen, if I can just join you for a brief chat. Xander, you told us how incredible it was to receive the clar jug a year ago. How are the emotions now you’ve had to hand it back? Yeah, it sucks to be honest. Um, but uh definitely, you know, obvious motivation to to to win again and and to to get it back. Mark, your first open championship as chief executive of the RNA. How special to be part of this process of receiving the trophy and passing it on to a new champion? Well, very special. Zander’s been a great champion, so we’re delighted to have him back. Looking forward to a good week ahead. Um, this also marks really the start of our championship week. It’s the culmination of lots of hard work from the RNA staff and lots of our partners. So, we can’t wait to get going. Mark, Port Rush is such a special venue. Tell us exactly why it’s perfect for an open championship. I think first and foremost, it’s a brilliant test of links golf. Uh, we’ve got a great stage here for some of the best players in the world. It’s also just a wonderfully scenic golf course. Great views of the causeway coast and Dunloo Castle and the surrounding area. And I think it’s also special because the Northern Irish fans are so passionate about golf. Knowledgeable. Last time out in 2019, noisy. So, we’re looking for more of the same this week. Sander, what does the Clar Jug mean to a guy that’s won it? A champion golfer of the year. It it’s a it’s it’s a dream. It’s it’s what we dream of as kids. Uh winning um my dad being European. It’s something that, you know, him him being my swing coach for quite some time, it’s definitely something that he he brought up once or twice uh while we’re preparing for tournaments and and as I got older. So, it’s it’s a moment we’ll cherish forever. Por Harrington, the last man to successfully defend. How do you fancy your chances? Yeah, I was just actually with Patty at the airport. So, um hopefully he can he can rub off some good vibes. Mark, as you say, this marks the start of this championship. How much anticipation and excitement are you now feeling? We’re underway. Xander’s here. The trophy’s back. Huge anticipation. The golf course is in great shape. Uh we’ve got 278,000 fans coming through the gates this week. Record attendance yesterday before the action really even gets started. So we’re ready to go and looking forward to crowning the next champion golfer of the year. Gentlemen, really appreciate your time. Good luck this week. Thank you. Yeah, Bob McIntyre. He made the cut last week. Didn’t really get it going in Scotland. The golf course looked magnificent though. He’d been runner up the year before. Yeah. Renaissance and he had a fantastic start to his open championship career. He’s tied sixth and then tied eighth in his first two appearances at the Open. Yeah. He’s a shot maker. You know, if you watch him practice, he’s not line. He’s not just hitting straight shots. He’s starting it here, moving it there. likes to play a bit more curve, bit more handsy and through the ball. So you can see, you know, a lot more variety. You see some of the guys really very linear every single shot. 10 shots the same. Not with Bob hits it up, hits it down. You got a little ballie there. That’s just a little connector between. Maybe it’s a little bit too firm. No, it’s air going in. So just firming it up. sits in between your arms. Helps a lot with sequence. I I like that as a as a swing device. It’s hard to get the coordination sort of like there’s this thing in biomechanics, the kinematic sequence, which is the kind of the golden sequence to hit good shots with the most power you can do. And it’s a hard thing to learn. I’m looking forward to seeing this in action. Yeah, it’s amazing what they come up with. Isn’t it? Yeah. So, if you want your kids to learn good kinematic sequence, get them to play like Frisbee. Frisbee is a fantastic thing with both arms to learn that kinematic sequence. Sort of like, look at that interlocking grip there. Dug in pretty hard, isn’t it? Deceptively powerful player. Okay, so just to get the feel of something there. Keep your elbows a bit more together and keep your arms your hands kind of in front of your chest. What you don’t want to do, especially in transition, is get those hands to kind of keep running and your chest goes and you leave your arms behind and you come in wide open and late. That was Tiger used to call that those little stuck unders. It was the Canadian Open, wasn’t it, last year that he won and his dad was caddying for him. Really special images and uh special memories for the McIntyre family. Yeah. He’s so likable, him and his dad are. Yeah. Great fun to be around when things are going well. Yeah. Amazing. And that that’s the that’s the thing about golf, isn’t it? can go out a family unit your with your with your wife, with your with your mom, with your grandmom, you know, just a a magical mixer of a sport. So, yeah, great scenes and you could tell, you know, Bob was grateful for all of the things that his dad had done for him. Interesting comparison here doing the same drills that we were just watching Xander Schaeoff do. aiming club. A little baby draw that is for the lefthander. Just looking to see if he likes that. Maybe too much shape there. Let’s have a look. Doesn’t really have a stock driver. Kind of, you know, if this if the hole requires a fade, he hits a fade. If it’s a draw, hits a draw. Great skillful shot maker. Not onedimensional. Some guys just try to fit their fade into every single shot. Fit their draw into every single shot. I think that’s the one that he would probably like more. That kind of a little lower bullety one there. If the conditions are calm, Simon, how many holes around here would you expect the player to be pulling out driver roughly? Well, there’s Well, there’s 14 opportunities. I’d say eight to 10 would be the absolute maximum. I don’t think some of the dog legs that you’ve got 18 is probably not a driver. You know that. So I I think it would be it’s a it’s a great question of and I mean I think we’ll see different people manage it in different ways. I mean it’s not as firm because of the rain that we’ve had as you want, but it’s still you if you if you’re out there you can hear the ball land on the green and and hit hard. So you know ah look at that. It’s a beautiful little slider there. Just seven degrees of launch. Not his that’s that’s not his full bean shot there. But look at where those balls are finishing. Quite tidy lines, aren’t they? If the wind blows, we we’ll see a few players not take driver out at all. Well, I mean, think about Tiger had that strategy a couple of times, didn’t he? Had that at St. Andrews, had that at Hoy Lake. Um, which was just to sort of say, okay, listen, if if I keep the ball in play, I’ll fight from there. and and fascinating. I mean, when Shane won, I think if you look at his stats, the thing that was the most obvious was how many greens he hit. I think he hit the most greens of anybody. So, um, and and just kind of like avoid, you know, that was Tiger’s magic rule, wasn’t it? Tiger used to say, well, at least like his thing was whatever I do, I’m not going to threepart and I’m not going to make a double bogey. Those were that that was his whole goals. As unsophisticated as that is, if he felt like he did those two, he’d probably win, which he did a lot, sliding away to the right. Yeah, but I I like the way he’s just kind of moving the ball around. He’s I I like the fact that he’s a shot maker. I think that’s something that you learn not in America. I don’t think you learn that where where you play dome golf wind golf with no wind and it’s linear and and height is your height and spin are your two goals. You know, he’s just moving the ball around. Dad has arrived in the background, bit of shadow boxing. Yeah, senior there with Jamie We nice relaxed atmosphere down here. Practice day Tuesday. Here we go. It’s very fluid, isn’t it? Very, very fluid. Oh, Bobby McIntyre. Oh, victory would go down extremely well in Bonnie Scotland. Yeah, the driving range looks magnificent. It’s absolute hive of activity. And somewhere down there is our own Dy Stewart, a player who’s certainly on form right now. Marco Pen behind me in you know really well. You played England golf together. He did fantastically well at the Scottish Open last week. But tell us tell us about him. Why is he so good? He’s always been so good. Um, you know, I grew up playing England golf with him and uh his wife Sophie Lamb, Sophie Penge now, better get that right. And yeah, he’s just always been such a powerful hitter of the golf ball. Always had such an amazing attitude. But I also think it’s just obviously golf is an independent sport, but there’s also a greater team that surrounds one. Uh so I think you got to really take credit to his team you know amazing caddy you know coach Alex and wife family uh on both sides in fact so supportive travel so much with them wherever they go and it it just helps and I think ever since his first win and I was just speaking to Sophie about this it’s quite difficult to feel settled it’s very easy to get an element of kind of imposture syndrome and I think until you find something something can actually click you get to walk around with a bit more confidence and it’s got that domino effect of how you treat your practice, how you, you know, treat your colleagues, your opponents and competitors and and yourself actually. Um, so I think it’s it’s really interesting to see how he’s really settled in and now playing some of the best golf ever. I think we can just walk over and just kind of pick his brains a little bit to be fair, but look at this golf swing. Super athletic setup. He’s always been mega powerful and I just think filled with confidence. Do you know what I um noticed last week with how highly the commentators were speaking about Marco? Can you can we just talking about a second? Just we’re just bigging you up a little bit. Well, a lot actually just saying um all the commentators last week on Sky Sports were and around the world was saying how how well you strike the ball, how brilliant you’re doing at the moment. How you feeling about your game and coming off that second place finish last week? Well done by the way. Thank you. You know, last week was obviously um a big confidence booster for myself. Um you know, having a top finish against the best players in the world was pretty cool. So um yeah, I’m feeling pretty good going into this week and uh hopefully I can just produce the same stuff. You two know each other well, don’t you? Yeah, we do. She’s a decent golfer, isn’t she? She is very good indeed. We just mentioned about how it’s more than the individual, but it requires a good team. And you look over, you’ve got some of the world’s best golfers. They got all the money in the world. They could have whoever they want, but you’ve got quite a big team. Just tell us a little bit more about your team and the impact that that has to your performance and also how you can take on a week like this. Yeah, definitely. Um, yeah, my team’s pretty big. You know, I got my coach Caddy physio trainer. He’s busy down here. Yeah, he’s probably trying to reorganize cuz he leaves it pretty messy. Extremely messy. Who’s that if it’s messy? It’s mine. There’s no doubt about it. Um, yeah. Yeah, I mean, everyone plays plays a big part and uh I wouldn’t be where I am without them. So, um yeah, I really like having them around. We’re all staying together in a house this week. So, yeah, just taking uh taking the mick out of each other 24/7. That’s what you want to do. Yeah, pretty much. You’re here at the Open Championship Port Rush. Seen it before. Yeah, I came a few weeks ago for a bit of early prep. Um still pretty new to me. So, I’ll be going out this afternoon to play nine holes and maybe 18th tomorrow. So, yeah. I mean, it’s a great place. Crowds are good already for a Tuesday and uh just looking forward to getting going. Can I ask Max a quick question? How impressed were you with his demeanor last week on the course? Yeah, he was extremely nervous on the quiet. Why are you so nervous? New side of him. Never seen. No, he was great. He was remarkably chilled under the circumstances to be honest. Um I think PGA was a big help. We’d done something that week that was quite new and then it wasn’t new last week and I think sort of home turf as well was a little bit different. So I kind of knew he was fine. It was fairly simple all in all I would say. What does preparation look like this? You know the start of the week because you can get super technical. You’ve got your coach here as well. It’s a golf course you don’t know that well although you were here a couple of weeks ago. So I mean who has to work harder here? Is it more of the kind of technical execution work? Is it the kind of studying? Is it a bit of both? What does that look like? Yeah, I mean me and Max um probably do things a little bit different to some players. Um you know, we feel like when we’re walking the course together, that’s when we kind of get really good, um productive information. So yeah, it’s not just a matter of just sending Max out on his own and him learning the golf course. We, you know, he does his stuff and then we kind of do a lot together. So, um, yeah, I mean, I’ve got to make sure I’m hitting the ball straight for his information to be any good, but, uh, it’s just a big all round team effort. Really, the problem is when he hits the ball straight and that turns out to be really bad. That’s the only time we ever fall out is when it’s your fault. Listen, we’re really enjoying watching you golf right now. It’s super super exciting. Well done last week and well done on your first DP tour world. And good luck this week. Thank you guys. Have fun. Thanks for your time. And somewhere down there is Dy Stewart. Oh, thank you, Simon. Thank you. And really good to hear from Scotty Sheffer in that press conference. Lots of press conferences happening today. We had a couple yesterday. Shane Lowry and Rory Maroy talking about their friendship, but we’ve got it’s a star-studded range right now. Tommy Fleetwood behind us. Of course, he finished second in the 2019 Open Championship. So, he’ll be coming back here with some great memories. Absolutely. I think it just plays a massive part for these players. you know, rocking up to a venue where you’ve got fond memories of where you’ve pulled off some amazing shots or maybe not so good shots, maybe you know some better angles. Uh, and you’ll know the golf course of places to miss it or not. You know, he’s he’s a super intelligent golfer. Not only does he have an incredibly pure swing, he’s pretty he’s pretty switched on up there as well. So, he’s definitely going to activate that. He certainly is. And I was giggling actually because Ian Finnis, his caddy, Finno is literally staying about 200 yards. Is that dangerous? It’s in a in an apartment overlooking the car park and he gave us a wave last night as we were leaving. I was like, “Finno, hello.” But um recently Tommy, I mean was a tie second finish, wasn’t it? The travelers on the P on the PJ tour uh came so incredibly close. How’s his form right now? Yeah, I think really good. Every time I I watch him, you know, I just think he’s so on it. It’s amazing that, you know, he hasn’t quite hurdle that line on him. The American side, but um you know, all in all, it’s super intelligent. Like I said, works with There’s Billy Foster over there. Absolutely. With Marakawa. Yeah. Interesting, isn’t it? That’s just a terri that’s a temporary sort of kind of scenario. Obviously used to be in Good to see Billy. We’ve chatted to him over the years. Yeah. I chatted to Matt actually and he had a good finish in Scotland, didn’t he? Matt Fitzpatrick at the Scottish Open. Just spotted Jordan Sping for a good result here. I mean, these a lot of the Americans, they love coming and playing links golf, don’t they? You know what? Back on Billy Foster, I was in Consontana in Switzerland and you know you’ve made it as a Caddy because he had his son carrying the bag for Matt Fitzpatrick and Billy was just walking around. That’s that’s when you know as a Cali that you’ve really made it as a Caddy. You’re not carrying the bag in the practice rounds. That’s so good. I I love the stories from Billy Foster um cutting for Savvy Bayos over the years. Uh he’s gone that way, isn’t he? But this range right now is going to get super busy. Kev, if you pan round, can you see how packed the grand stand is? And everyone watching eagle-eyed getting some top tips and watching these players two days before the start of the open championship gets a little bit more nervy, doesn’t it? Tuesday, Wednesday does. Everyone gets a bit quieter, the pros do, don’t they, on a Wednesday. It’s pretty cool. It’s amazing with the technology just sitting in the grand stands. You’ve got the big screens over there that basically picks up every single shot here on the drum range. We’re going to catch up with more players this afternoon live at the range. If you’ve got any questions for us, send them to me, to Incy, to Peter Finch, to George Harper Jr. He’s out on the course. We’re going to be back at 2:00. We’ll take another walk right now, but from all of us, see you in two hours. See you there. Bye for now. Oh, it’s in the world. Here she comes. Oh, no. I don’t believe it. That’s just extraordinary. A very warm welcome back to Live at the Range. I’m delighted to say that Pete Finch is still down here and you have been down here well quite a lot over the last day and a half, Pete. How how’s it been down here? H I’ve been here since Sunday and the the atmosphere has changed. Definitely. It’s got a little bit more serious today. Certainly when we got here the first day, I think all the amateurs were here. People who haven’t played in the Scottish had kind of come down for a bit of early practice. Maybe those who hadn’t seen the course before. And now I’m pretty sure everybody is here. I mean, you’re just in from the Scottish, so I’m presuming you would have brought everyone over with you on your jet. Well, actually, yeah, I was thinking Rory Maroy forgot to give me a lift on his jet over here, so I had to had to go with the traditional airline. But it was actually a very smooth trip. And what a fantastic week we had at the Renaissance Club and a wonderful a wonderful winner. It was obviously a tight finish. It always is at the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance and Chris got her up saw off one of the best to ever play the game, Rory Maroy in that closing stretch. You know what, and that’s the right word, isn’t it? He did see him off. It wasn’t a case that Rory was not playing great. He was playing some solid stuff, but Chris showed some real steel. Well, I was actually kind of really cheering for him at the end to get up the line and I was delighted to see him do it. I mean, what his chances are to back it up this week, not entirely sure, but I think he’s a good sign for Rory more than anything. Absolutely. I mean, we’ll come on to Rory in a moment, but uh Chris Got up just a few comments on him because this is a guy that’s barely played any Lynx golf at all and he’s just gone on to win one of the best one of the biggest biggest events that we have in the game right now in the stacked field. He said he’s never actually been to Ireland at all. So, he’s certainly never seen Royal Port Rush, but I’m telling you, Chris Gotup is a guy who’s got a game that is suited to Lynx golf. He’s got this penetrating ball flight. The the sound it makes when he hits the ball off these links turf. It’s wonderful. And he’s probably one of the Well, I don’t know. You can tell me in a minute, but probably one of the only guys out here who carries a one iron in the bag. Well, have you seen many one irons out here, haven’t you? I have to admit, this is the biggest concentration of one irons I’ve seen. Well, since I imagine I was going to say 1960. I’ve not been around quite that long, but I must have said about five or six. I mean, I wouldn’t say they’re traditional one. They have a one stamped on them, but they are like about as thick as a couple of slices of bread. Uh, I think that the selection of clubs has been it’s been interesting. Mostly everyone’s stuck in a two iron, but apart from that, even the wedges, they’re not really changing too much because it’s not a burnt out links. is quite green like it’s playing firm and fast but in truth like with the weather which has been coming in as well I think it’s going to be quite a a tame affair once it gets on the fairway and around the green yes well I’ve been out there uh walking this morning I’ll tell you a bit about that in a moment but we’ve wandered a few more steps on and look at what we have here it’s good looking isn’t it the clar jug back with us you’ve had it once I hear already on the range yes uh I got all my pictures with it out the way nice and early in the sunshine and had a look around the names and kind of refresh myself from opens past. I mean, it is truly an incredible incredible piece of silverware. Probably you say the most famous trophy in potentially all the sport as well. And like last time it was here in 2019, we had an Irish winner lift it in emotional scenes. And I think a lot of people here are hoping for something similar. Yeah. Well, as I bend down here, the first name that’s popping out at me right there is Mr. Rory Maroy, 2014 at Hoy Lake. What do you think of Rory for this week, Peter? I Yes, it’s one of those where Rory has a fantastic chance. He obviously knows this golf course. He’s one of the best players in the world, but then he’s in his press conferences, he’ve been talking about how much he’s looking forward to it, how much it means to him. And normally when Rory starts talking in that manner, Yeah. things don’t go to plan. I think the last time I saw him this up for an open was in 2019 and he hooked his first T-shot out of bounds and went on to Mr. Cup. Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen again. I really hope it isn’t. But man, I I I I really want to perform. I’m sure all the fans here really want to see him for the full week as well. Well, as I say, I was I was at the Genesis Scottish Open last week and let me tell you what we saw of Rory Maroy there because he was a very happy happy man. He was in very fine fettles, smiling. He looked relaxed and he spoke about the 10 days that he took away from the game. We’ve heard more of that early on in this week as well and just how beneficial that has been to his psyche. He certainly looked to be very calm and I think that’s been a wonderful thing to do ahead of this week and I and I mean you think about what Rory Maroyy’s achieved in the game since 2019. He’s a very different man returning here and I just have a funny feeling that he’s probably well I I really do think he’s going to bring something special to the table this week. Well, I mean, since the Masters, let’s face it, it’s not like he’s had the best year. Yeah. I mean, you’d have said that realistically that was the tournament that he wanted to win more than any, you know, that was the only thing that he had to prove left in the game and to get himself that career grand slam to be amongst the the greats of all time. To come back from that like psychologically and get yourself prepared and get yourself into the zone where you need to be to play professional golf at the highest level, it must have been hard. But if he can’t get himself up for this week, then something really really would be all right. Yeah, I think he’s certainly up for it and we’re very much looking forward to seeing him tee off on Thursday along with the rest of the field of course. Peter, thanks for being here. More from you later on, but with that we can get across to our commentary team, Rich Beam and Mark Row. Yeah, thanks Iona. It’s great stuff down the range and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? That clar jug. Beautiful piece of silver. Now the man next to me has lifted an even bigger major championship trophy. Welcome to Live on the Range, Richard Beam. Yes, Richard Beam. Richard Michael Beam is when I’m in trouble with mom. That is um Yeah. Uh mine is substantially bigger. Uh but that’s okay. You know, it’s not about size. Nothing wrong with having a bigger major championship trophy, is there? No. No. It’s funny, too, because you know, I it it sitting at the house u in in my bar, not going to lie, my bar. And uh it’s so dirty right now. I’d be embarrassed for anybody to come over and see it to be fair. It’s just like just sits there like an old piece of furniture. I remember watching every single shot of that many, many years ago. And you’ve been my hero ever since, Rich. So stop. Let’s have a look at the weather conditions. It’s uh 15°. It has got a lot colder in the last sort of hour and a half or so. And it looks like showers are are creeping in. It was forecast to rain heavy this morning. That didn’t come. I’m surprised that uh I was walking around the golf course earlier today and just kind of getting my bearings straight again and just just reminding myself how how amazing this piece of property is. And it was just like dark skies and 360° around, but right over the top of Port Rush, it’s been dry. You know, even got a little sun out there earlier today, but I don’t think we’re going to be that fortunate where it’s going to stay away all day. No. No. I think enjoying the week as well, we’re going to have some pretty inclement weather, but it hasn’t put any of the players off. It’s a busy scene down there on the range here for a Tuesday afternoon. As we say, chilly conditions. Broly, one or two brolies just starting to go up there as the rain maybe gets a little bit heavier. And there is the world number 15, Bryson D Shambo, who has now put a sweater on. Yesterday it was pretty chilly and he just had a a t-shirt on, but he’s looked in super relaxed form, Rich, as he should be. I mean, the guy’s super talented. I I you know, he’s he’s kind of recreated his image a little bit um over the last couple of years. He does seem a lot more relaxed out there. I don’t know if it’s just the simple fact that he’s uh you know, playing most of his golf at Liv. obviously comes over for the four majors each and every year, but he just looks like he’s he’s really comfortable, relaxed, um and he’s not as as edgy as uh as he used to be. Uh and good for him. You know, the guy is he’s he’s got an unbelievable talent and he does so many things really really good between the setup and the swing positional. I mean, it’s it’s it’s textbook. Yeah, it’s interesting point you make about him look as we see that gorgeous rhythm in the golf swing. Super strong, super physique. At one point he built up absolutely massively and he’s almost sort of debulked now and he actually looks physically a huge amount better. But you know, you make the point he was a little bit ty with the media at the start of his career. Now all of a sudden he’s become a media darling, hasn’t he? Through social media and uh through the media channels and I got to say I like his act now. Yeah, I I think that he’s, you know, he’s a lot more comfortable. You can see there he’s smiling. He he’s not uh there are times though where he he works hard at it and he gets a little intense still. I think we saw that earlier this this spring at Augusta where he kind of shut the range down every single evening. The one thing that I noticed too when he’s out there practicing, especially in those situations, he rarely watches the golf ball full flight until it until it finally hits the ground. You know, he just like right there, he looks up at sees where the flight’s going and then and then and then turns away. I was taught as a kid, follow that thing the entire time. Watch and see what it does the entire way. But again, he hits it and he’s looking at numbers. Yeah. Well, Bryson will continue with his work there. And uh out and about for us on the golf course is George Harper. Where are you, George? Hello, guys. I’ve made my way down to the first tea. The rain is just starting to trickle in. Uh the trousers are now on. And we’ve got we’ve got Sam Burns and Chris Gdder up here playing with Johnny Vegas as well. Our newest champion on tour. Let’s go. Let’s go catch up with the man of the moment, Chris. How are you, mate? Good. Let’s go for a walk and talk. Okay, we’ll keep the pace of play up. Um, welcome to the Open. Your first open here. Uh, that must feel pretty special. Yeah, it’s awesome. Um, I was talking about it, you know, traveling here and stuff. Uh, I always grew up watching it with my dad on the couch just, you know, on in the morning and go play in the afternoon. So, it’s nice to be here. How cool was it to win in Scotland, get a feel for Lynx Golf? You must have had a hell of a week. Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, the weather was amazing and obviously to come out with a win is is awesome. And um yeah to to to beat that field was really cool and and then obviously to be here this week is makes it even better. Mate, you just had a lovely stinger. Is that low ball flight fun for you? Is that natural? Um it’s become more natural living in Oklahoma and playing in school there. So it gets pretty windy out there, too. So I’ve I’ve gotten accustomed to hitting that shot a little bit and I’m sure it’ll be useful this week. How do you think it would be later in the week if you’re in the mix again with Rory Maroy breathing down your neck? Now we’re in this part of the world. Uh they were not openly rooting for me there. So, and I’m sure it might be worse here. So, uh obviously it’d be awesome and I’d love love if it happened again. Um but yeah, I mean I’m just I don’t really have too much expectation into this week and um yeah, I’m just h I’m just happy to be here. So, this is bonus golf for me. I wasn’t expecting to to be here and uh waiting on my clothes to come back. I’m down to my last outfit. So, but um yeah, it’s awesome and I’m I’m excited for the week. Yeah. I guess you wouldn’t have had too much time to celebrate the Scottish Open because of this, right? Yeah. Yeah. I was uh I did not not uh indulge in too much Sunday night. Um did a lot of media and stuff afterwards and then was pretty tired and got on a plane in the morning on Monday. So, it was a it was a quick turnaround for sure. Nice. Well, I’m sure everyone’s happy to see you. Congrats on being a Scottish Open champion, mate. And enjoy the week. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Cheers, mate. Thank you. Well, yeah, good work there, George. Always smiling. And you know what? They’re always happy to chat with George. And uh I think he gives them a nice positive vibe before they head off for their practice rounds. You know, they’re on the first tea. How cranky can you be? You know, if you if you’re cranky on that first tea, you’re gonna have a long day ahead of you. Yeah. It’s a great atmosphere, isn’t it? I mean, it’s everybody’s dream, isn’t it, to stand on the first T open championship. And obviously, you’ve done it many times, Rich. I’ve had the the joy of I think I probably played 13 Open Championships, which is which has always been my favorite tournament in the world. So, back at the driving range, players trying to find something. other players just happy with what they’ve got. All the teams are out there, the managers, the coaches, the nutritionists, the personal trainers. They’ve got four, five, six members of the team. Some of the players they do. They they they they definitely uh have an entourage, which is, you know, listen, that’s just the nature. That’s just the way business goes these days. I mean, you’re not going to run a corporation with just, you know, one person. You’re going to have to have folks behind you um helping the cause out. And they all serve a different purpose and and you know, some of them are dispensable and some of them, you know, you you kind of like, I kind of like this person or I kind of like the way they they work. So, I see Justin Thomas there who’s been playing some pretty good golf as of late. Eight open championship starts, five cuts made. And actually, surprisingly, I think best result tied 11th. I would have thought he would have had a better finish than that, but what do you think about his chances this week, Rich? Well, he’s putting uh a lot better this year. That’s something that’s kind of uh been eluding him over the last couple years. He’s got a great short game. He I I think the way that he plays the game, even though he’s a modern-day player, he’s not afraid to get creative hitting shots into the greens, off the tea, uh around the green, so on so forth. And when the weather gets nasty, you’re going to you need that. And I I you know, I I think playing some of the best golf that he is uh right now without really kind of uh winning a major. last major was a couple years ago at the PGA Championship. I think he’s due again and I think that he loves Well, I don’t think I know he loves Lynx golf. He always talks about going playing with the Scottish. He always makes that trip over up to North Barrack, plays there, but um I I’d imagine this is a is a really good opportunity this week for him. You know, it’s interesting and and and the nature of the golf course here at Port Rush, you know it well. Do you think we talk about short game, it is simply one of the best in the game of golf is short game. Do you think that the that that the short game is more essential than the driving this week or is this it’s not a certainly not a long drivers it’s not essential to drive it long here is it it’s not and walking around the golf course today the one thing that these guys are really going to have to pay attention to and I would imagine to a te every player is going to probably put some sort of driving iron in their bag. I think you have to because the the rough out there gets a little bit nasty in some places. Um, you know, it’s kind of like a lot like last time we were here, 11 under one, sorry, 15 under one, then then Tommy was nine under. So, you know, you get it to double digits around this golf course by week’s end and you’re going to be right up there if not taking the championship. you know, but I think that the creativity around the greens is probably more key than driving it. And I say that because if you look at this golf course, Mark, there’s not a ton of bunkers where you normally see on Lynx golf courses, they’re dotted by bunkers around the greens. This one, there’s a handful of holes out here that have no bunkers on them, and it’s just like just these little runoff areas. And you can use anywhere from a lob wedge to a 3-wood. Yeah. Know, I mean, he’s creative, isn’t he? That’s the the beauty of Thomas’ short game. He’s got all the shots. That’s an interesting major championship record this year. Nothing better than 36 in the majors. And I, like you, feel due. I don’t know. That surprises me. I had him down for having a good major season. Yeah. Again, I I think that uh you know, the Masters notwithstanding, Coyle Hollow has probably played as tough as it’s ever played this season when Scotty Sheffller won uh where he was a past champion at as well. And then Oakmont is just it’s just like getting repeatedly punched in the face um for five and a half straight hours, which is great. Yeah. See the top tracer data there? I think that was probably a fivewood that he had in his hand. They’re looking at distance 236 244 unless it’s turned back into the breeze. I’m guessing that’s Does he carry a a fivewood? It it looked like he got a bit more loft on a three. Yeah, he he does. But again though, I think you’re going to see a lot more driving irons out here. I I I think that this golf course, even though it’s not playing um super firm right now because of the rains they’ve had, it’s really really green out there. But I think that they’re going to probably have to find that. Listen, this go if you hit it low enough, it still will run out quite some distance. It may not It may not bounce around as much, but it’s still going to chase out there. This reminds me a little bit of you, Richie, with all the gadgets. He’s got like a lovely sort of It looked like an old golf shaft, didn’t it? And it was just sitting on the top of an old golf shaft. Yeah. And there’s a a magnet up there that holds his phone into place. And uh there you go. This is the view that he’s got from right down the line. He’s got his man Lance Vincent from Trackman out there. I like that swing. It’s a beautiful swing to me. It’s pretty much straight up, straight down. There’s not a lot that ever looks like that can go wrong with it and and powerful for his size as well. It’s um it’s the epitome of a modern golf swing in a way. It is, you know, he’s and the reason why he kind of has that goofy leg action and foot action is due simply to the fact that when he was a young man, he was he was short, he was scrawny, and he had to get every ounce out of it. And a lot of times when we go play junior tournaments, he’d tell his dad and his dad would call him up and say, “Well, how many today?” Meaning, how many par fours were you able to reach? I mean, he was that short, but then again, his short game was amazing. Well, we’ll leave Justin Thomas there drying off his uh technology. And we’ll head back down to George. He’s still on the first TE. Yeah. Well, you can hear the round of applause. It’s for Padre Harrington. Uh he will be hitting the first T- shot. You going to hit one more for us? Well, hopefully I don’t have to hit two two on Thursday. No, you don’t want to hit two on Thursday. That would be a really bad idea. Well, before So, what have you gone here? Fivewood and uh what’s little poke little kind of punchy fivewood first one. You just don’t want to get in the air cuz you don’t want it too much time in the air. So, if you do hit a wild one, hopefully you won’t hit it out of bounds. So, something low. Okay. Something low. Something low. Don’t let it get in the air. Nice party. It’s just just made the fairway. Nice. I tell you what, I’ll take it. You’ll take it. But let’s talk about that first tea shop, mate. How cool is it to be kicking things off a real Rolls-Royce occasion? Yeah, absolutely. It’s a It’s a great honor to be asked and uh you know, being here in Port Rush, it’s very nice. So something I still think I’m a player, but I’m quite happy to take the ceremonial position of hitting the first shot. H it will be nerve-wracking. As I said, it uh first to hole in Port Rush is never a pleasant experience in a championship. So uh if I get it down there, hose pose a little bit. I’m definitely going to pose the pose. Yeah, cuz it doesn’t matter where it goes. They’ll only show me. So yeah, there’ll be a definite effort to pose no matter where it’s gone. Yeah, we just heard the crowd then. And what do you think it’s going to be like when it’s jam-packed first thing on Thursday? Yeah, I’m told that the the grand stands will be full. I’ve talked to a few of the other guys who’ve done it and it’s a it’s a big occasion. So, yeah, I’ll as I said, I will be nervous, but I I should enjoy it as well. We don’t get too many majors in this part of the world. How do you enjoy it both socially and I guess take it all in as as one of the f hometown favorites? Uh, you know, that’s obviously changed over the years. is I think when you’re a young man, you come to these and you’re very professional and you’re you’re diligent. As you get a little older, you can’t keep up that sort of intensity or that pace. So, you you know, you make more of an effort to enjoy it. And uh I certainly enjoy these weeks and uh enjoy meeting a few friends I haven’t seen for a while. H you know, when I’m on different places, different tours at this stage. So, yeah, it’s it’s definitely I’m not fully relaxed, but I’m I’m more relaxed Porter Carrington than I would have been 10 years ago. Well, you’ve just won a major on the seniors tour. what it would be like to get back in this major winning circle. Yeah. You know, we call him a minor on those on the on the seniors tour. So, look, I’ve got to create my own reality and in my reality, I can win. So, you know, that’s doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks, I think I can do it. I got to prepare like I’m going to come down that last hole and need to hit a couple of great shots to win the open. And that’s what’s in my head for the week. And uh I’m trying to get myself in that head space that everything is leading towards Sunday afternoon. Good. I might get there, you know, but if I do get there in contention, that’s I’ve got to prepare for it. Nice. Well, we look forward to seeing it and hopefully you are there, mate. It’s always a pleasure talking to an open champion. Well done, mate. Well, there you have it. Padre Carrington. The first TE is exciting and it’s going to be even more exciting come Thursday morning, but we’ll be right back live on the range after the break. And the winner of the gold medal, champion golfer for the year. Winning the Open Changes a life. A hero at 22 and the first Spaniard ever to win the title. A name remembered, a legacy secured. Open. But look beyond the champion and you’ll see that maybe there’s a little more to it. From first swings to final pass. From the back streets to the big stage. From the inner cities to the outer reaches. The open’s impact stretches far beyond the fairways. Every ticket, every fan, every roar drives our mission to shape the future of G. Removing barriers, protecting the land, honoring the past, leading for tomorrow. So yes, the open is lifechanging, but what begins as a moment for one creates a game for us all. My business has taken me all over the world and one day my son will take over. The family business just wasn’t for me. I wanted to build something of my own. And when my father saw how passionate I was, he did everything to support me. Now I have a daughter. All I want is for her to be 7,000 m from home. But this is exactly where I need to be. And no one understands that better than my dad. Wherever life or business takes you, HSBC can help. Welcome back to Live at the Range. And there’s not really many spots available down there. I think I counted earlier as about 25 or 26 spots. that saw quite a small range. I’m glad they’re wrapped up against this cold weather. They were all prepared with the umbrella as well. And that’s the right age to to bring the kids, Rich, to get them interested and enthused about this wonderful game that we have enjoyed our whole lives. Most definitely. And I mean, you could at least distract him for a few hours out there. Pretty soon they’re going to find something else to distract him as well. But no, it’s nice. Uh, it’s nice to see all the families out there. Lots of kids out there today. Well, there you go. Ludvig Oberg who has really just rocketed onto the golfing scene in the last year and a half, two seasons. Remember when he first turned up in Crown Cersia in Switzerland at the Omega Masters there and everybody was hearing about how good he was and nobody really could tell and he just walsed out there and won and he was so impressive. and then onto the RDER Cup. And it seems like he’s been a a superstar for so long, but it’s really not that long. No, it’s not. In fact, he was first ever man to play in the RDER Cup without playing in a major championship. Yes. And you know, he he’s struggled a little bit this year. He also has the win at the Genesis, uh, which was a tournament down San Diego that had to be moved from LA because of all the dev uh devastating wildfires they had there. But um you know he’s been a little bit off you know yes last week he was in really good shape but then kind of hit a a foul ball on Saturday on the 13th hole and made a triple bogey like going hm top 10 at the Masters good start to the major championship season man that’s number nine in the world rankings and that’s a seventh with making a triple bogey at the last hole too doesn’t seem like He gets flustered by anything, does he? He’s got the most wonderful demeanor and attitude to the game of golf. He really has somehow in his mind almost simplified it. Well, it’s it’s a very simple motion. There’s just not a whole lot that can go wrong. You know, he’s obviously working on something like on the down swing. Looks like he’s trying to get that face a little bit more. He wants to cover it just a little bit more. Um, but you know, gosh, I think the more he thinks about it, the worse off he’s going to be. Just do what comes naturally to you, son. It’s amazing. And and and David Randall, that’s a producer for Sky that’s in there. And yeah, he needs to stay away from Ludvig because David’s a very very bad offer. Believe me, David will be offering advice. Oh, there’s no doubt. There’s no doubt. Yeah, I think that’s ming him up. I think that’s L’s chance has gone. I I saw Simon Holmes wandering around there as well somewhere behind and that would be an absolute golfing disaster as well if he got involved. Yeah, Simon has a very elegant way of confusing you. Yeah, but I I I have to say I come out in support of of Simon Holmes because years and years ago at the Lancome Trophy uh in Versailles in Paris, he walked past me on the range 5 minutes and he and he watched me and he he said, “Roey, I think give you a little tip.” He gave me a five-minute tip and I thought about it all week and I went out and I won the tournament. So that’ll never go away unfortunately for Simon. Simon did help me win that championship. former champion looking to be honest with you like he could both do with a shave and a haircut. In all honesty, he loves that look. He’s been rocking it for years. Well, here we are live on the range at Royport Rush for the Open Championship and we’re looking at Cam Davis there, former winner. And it’s pretty chilly down there. Most of the players have now gone for the waterproofs. And I think it’s going to be one of those weeks, Rich, isn’t it, where it’s going to be almost impossible to determine exactly what Mother Nature’s going to give us, but it is going to be a fabulous championship. It’s going to be a fabulous championship, but yeah, it is going to uh there will be some weather uh in the area all week long, but you don’t come over here expecting to be, you know, sunny and perfect like it was last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. Yeah, championing goal for 2022. They put beautifully over the the back nine. Final day. Doesn’t look very amused by that shot. I’m going to say it probably wasn’t his best one. He plays his golf on the live golf circuit obviously. And uh I wonder Rich in your opinion uh when they play the live golf circuit now 14 events no cuts uh how that would affect their sort of major championship chances. Does it change anything the fact that you’re you’re not playing that same sort of structure you played for so many years before? Well, for a couple of guys I I it doesn’t bother me at all. I mean Brooks and Bryson have both won major since going over to Li. But some of the guys, you know, it it’s, you know, normally when you play 72 holes, I it’s it it’s a marathon. But you get to 54 holes and it feels more like a sprint cuz if you go out there, you know, and you shoot 72 the first round, but 62’s leading, that’s 10 shots in two rounds is a lot of ground to make up. Now, you love your gadgets. Um, the little ball there that’s hanging on the bag, like a sort of airflow ball, I think you’ll know what that’s for. I I play fetch with my dog with that thing, so I don’t I really know what it’s for for use for the golf swing to be fair. Um, but my dog loves it. Well, there you go. There’s a little ball. That’s something that they they kind of put between the forearms and it helps them keep connection in the golf swing. I thought that was a little bit smaller. I know there’s a couple of manufacturers, but your dog just chews it to pieces. So, you get through a lot of them. Yes, there’s I buy them in bulk. It’s interesting because you know there that one he actually attaches to his forearm. Um and so he kind and it’s really not up high. It’s actually more down around the wrists. And I know that he uses that actually quite religiously when he’s chipping and even putting um which listen, he’s probably one of the best in the world with his short game. It looks beautiful, doesn’t it, when you look at that grip? Just the the perfect. Nothing wrong with that, is it? Nothing too strong, nothing too weak. It’s absolute textbook, as is the rhythm of the golf swing. I was with him in the final group when he won St. Andrews and the back nine performance he had was just uh simply outstanding. It’s like every single shot that he hit and but even that on the greens it never looked like it was going to miss. I mean he just puted the daylights out of it. Well, you mention Rich how well he played on that back nine as he just continues grinding away there on what they call misery hill the driving range. And let’s just remind ourselves of that magnificent victory in 2022. Yeah, I felt really good going into the week. It was the first time I’d seen my coach in about 2 and 1/2 years. Everything just felt really comfortable. It felt like something good was going to happen. It’s the home of golf. It’s the home of the open. The stuff you feel around there is is unlike any other place. The golf course was set up in a way where I was able to play a very smart kind of logical approach to it. I was so amped up and so nervous at the same time. I I’d never felt anything like that. I’d been seeing the ball go in. I’d been putting so well that day. I knew if I could get it somewhere on the putting surface, it didn’t have a really good chance of going in. I think that will be the biggest tournament I’ll ever be a part of. It’s unreal and uh something definitely I’ll I’ll never ever forget. Yeah. Don’t you just wonder who will be standing there kissing that trophy at the end of this week? But this man has done it. It’s there. It’s in the trophy cabinet. And you talked so much about how well he puttered Rich. But you know what? You still have to have that championship winning mentality. It’s not It’s never given to you, is it? No. And he went out there and did exactly what he needed to do. He said he he was nervous, but he said, “Listen, if I could figure out how to find the green, I knew it had a good chance of going in.” And when you’re playing at your best to still have that mentality and the control in your fingertips, that’s what uh that’s what champions are made of. It was a very special day. I I’ll never forget a lot of what I saw cuz it was just I was in awe. Well, I mean, you’ve had that feeling and I often wonder when you won the PGA Championship. I know it’s a long time ago, but I guess every shot is still fresh in your memory. At what point did you allow yourself to think the dream might be possible? And what point was the realization that I’ve done it, you know, and not until not until the final putt went in? I mean, I I think you can’t get too far ahead yourselves, but you know, like like Cam Smith, though, I I knew I was putting extremely well and again, just put me somewhere on the green and I was going to, you know, I wasn’t afraid of anything. And, uh, it’s such an amazing feeling when you have that. But, um, you know, I I think where where sometimes guys get in trouble is they, you know, they start thinking about, well, I might be able to do this. Well, listen, you still got to do it. You can’t start you can’t get you can’t get careless. In fact, I would imagine just like him, I was so nervous on every shot of the last round, I didn’t have time to think about what was going on. Yeah, I like the way they’ve done the range here at Port Rush. They’re lovely little target areas with quite small sort of flags on them, but they’re beautifully manicured and you got different distances that you can pitch to. Two sides to the range as you can see. You got a right hand side and a left hand side, so you can kind of play across it as well. It’s a fun range. It’s a It’s a great range. It’s actually two holes on the other course, and I’m it’s escaping my brain right now just because uh I don’t have a big one, but uh you know, it it’s a it’s a hell of a golf course, though. So, there champion golfer of the year. Just love to hear that. So he’s all the way through the bag now. He’s worked his way to the driver. Little chat with Caddy and coach. Doesn’t he look relaxed? Looks happy. But you must as you come back to any Open Championship as a former winner, it’s just you’re going to have goosebumps every time. Do you still do you still get you still play in the PGA Championship? I know. and and you get there and you just it must be a fantastic feeling every time. It’s a fantastic feeling. I uh I didn’t play this year and I won’t play next year. I think the last one I’ll play and it’ll be in Texas and I’m even I’m even uh scared and hesitant to play in that one just because it’s going to be such a big big golf course. But uh you know it’s in my home state of Texas and so I’ll give her one more one more slash. Okay. 286 top tracer there on the carry. 165 mph ball speed. Well, the rain hasn’t come down quite as heavily as we maybe thought it was going to. About 14 or 15 degrees out there. And we’re watching the 2022 champion Cam Smith just going through the the bag getting to the driver now. doesn’t like look like he’s at full tilt. We did see some top tracer stats just a few moments ago. Sort of carrying the ball speed grounding the driver there. That’s Yeah. Grounding it. Yeah. A lot of players don’t ground it. A lot of players hover it, Rich. They find it easy just to get the flow of the back swing. Not Not grounding it. Were you a person that hovered it? No. No. I I it you know I think more guys do it now especially probably with the driver because it kind of helps helps relax you a little bit if if nothing else you and that kind of seems to be counterintuitive but they lift up the club a little bit and it helps to relax their arms and shoulders and so they can take a nice big free swing at it. You see watch the balance in the feet there. Look how he’s settling into a dress there. Just settling maybe sort of balls to toes of his feet. You don’t obviously want to settle into your heels. That’s never a good thing in the golf swing. I was watching Padre Harrington earlier today had a wonder down the range. And his footwork is astonishing. It’s like river dance as he’s going through impact. But he was talking to me about it. He said it’s all about motion. He said and a lot of players when they stop playing well or as you get older, you stop moving as well. So he’s kind of really sort of going toes to heels, toes to heels, but he’s he’s basically in his toes a lot. Interesting. Interesting. I know it hurts to move as you get older, but Well, we’ll leave that. Oh, does he like that one? I think he does. We’ll leave that. What looked like a very good driver swing from Cam Smith, the 2022 Open champion. and we’ll head to the open zone where Henny has found Colin Moraua. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my absolute honor to present the 2021 champion golfer of the year right here in the open zone, Colin Morawa. Before I ask how that sounds, I’m actually going to walk that back slightly and say, how does it sound that you won the PJ championship that same year? You won the open championship, both majors, in your debut, playing in those majors, the first round in history to do so. I’ll I’ll correct you a little bit. It was the year before. So, I won PJ in 2020. Fine. Open championship in 21. Uh, but to win on my debuts are incredible. Well, obviously PGA was at a course that I knew uh briefly, you know, through college, but coming over here playing Lynch golf, playing just a completely different style of golf was eye opening to me and I had to figure it out quick. I mean, I was switching irons. I was kind of changing equipment at the same time, but the game felt really good. And all I told myself that week was to play my game. Obviously, learn how to play Lynx golf, learn how to play certain shots, but at the same time, play my game because it felt really good. and um was obviously able to put four really really good rounds together, made a lot of great putts, and uh came out champion. Like you said, I’m sure at the time it was difficult to take everything on board. There was a lot happening, but now that it’s had a bit of time to sink in a few years, how does it feel, especially when we watch it back? It’s amazing. It gives me a lot of good memories. Um honestly, I watch a lot of video like on YouTube to just re-watch. I mean, look, the past few years haven’t been exactly how I would have thought it was going to go, but that’s that’s life. that’s golf. Um, but to rewatch some of those shots, it brings back good memories, brings back feels that I kind of work on sometimes. And, um, anytime you can think back at a a certain feel you had or a certain tempo I had that week, uh, you never know what it’s going to spark. And hopefully, you know, this is a week, you know, I haven’t had the success at the open uh, since then. But, you know, it’s every week’s a new week and uh, we’re always positive, optimistic going into going into a new week and hopefully, you know, Thursday you you feel good about your game and and ready to go forward. Well, I know that myself and our audience would love to see your swing thought in action on the Shane Lowry challenge. It’s a recreation of his second shot into the 18th in 2019, the last time the Open Championship was here. It’s 175 yards to our Giants Causeway Stones, which is the pin position. Uh the lie is a little ball away from you uphill to the pin. Wind is obviously into off the right hand side. Okay. What are you thinking? I’m like torn in between six and five iron. Honestly, I’m going to kind of feel it out as I walk over here. And this is something I like to do. I like to always sometimes take two clubs if I’m in between. Yeah. Our our guts have a feel like we’ve played so much golf and we’ve hit so many shots that sometimes when you step up to a shot, you look at and you’re like, “That’s not a sixiron or that’s not a five iron.” Even though it makes sense numerically. Um but five seems a little too much. So, I’m going to go six. Okay. uh and hopefully hit the the nice cut here. Just before you hit it, just to focus you in a little bit. Not that you really need assistance cuz I know you’re incredibly competitive, but I’m just going to like bring your eyes over to this leaderboard here. Oh, why? Um so that you can see who has done what. There’s probably a couple of guys in there, maybe Xander, that you’re like, I do not want you to beat me on this challenge. I want to have some bragging rights. Um I played with Martin last week and he beat me. I hope I can beat him. 135 ft. Yeah. Um, there was no wind this morning. So, no matter what happens, you have that in your top pocket as a trump. But no one’s hit it yet. No one’s hit the No one’s Nobody has hit it yet. No. All right. Wind’s picking up. See, I might have to go to five iron. sit. Oh, that was the right distance. I mean, it looked good. 14 yards times. Yeah. 40 ft. Yeah. Okay. Not ideal. We’ll have a look. I didn’t I didn’t take in count, you know, Matt jumpy. Yeah. No, that’s that’s not having any of it. You can blame me because I was the caddy here and I really should have pointed that out to you again. No, at all. That was a good swing. Look, it was a good swing. Started a little left of your target. A little cut. That’s all I could ask for. That’s what I’ve been working on. If I can hit that all week, I like my chances. Yeah. And again, you know, maybe I should have bought in the five iron when you said it. And it’s tough as a caddy to know when to make Well, I should have hit I should have hit seven. Okay, this is a nice caddy player relationship. I’m a fan. Do you need a Are you looking? Yeah. And no, I probably shouldn’t say that while I’m in here. Yes, we’ll talk after. Um Colin, lovely to meet you. Thank you so much for joining us. Very best of luck this week. Thank you guys. Can’t believe you knew from your eyes. You were like, I want another guy. I know. Yeah. Yeah. He’ll probably hit it second time. That always is the way, isn’t it? But very nice of Henny there to take the rat for bringing the wrong club. You got to blame somebody. Yeah, I would imagine. You know, the way he his iron play is, he he’ll have a chance this week. Colin Marawi is the sort of player that you would never count out at a major championship. And there’s been one or two changes in his team recently. He’s got Billy Foster on the golf bag alongside him now, which has got to be a great addition for any player in the world of golf. Yeah, I was very interested about that because I think that Colin Morawa when I follow him, he’s always asking for a lot of information from his caddy, his old caddy JJ. They would, I mean, discuss, you know, very specific things here and there. And and I you know to be fair I know that uh Fitzpatrick was with uh or sorry uh Billy Foster with with Fitzpatrick for many years but uh and he did a lot of the work on his own where Colin seems to ask uh for a lot. So I I I’m interested to see how the the banter goes between those guys. Yeah, it is a good thing there because I mean it is, you know, as you mentioned, the relationship between Billy and Matt Fitzpatrick was 6 and a half years nearly and they’re both northerners in essence, northern Englishmen and obviously the connection there was good and they had a fabulous time together. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how that relationship develops with Morau. Well, it’s that sort of a time where you can make a decision. Do you carry on your practice? Maybe one or two players will still step out on the golf course, Rich. I would imagine. I mean, it’s a good time to get out there and uh and play. There’s big Tony Tony Fi out world number 45. So, all good to be just inside the world’s top 50. And he’s also playing some pretty steady golf this year. He’s a fascinating player to watch, isn’t he? Big tall guy. And it just really is. Golf swing is really a flick of the wrist. That’s all it is. It’s nothing more. I mean, you talk about golf swings and just look at that. That’s all hands. That’s That is all hands. He’s a very talented, very gifted athlete. Looking super relaxed in his hoodie there. I actually was given a hoodie to wear, Rich. And I put it on this morning. I thought at the age of 62, it’s not the look for a 62 year old. Yeah, but you don’t wear anything very gracefully. So, it carries the hands awfully low. Look how he I mean, it’s almost right next to his knees. Yeah. Incredibly low hands. Yeah. It’s an interesting It’s an interesting starting position for a for a tall individual, but look at the length of his arms. I mean, his arms, they’re they’re he’s just a a big guy with long levers. And that’s why it doesn’t take a whole lot. Big hands as well. The hands on the club. Size of the hands. Look at his feet. I don’t know what they are. They’re about size 17s. But certainly uh I mean he’s almost touching his thigh there, isn’t he? He’s almost almost grazing the left thigh. Yeah. Yeah, we are live at the range here at Port Rush, 153rd Open Championship. And it’s been a lot of fun actually watching all the different styles and rhythms, techniques, no two swings alike. Walk down the range for the rest of your life, no two swings will ever be the same. And this is an unusual one, Rich. Again, it’s it’s just he uses his long levers to uh to generate the golf club. I mean, he he literally doesn’t ever look like he’s swinging um as fast or as hard as he possibly could. Yeah. Notice the lady on the left, she is allowed to do that. She’s It looks like she’s rumaging in his bag, but she’s actually just checking all the equipment for all the players, getting the stats for all the the club companies. It’s uh Yep. They’re doing the Daryl survey, which they’ve been doing. Very good. I like that. Apparel survey. Daryl survey. Oh, the Daryl survey. Daryl survey. Ah, very good. What’s he got out now? He looks like he’s got a little small head. It looks like a 3-wood, doesn’t it? I think that’s too big ahead for a hybrid. I don’t know him very well, Rich. You probably do know him. obviously spending a lot more time on the PGA Tour, but he comes across as such a nice guy. Oh, he he he’s as nice as Days Long. And that that that grin he’s got is uh u it’s genuine. It is absolutely genuine. It’s interesting. I don’t see Boyd Summer’s longtime coach out there with him. Steven Jerger there alongside him looking very animated chatting with caddies and coaches Rich did you when you went out to practice sort of on a on a on a Tuesday or a Wednesday did you have a fixed sort of time that you would spend on the range or was it flexible? No, it’s completely flexible. Kind of depending on, you know, how the body was feeling, how the mind was feeling and all that. So, you you go out and play I wanted to play 18 holes on Tuesday and then try and figure out, you know, what I need to work on u for Wednesday and Thursday and and so I didn’t really have a set time I wanted to be out there, but I always enjoyed coming out because hitting golf balls at the range at the Open Championship is pretty special. Yeah, you’re a big big practicer. Did you did you sort of split the time equally between short game, long game putting or again was that totally feel? No, that was totally feel. But I I did not spend enough time chipping and putting that’s for sure. Very honest of you. No, it is. I mean, I I I was asked not too long ago, you know, what’s if I have anything like a kind of a regret, as you might say, and I said, the only regret I have is maybe not practicing my short game just a little bit more, being a little more diligent at it because that’s where you can make it fun. I mean, when I was a kid, I used to play this little game called hoot and scoot. You used to basically take you and your buddies, take up a couple golf balls and throw them anywhere and chip and putt with a with your wedge. Well, we will head back down there and we will catch up with Iona and Pete. Yes, thank you. We’ve come down to the chipping area to have a little look at some of the action down here and we’re going to come this way. If you come with us, come on, Pete. Let’s go over here and we’re going to find Anastasia who’s very hard at work. Anastasia, it’s lovely to see you. How’s the week going so far? Fabulous. Yeah, it’s a bit cold today, but we’ve had some great weather. Been busy. It’s quieter now, but if you were here half an hour, you wouldn’t have got in. There was no balls. It was packed on there. But yes, it’s been great. So, what is your role? I can see you’re working very hard here. What are all these buckets? So, these have got all the different brands. So, from Tight List to Callaway to Shrixen to Bridgestone there’s all different makes and different types. For example, on tight list we have the Prov XL and the Prov1s. And then on Callaway, we have about four different ones. So, we have to sort them all out so that all the players get the ones that they want. Anastasia, the golf ball guru. We will know where to come. Listen, keep up the great work. We’ll make sure there’s a hot drink on the way to you soon. All right, Pete, let’s carry on down this way. Come with us. We’re going to have a little look at what’s happening down here. Mark Leeman just coming down onto this chipping area. We can see Tom Kim over in the bunker there. We’ve got players sort of dotted around. the short game when it comes to Lynx golf, Pete, it’s so exciting. It’s so creative. What kind of shots are they going to need this week? I mean, well, this thing so where Mark’s kind of hitting some chips and pitches from here. If you go to one of these front flags, he can hit anything from his lob wedge all the way up to what his hybrid and he can chip it along the ground. And I must admit, if I had access to a short game area like this, I think I’d be pretty good as well. How nice is this? the actual setup here of like the chip in pitching area to the putting green to the range. Out the last few opens I’ve been to, I think this might be the best one. Yeah, it’s wonderful. It’s a wonderful setup. And I tell you what else are the best are these greens. It’s very often that you see 18 greens on a layout like this that are all so exciting and so varied and they’re they’re in mint condition. That goes without saying, but they really are challenging. There is no green that’s the same out there. Some of them are upturn, some of them are more gathering greens, and you really do need a wide variety of shots to be able to get out of trouble. It’s the mix as well. So, with the bunkering at Poor Rush, there’s actually relatively few compared to some Lynx courses, but they’re well positioned and you’ve got the runoff, you’ve got the swelles. Like pretty much, not every green, but almost all of them have false fronts and they’ve got places where you can miss and pins where you just can’t go. And what Lynx Golf does probably better than any other tournament I would say. It just brings out that creative side. They get to play shots here that they might not get to play uh PJ course for example. So for me it’s one of the best things if you can like arrange yourself around a green if you do come to the open. It’s the best place to be. I was out earlier on the golf course walking a few holes and bumped into Podrick Harrington and he’s really someone. In fact, Minu Lee was out playing his practice round with Podre because he said, “I wanted to pick up a few notes from a man who knows how to get it done.” He would get some notes off Podrick as well. Absolutely. And he had these two um wedges in his hand. They were both about 60°, maybe a couple more degrees of loft than that. And it was just the bounce. One sat absolutely tight on the ground that he said he he’s had in the bag for a little while. He was trying one that didn’t quite sit as tight cuz they are there’s softness under here. Yeah. So what they really want to do at uh at any open is get the course firm and fiery so you do have the creativity a little bit more around the greens. I mean you can see Mark there just in the background starting to kind of little hit a five iron pinch and run where he was hitting a lob wedge just a second ago. Pete, talk us through this technique right here. What’s what’s key when you’re trying to hit a little runner like this? It’s the simplest most classic shot ever. It’s just back foot, little wrist hinge, drop it onto the back of the ball and just let it release down to the pin. What club do you think he’s got in his hand there? Uh, six. It’s amazing, isn’t it? You know, you hear a lot of amateurs, they maybe want to get out the 56 or the 60° and it’s not needed all the time. Sometimes it’s a little sixiron. Sometimes it’s it can be like you say a 4 iron, maybe even a hybrid. Well, you get lured into believing that around the greens all the pros are just going to get out the 60. They’re going to open up. They’re going to hoist up into the air. And there is time for that shot. Absolutely. But like I said, the creativity that you can have around here come is is what makes it so exciting. You see Tom Kim here. Let’s go and have a look at what Tom Kim’s up to. This is a totally different kind of shot where he’s trying to get it over the bunker so he can’t run it perhaps with a five iron. What’s What’s the technique for this one, Pete? Um so with this one to try and get that maximum amount of spin, shaft’s going to be a little bit more lent back. So pretty much pointed at his belt buckle. He’s just going to pivot the body, release it upwards. So try and I mean not like that might have been the worst picture I’ve ever seen in my life. But what he’s going to try and do that is release the club underneath the ball. Time that with the pivot of his body so he’s producing the maximum amount of loft the impact to try and get that control and try and get that spin. Well, that’d be an interesting one to play next. You can see it’s very playful and that’s why they talk about the having the vision and having the the creative eye and the imagination to be able to pick the right shot. That’s part of the challenge is actually selecting the right shot to play before you even have to execute it. And you were saying about Podrick having a a wedge with relatively low bounce. So bounce angle is just the difference between the leading edge and the sole of the club. The more bounce you have, the more the club will be guided out the ground. It’s great to use in bunkers. But if you have less bounce, what you can do is like get that leading edge very close to the ground. And if the ground is firm, you can get an incredible amount of spin and control. But as you said, it’s not the firmst links. It’s not the firmst open we’re ever going to see. I mean, you’ve been out on the course. Is this kind of what it’s like all around? Absolutely. It is. You know, it’s definitely feeling a little bit soft on your foot in certain places. It’s worth noticing uh worth noting rather. There’s a couple of newer greens. Seven was definitely a much firmer green and there was a lot of guys taking more time around the seventh green to practice because you could get yourself out of position there and some hotter bounces coming into that green. But listen Pete, we’re going to stay and watch here for a little bit a little bit longer because there’s always something we can learn from these guys around these wonderful greens and we’ll get back to the commentary. Meanwhile, becoming champion golfer of the year is rarely a straight line. I got to play my first open very fortunately in St. Andrews as a golfer’s most special place in the world. To play an open there is incredible and I actually played quite well. Nicely done. three through 10. I didn’t qualify in 2011. I didn’t qualify in 2012. 2014 I shot 65 in the final round actually to finish ninth which was pretty cool. That was my best finish ever in a major. And then from 2015 onwards kind of all downhill at the open championship. Break a few eggs before you can make an omelette. I was just going through such a bad phase in my career and then 2018 was Carnusi where myself and my caddy split up and probably one of the lowest points of my whole career. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such good form going into an open. What a start. Shane moves to 11 on He’s leading the Open Championship. I get down onto the tea and I’m looking around the crowd are going mental and I’m just taking it all in. And I’m like, this is incredible. Oh, what a boys in Lowry. There’s no in between today. Like, it’s either going to be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. What a time to throw in another birdie. I have to go and win. And that’s the way I felt. And thankfully, I did. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to find out more. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to get started. Why not give golf a go? Just swing. Swing wild, swing weird, swing wonky, whoever, however, wherever. It doesn’t matter. Just swing. Head over to golf.golf to start playing. Find out where you can learn to play at golf.golf. Well, Live at the Range is brought to you by HSBC. And one of the great things about the Open is that it brings fans from all around the world. And we’ve got Lori and Tom. Guys, great to see some Canadian flags, some hats. How excited are you to be here at the Open? So excited. Yes, we’re happy to be here. We were here six years ago and it’s just so exciting to be part of it all again. We loved it. So if you were here in 2019, it must be pretty special to come back. It is very special. It’s the the feeling you get when you walk in the field. It’s just all of a sudden you get this rush of excitement. It’s really cool. Yeah. And coming from Canada, how much do you guys love golf in general? It’s obviously just had the Canadian Open as well. Ryan Fox won that. Fantastic. Uh how how much do you love the game of golf over there? We love golf. Uh we have a long winter where we live. So we cannot golf for about 6 months of the year. So when we can’t golf, we love to watch it no matter where it’s from. How much golf are you guys playing at the moment? I’ve got the feeling uh you you’ve got the bug. Well, when it when it comes in um summertime, we do five five games a week minimum. Yeah. So it in Yeah. It’s more than these guys. And uh what are you looking forward to most about this week? You know, this is a major championship after all. It is truly special to be here. What are you looking forward to most? Uh, well, I hope we can run into some of our fellow connects and cheer them on for a bit, but uh, just the Irish people are fantastic and have always been so nice to us when we come over here. Um, just looking forward to watching some fantastic golf and enjoying the weather today for sure. Any favorites? Who’s your picks? Who do you want to win? I think I’m going for Nick Taylor, of course. Fair enough. I’d really like to see Tommy Fleetwood. Yeah, that would be a good story, wouldn’t it? Yeah, it would. You’ve almost got a bit of a Tommy Fleetwood look about you here. That’s Yeah, that’s quite nice. All right, guys. Well, fantastic to meet you. We hope you have a lot of fun here this week. Thank you, aren’t you? I’m sure we will. Yeah, everybody’s so friendly. It’s great. No doubt. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers. Yeah. Truly global, isn’t it? It’s the world’s oldest and greatest golf championship, the Open. And it’s one that every single player as a youngster growing up will have dreamt to win. Even to dream of being here as a youngster. That’s something you you you don’t even know is ever going to happen to you. Yeah. I think that u you know for for a lot of kids, especially in this part of the world, you know, coming to the Open uh is always special. which I think it’s even more special here at at Royal Port Rush, a place where they finally came back to in uh 2000 2019. And just being around here, there’s so many activities going outside the driving range. I mean, not too far away, you have the the merchandise shop, and then you have just a row and row of places to grab food, other little small things to kind of keep the kids entertained, and um it’s just a great experience. That guy could be your winner right there. He loves loves to play in link. Yeah. And I mean he’s certainly got the right ball flight, hasn’t he? World number 32 now, Ryan Fox. But what a season he’s had on the PGA Tour with the two wins, particularly the Canadian Open where the shot he played in the playoff and to win that was absolutely otherworldly into the par five there over the water. If you haven’t seen it, you’ll be able to catch up with it somewhere on the golfing channels around the world. But have to say I’m very impressed. He’s the only person down there I’ve seen in shorts. He He’s tougher than most. Yeah, he’s strong, isn’t he? He’s built of stern stuff, isn’t he? And uh I mean, again, it’s another very funky, unusual golf swing, but he does it his own way. And he even said that, listen, I’m kind of playing with house money right now. I mean, he knows he’s got a three-year exemption on tour. And so, he can kind of turn it loose a little bit. And again, when you got nothing to lose, that could be a very dangerous person this week. I agree. And well, you heard it from Rich Beam there. He’s definitely contender. Maybe it could be him that lifts that clarret jug. I’m not a massive fan, I have to be honest with you, of the belly action through impact there. Sorry. Think we could tuck the shirt in at this point, but I’m not going to tell him that. And please don’t tell him. I think it was very big. I think the shirt was tucked in at the beginning of the day, but uh has uh just kind of dis just kind of falls out. Yeah. I mean, it’s uh you know, we we we’ve known what a great player he is on the DP World Tour for a very long time. And you know, he got one of those opportunities through the through the strategic alliance to get one of the 10 PJ tours gone over there and it and it there was a slow start for him really. And then all of a sudden, Bosch, two wins in the space of six weeks that he’s kicked on and and back to being a global star again, which we’ve all known he is. And it’s kind of changed uh, you know, his outlook a little bit. Again, it’s changed the way where he plays and and what he says about it. He’s always had a couple of feet that he’s really kind of flares his both feet out. And I think if you hit it as hard as he does, you want to kind of get that that left foot out cuz when he’s turning, he wants to turn the maximum amount. Get that left foot turned out more and get that hip turning left as well without uh causing too many uh too much pain or issues. He has a wonderfully athletic golf swing in a way because he’s a a big strong guy. But as I say, what I like about his chances here is is his ball flight. He has this incredible ability to hit those low chasing drives and that’s something that’s going to be very valuable here at Raw Port Rush. Imagine that Foxy Ryan Fox. It’s a fox on his driver. You are so sharp. About as sharp as a bowling ball. Did you have any animals on your golf clubs? I did. When I actually, funny enough, when I won, I had uh a John Dailyaly head cover. John’s a good pal. Had John Daly’s head cover. Um I forget what it was on the 3-wood, but on my sevenwood or five sevenwood, I had this chicken and it was it was awful looking. It was horrible looking. But I just loved this chicken. I still have it. I It’s just It’s It’s gross, too. I mean, it’s just ugly and raggedy. Do you know I had two Garfield the cats? You know the the cartoon character Cat Garfield and I got to the first tea in Hamburg I think it was in the German Open and somebody cut the ear off my Garfield cat. Can you imagine that? I had to go and get a sticking plaster and put it over Garfield’s ear. I’ve got a I’ve got my dog on my driver right now and sadly he lost an eye in the travels. So I got to find out uh I got to find an find an eye. Yeah, they’ve all got sort of quirks, haven’t they, players. They got their lucky mascots, you know. Tiger had his tiger. Rory has his dog. Marcus Armitage has his bulldog on there. I mean, we can go on forever. They’ve all got something there that gives them a little bit of a smile when they look down at the golf bag when the game’s not being nice to them. So, we got the uh stats there from top tracer there. Flat carry 164, but he’s moved down two what sort of iron he’s got there. Looks like it could be a seven iron, Rich. Well, no. I think this is a I think this some sort of a driving iron that was just recently made for him. Ah, okay. All right. Yeah, I think he’s going to carry much more than 164, but the Apex is not going to quite be 88. A little bit lower than that. Yeah. Here we go. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Oh my goodness me. Look at that. That was just a lazy flick of the wrist. 240 yds flat carry. That’ll run as well as you say. Ball speed 156. An apex of 80 ft. Now they talk about the stinger shots they’re going to hit this week. You talk about the players carrying ones and two irons and and and strong driving irons. They want to get that apex down to about 40 between 40 and 60 ft. I would imagine it’s closer to the 40 number. Yeah, I think they want to get this thing as low as they can. You know, I’m not too sure whenever you hit a stinger, especially the Great Tiger Woods. I don’t think they ever got like over 12 feet. I mean, it didn’t look like it anyways, but uh I used to I used to have a stinger in my bag. I used to hit a sting a lot, but it was because I thinned it and it used to make my hands hurt. What happened there? I think he might have caught that one a little bit heavy. Well, there’s a funny line going that. That’s coming off a chip from the right hand side here. That’s Let’s have another hopefully this one is better. Well, that one looks straight as a die. Um, yeah, well hit as well. 233 carry and again the apex around that 70 foot mark. So he’s not I don’t think he’s trying to knock that down. I think he’s just making a pretty normal swing at that. I think he’s trying to figure out exactly how far it goes and then you can kind of work around it from there. Yeah, they’re amazing when all the players turn up there. They got the iPads, they’ve got the phones, they’ve got all of the data that they require. But ultimately once you get on the golf course, Rich, that means nothing. Nope. Quite a buzz down there if you if you ever do. I mean, obviously it’s something an awful lot of amateurs and everybody watching would dream of is to be able to wander down the range and what a thrill that would be for somebody. It is it it never gets old really for me. I mean, we wandered down there earlier, didn’t we? And you start chatting away. I had a chat with Henrik Stenson. And it was lovely catch up with him and Fanny Sunnerson on the bag. And there’s always somebody to talk to. There’s always something to watch and there are certain players that you have to stop and watch. Most definitely. Most definitely. Yeah. Being down there on the driving ring, it’s always fun, exciting. A lot of buzz going on. Uh especially this day in the range. Guys sniffing around for some new equipment as well. anything about Northern Ireland. Well, I’ll leave you briefly from live at the range and we look forward to having your company very shortly. Welcome along to the open. It’s everything you wanted and more. Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Quite an extraordinary day on the tea. Yeah, she was staring at this one down and for good reason. Look at this. Just delightfully done. She’s on top of the world. Going directly at the hole. Tell you what, good. Oh, get in there. There’s something about the AIG Women’s Open. Oh my goodness. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to find out more. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to get started. Why not give golf a go? Just swing. Swing wild. Swing weird. Swing wonky. Whoever, however, wherever. It doesn’t matter. Just swing. Head over to golf.golf to start playing. Find out where you can learn to play at golf.golf. Uh, ladies and gentlemen around the open zone, please welcome the world number nine, Ludwig Goldberg, everyone. Please stand there. Lovely. Absolutely. Good to see you again. How you doing? How are you? Good. Good. All right. Embracing the Northern Irish weather all of a sudden. I am. That comes in. This your second open championship debut last year at Trune. What did you learn last year that you’re going to take into this year? Um I think I I underestimated the the power of mother nature. I think uh I was walking into the tournament thinking it was going to be a nice time, but it was it was hard. It was blowing a lot and um I just remember a lot of those crosswind holes on the front nine and um being being quite brutal. But um I have a little bit more of a an accepting sort of approach this week I guess um because it’s probably going to be a factor and um we’ll we’ll try to deal with it the best we can. I mean top 10 at the Scottish last week which was fantastic. What have you found now in your short career? You’ve still had a short career. What for you is the key to Lynx golf? Um if there is one. Yeah, I think I think keeping it as easy as you possibly can. Um, obviously when the wind starts blowing, when you know there’s uh there’s a lot of crosswind, it’s a lot in to the flight that you pick. Um, and it’s so easy to kind of get hung up and is it playing 44, is it playing 46? And it doesn’t really matter. Um, all that matters is just playing the easiest shot that you possibly can pick and um, and just keep the ball in front of you. And I think that’s what I tried to do last week even though we had some amazing weather in Scotland. Uh yeah, but uh I think it’ll be important this week as well. I know you recently had a bit of a break as well. Went back home to Sweden experience like when I saw your mom, your mom’s cooking. How important for you is having a break away from the game even for a short time? Yeah, it’s great. Um I hadn’t been back since before the Scottish of last year. Oh wow. So I’d been back in about 12 months, which I now realize is not enough for me. I need to come home a little bit more than that. Um, and uh, and I really enjoy just, you know, hanging out with my friends that I’ve had since I was this big. And, um, obviously seeing my parents as well. So, those things are important because we play a lot of golf and we travel a lot. And to have a balance not only on the golf course, but when you when you’re home as well, practicing, playing is is important. Um, because if you want to do this for 20 years plus, um, it it needs to be a priority for sure. You’ve had a handful of tour starts, should we call it that, in your career, but how would you assess your professional career so far from your point of view? Uh, yeah, it’s been exciting. Um, I think when I turned pro just over two years ago, all I tried to do was just, you know, get my feet under myself. Um, play and see how good I could be and see how good I can become. and and I consider myself very fortunate to have had a lot of cool experiences and um I felt like I’ve put myself in a position where I’m proud of the work that I’ve done but um there’s also so much more to do and explore and uh keep improving and keep learning about you know my game and me as a person and um that’s the exciting part I think um and and that’s what makes me excited about go and play more golf and uh compete more at the highest level. One last question before I’m gonna do a challenge here. Okay. I’m gonna I’m just going to assume that you’re going to Beth Page Black in a few months time. Okay. I’m just gonna I’m just gonna assume I’m not Luke Donald, but how excited are you to take on America at Beth Page if you’re in the team? Yeah. I mean, I think whoever’s on that team is going to have a a really cool week. Hopefully, I’ll be one of them. But, um, I think, um, you know, I need to play well in these next couple events to to get in the in the automatic qualifier spots, uh, which is my goal for these next couple of stretch of of golf coming up. But, yeah, I think I had a great experience in Rome a couple years ago and when when I was there, the guys were saying, if you’re ever on a team, you’re never going to want to miss one again. And it’s so true. And, um, it is a Ryder Cup year, and it’s been on my mind for a while. Um, so I’ll do everything I can to be in that 12man squad going to New York. I can’t wait. Can’t wait as a fan myself to watch. Right, we’re gonna get you to take on the Shane Lowry challenge here in the open. So I’m going to get you up here onto the True Golf platform. Um, so the what we’re aiming for, Ludvig, is the the mini Giants causeway out there. Can you see it? The gray rocks, the little rocks. So it’s 175. This was so this was Shane Lowry’s second shot into 18 in 2019. Okay. 175. I’m not I’m not going to tell you what club he hit because that would be unfair. But we’ve got a different win today. We’ve had a few people already, by the way, take on the challenge. And you want to take a little look at the leaderboard. See what you’ve got to beat. Yeah, please. Okay, here we go. Here’s the leaderboard, the live leaderboard at the moment. Andrew Novak is 5 ft. So, it’s closest. It’s closest to the pin, but the wind conditions are very varied here on all of those. You can see we’re ranging from a nine iron yesterday to uh Yeah, I don’t think my nine iron is going to get there today. You should really joking. Yeah. Yeah. So, we got a wind all of a sudden pumping. So, what do you think? You got a one and a half% percent% percent slope as well put in. That’s what Shane had. Oh, okay. Yeah, I’ll be thought of everything. So, 175. First, I need to do some math cuz I’m playing meters. Okay. 160 m. Oh, 60 m. Yeah. Okay. 160 m. 60 m. Probably played pretty much straight into the wind, isn’t it? It is. Yeah. 60. Uh, I’m going to go with a 75. Probably a little sixiron. Okay. Like it. Yeah. 6 about about what we’ve been going other players been going with. Does that sound about right? That sounds about right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Tell us your tell us your thinking here. Obviously, we’ve got a wind pumping in here. Yeah. Tell us what your swing thoughts are here. Uh yeah, I think um it’s easy for me. My personal tendency when I play into the wind is that I tend to to sort of help the ball a little bit. So, I I do it with my body, which is not the way for me to hit it because then it kind of tends to get really sensitive with the face and uh can spin up a little bit too. So, I try to make it really simple. I try to make it super, you know, obviously a little bit shorter swing. Um, getting a little bit closer to it and move the ball back in my sand. So, it should be the easiest way for me to do it. Um, but this little uphill too is going to make it a little bit more challenging. Do you is for when everyone I know a load of people, me too, when they watch your golf swing, it looks so simple and effortless. Is simplicity a thing is that you try and do throughout your golf swing and on the range too? Yeah. I wish it was as simple as it looks possibly, but uh yeah, definitely. I think um for me personally, not only the way that I’m trying to swing the golf club, but the way I try to approach training and practice and and all these things is just keep it very simple. Um when things are complicated, when things are hard, my my head starts spinning and it becomes tricky. So, I try to keep it simple and uh yeah, and that’s one way to do it. Okay, this is a simple 175 shot with a one and a half% slope into a wind. Easy. Oh, you put it like that. Okay. Oh, a little left to pulled slightly, but I think the distance is right. You know what? That was the right club as well, wasn’t it? Probably right. I think it was the right club. I think we’re we’re going to 19 yard. 19 yards. So that’s uh what’s that? 38 57 ft. 57 ft. Yeah. I don’t make the leaderboard on that one. Yeah, I don’t think you make the leaderboard, I’m afraid, L. No, I’m so sorry. Here. Do you want to see again? That’s your flight as well. Okay. I thought it was a decent strike. I thought it was pretty good. Yeah. Wasn’t it? It was pretty good. I say you got a difficult twopart from there for par to win the edge. Does that mean it’s it’s long as well? Yeah, you were long. Yeah. Here’s your swing. By the way, do you assess your swing? Do you look back on video of your swing a lot? Uh not in Yeah, sometimes. See, sometimes I don’t pay that much attention to to the golf course. It’s more in my practice and, you know, the camera little swings that I have in my phone. Um, okay. I I sort of let my swing coach do that for me. That’s what you’re paying for. That’s what you’re paying for. Exactly. Um, Ludvig, thanks for coming to the Ozone. Have a great week. I know you’re going to have a huge amount of fans following you, but best of luck. Thanks. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah, we are down still here on the range. Pleased to say the rain has gone away. And with that, the yellow umbrellas. And just behind us over my left shoulder here, we have a local star, Tom McKibben, who has been doing some work here on his wedges for the last few minutes. And we’re going to dive in and have a little chat with him. Let’s just mosey on in here. It’s looking very impressive, very convincing. Tom, sorry to interrupt you. That looked like another beautiful shot. How are you doing? Good, thanks. How are you? Very well. Lovely finish. This is Peter Finch. Not sure you’ve you two have been formally introduced. Definitely watched many hours on YouTube, you know. Yeah, I think I’ve socially stalked him a little bit. So, social relationship, I think it’s known as. Well, this is the this is the age that we are living in. Um, but listen, great finish for you in in Spain. Congratulations. And it’s great to see you here on home turf. You must be feeling well. How are you feeling? Do you feel comfortable? Um, yeah, I think so. I mean, as comfortable probably as I can be. Um, we had a good morning this morning with Darren and Rory. Um, and there’s a lot of people out there watching already, so it was uh sort of good to get that out of the way today. And um, I’m sure it’ll only continue to grow as the week goes on. What was that atmosphere like? Yeah, it was good. We we uh went out there very early this morning, so it was a little bit quiet at the start, but um, as the round went on, it got busier and busier, and it was um, it was cool to sort of see that support and have people cheering you on. And are you able to stay at home this week? No. And I’m just in close by. It’s about I live about an hour away, so just slightly too far for this week. Right. And Tom, how many times have you played Royal Port Rush? Uh, a lot of people have asked me that. I don’t I don’t quite know. I’d say I’ve definitely played it over 50 times, I’m sure. Um, I mean, that’s quite it’s still an advantage over a lot of the people here. Yeah. Hopefully. So, what’s the one thing that you feel you’ve got to do well around Royal Port Rush? Uh I think you got to hit it well off the tea. There’s a lot of bunkers sort of in play with um sort of no matter what club you take off the tea. Um you can try and play it sort of conservatively but there’s still a bunker sort of lurking around somewhere. So I think um good off the tea and then the greens are are quite slloppy for a links course. So sort of just getting your your eyes adjusted to that and hopefully hold a few putts. Great stuff. We really appreciate the time and we wish you all the best this week. You’ll have plenty of support. Well done Tom. Thanks a lot. Fantastic to hear from local star Tom McKibben who is already a winner on the DP World Tour now plays on the live tour of course and as we say had a top five in Valdderama. So here he is at Royal Port Rush. It’s going to be a fantastic week for him. A big one. Yeah. And I mean a top five of Valdderama as well. He’s going to have to be playing well to do that. So he’s going to be coming into this with quite a lot of form. Yeah, he’s certainly striking it very nicely over there. Got to got to uh be a real advantage having played Royal Port Rush over 50 times. And you know, he’s obviously had a he’s got a great friendship with Rory Maroy and he’s had a lot of mentorship from him as well. But this is sad times, Peter Finch. We’re now seeing the clar jug leave the range. Yeah, it’s closest we’re ever going to get to it, I suppose. Absolutely. And I certainly would never touch it. It’s Have you not touched it? I would never. I am not worthy. So I would not do that. Yeah, I I softly um softly caressed it by accident obviously before. Just slipped a little bit. Oh, no. Well, off she goes. There. There the trophy goes on its way. the clar jargon. Well, well, who knows? I’m sure it’ll make another appearance back here on the range later in the week. Back to the commentary. Well, I hope somebody’s checked that gentleman’s credentials that’s walking away with the clar jug, Rich. Well, they actually secure it. They actually screw the thing down so you can’t walk over and and manhandle it, but you can touch it if you want. Well, it was great to hear from Tom McKibben. As we say, he will have a a fabulous week, I’m sure, here at Port Rush, as is George Harper. He’s out there again. Yeah. Good afternoon everyone. I’ve made it back out to the wonderful fifth hole. It’s playing a slightly longer par four today because the wind is humming off the ocean. So it makes it a lot more difficult. We haven’t seen as many golfers drive the green. We’ve got Turl Haden, Matt Fitzpatrick here. So it’s a busy looking group. We’ve also got Thristen Lawrence as well. And look, got a very interested spectator here. Two yards. Who’s this? Hello, mate. No horren, everybody. Uh, part part-time singer, uh, full-time golf broadcaster now, mate. How much are you loving this? Uh, not only the open, but in this part of the world as well. It’s unbelievable to have it back in the island. I mean, how good was the last one? It was It was probably one of my favorite opens ever. And obviously with Shane winning it, Shane’s only from about half an hour away from me. So it was it was big for the country and our area. And it felt like the whole nation was here that weekend, didn’t it? When he was when he shot that big one on on Saturday afternoon and uh closed up. It was a good night. It was all right. Did you have a good time, did you? I certainly did, mate. But mate, how how does it look as well? You played here not long ago. It doesn’t get much better, right? No, especially this this corner where we are now down at the bottom on five and five green and sixt. It’s pretty epic to look down the beach with the cliffs and uh yeah, it’s it’s amazing. But the course is in unbelievable condition. Um they’ve had the perfect weather throughout the year for it to be get ready. So, it’s uh it’s in good, Nick. It’s going to be a good tournament. Yeah. Well, let’s make our way up to this view. And uh you’re obviously out here watching your good friend Tur as well. Uh what can we expect from the big man this week? He looks in pretty good form. Yeah, he’s he’s very cons he’s a very consistent player generally. So, um yeah, know he’s been playing really well. He’s obviously had a good run at the majors this year, too. So, we’ll just uh keep our fingers crossed that the a game turns up this week, you know. How’s your form? Well, very different to Hatton, put it that way. Um, yeah, I’m all right. I mean, as I said to you before off camera, I’m either look like I play on the tour or look like I’ve never played the game. So, that’s one one or the other. Mate, speaking of the island, it doesn’t get much better than this. How how proud are you to be from this ne this part of the world? I mean, look at that. It’s pretty epic around here, isn’t it? Look at this guy out for a run. Biggest golf tournament on the planet happening here. It’s uh it’s pretty sweet. It is very very cool up here. Goosebump stuff every time. All right. Now, I want you to practice your golf commentary here with Terrell H. And what do you see in this one? This is going left to right, I assume. Uh yeah, there it is. Went a little bit too left to right, but yeah. No, he’s uh he’s been playing well. It’s like it’s he’s uh playing some good golf this season and he’s very he’s obviously as I said he’s very consistent so you kind of don’t worry about any of his mad misses or anything like that. He doesn’t have one of them in the locker so it’s just when he puts he he plays well you know. So what have you been up to outside of golf mate? What’s keeping you busy? A new album I hear. Yeah making an album at the moment. Uh started shooting a new season of The Voice in America. Oh brilliant. Um so I’ve kind of it’s been this is my off year but a very busy year. A busy very busy off year. Um, just trying to chill out when I can and we’re going to have to. Yeah. I remember coming to the show. You did what, how many shows in a row or how many shows? Not in a row, but you must have done what, 70 shows or something? I think we were up 19 mid 90s maybe by then. Oh my god. Yeah, it was it was a it was a great year though. I really like I feel like the older I’m getting, the more I take it all in and like the more grateful I become. Not that I wasn’t grateful before, but you just kind of find yourself just taking more of it more of it in and for what it is. Um, yeah, and it’s just been it was an amazing year last year. Hopefully I can back it up. I’m sure you can. And obviously the golfers are getting a lot of attention around here with the local fans. I’m sure a few of them are happy to see you as well. Yeah, there’s been a few screams and I’d be like, “No, no, keep it going. It’s a golf tournament.” But no, it’s amazing. The I can’t believe the crowds like it’s Tuesday. Yeah. And it’s just uh place has rammed. It’s But it’s amazing. Golf is huge in this country. Always has been, always will be. So we never have worry about getting fans in the gates when it comes to this. Yes, especially with these views. Right. Where’s Ter and the boys? Let’s go to the We’ll go to the sixth and set up set up for these boys. Looks absolutely magical here. You keep watch. Where is he? Oh, they’re all soaking up the views. This is absolutely stunning. How tough’s this path three as well, Nile? because looking at this, it’s uh relatively long, but wind behind us today. Yeah, I played it into wind last week or two weeks ago. Yeah. And I shanked it to the right. So, I’m sure none of these boys would be doing that. But it’s a tough one. This the wind can switch around here a little bit. It’s either into or really down, which is a tough one for them. Yeah. Have you been for a swim out here? Absolutely not. Not you wouldn’t catch me in there. Can barely swim as it is. Never mind in that water. Well, there you go, guys. No, it’s been great to have you here. Look, I’ve always wanted to be a singer. You’ve always wanted to be a commentator, so we’ll just leave it at that. I won’t try your profession, but um look, mate, long story short, I hope you have a bloody great week out here at home because I’m sure I’m sure you’ll love it. No, it’s going to be an amazing week. It’s going to be great. All right, get up the Irish. Yeah, man. Welcome back. Fascinating to hear so many different golf fans from so many different sports. It’s a it’s a very good melting pot for all sorts of different skills. So many musicians, Andy, try to fill the time. Nile’s a good player, by the way. Poor old Nile there thinking that people were screaming at him when of course they were screaming at George. I think Nile was very much mistaken there, wasn’t he? I’m going to tell him you said that. Um, there it is. the range. Still a lot of guys. It’s only 3:30, gets dark in about I don’t know 6 and 1/2 hours. So, you still got a lot of guys just going out for their first look at the golf course. But no, it’s great what you what you say there. And in all seriousness, it’s great that famous faces from from other walks of life and and and other industries, music, film, etc. We’re going to see plenty of famous faces here this week. It’s great that they bring that little bit of extra magic. We’ve obviously got superstars out there of of course in the golfing ranks, but uh having stars of stage and screen helps as well. ASU’s like yeah, you can’t stop George though. He’s just such a play boy. Oh, look. You see, look at this. He’s unbelievable. This is it. Thinking he’s Harry Styles there next to Nile. He could be the next James Bond. Anyway, just terrible. So there it is the driving range. That is the I think that is the old fourth hole. The fourth hole, the par five on the valley course. Massive driving range facility. Lots of things to AAP. Guys just getting final preparations. A lot of instruction going on. A lot of fans watching from the grand stand behind the driving range. Yeah, fascinating to see all of the chat between, you know, the manufacturers and the players. You got a lot of going backwards and forwards. A big to the right side there. huge complex of equipment trucks with every single toy you can imagine. So the the key is like if I can’t use my driver, excuse me, or my threewood goes too high, I need that kind of bullet iron shot that that’s going to run and chase on the ground but keep low on those cross rounds. So cross wins. So that has been a big challenge. It’s it’s very much like John. Yeah, it’s amazing when you see all the trucks in position around the course that the players can get to and have little tweaks made as Simon’s saying, things that they learn here on the range and particularly when they go out for their practice rounds. Just little bits of information they collect on those practice 18s where they can come back and say, “Right, I just need this adjusting.” And as you say, the toys and gadgets that the golfers have at their disposal this year as well. You can find out a lot more information, the QR code there for the open app. There is so much to get stuck into there, let me tell you. Whether you’re coming to Port Rush this week or not, lots of goodies on there. Young and old can look at that open app. Yeah, it’s great to see autograph hunters, avid golfers coming to have a closer look. That’s one of the great things, you know, coming to look for a tip, coming to look how it’s done. You know, golf’s a game where most of the spectators are in the game. They’re playing the game. So, behind the driving range is a fascinating watch. Chatting to people from all over the place. So earlier this morning, Bryson Dashambo was hitting balls, looking at his spin rates, and fascinating always to hear what’s on his mind. Let’s go back down there and join him. I was going to say last year at Trun you were laughing when you said it, but your quote was, “I can do it when it’s warm and not windy.” So, have things changed? But also just on a tactical level, um, what do you need to do in Lynx golf that’s different? Like shot to shot, what is it that what skills do you have to build up? I think building up hitting it and using the wind uh playing into the wind a lot more. Not trying to ride the wind is something that is pretty simple to to talk about, but sometimes difficult to execute when it’s a unique scenario depending on where the hazards are and the bunkers are and trying to hit a certain shot to a certain place. uh just being a little more strategic and that’s that’s what we’re going to look at doing this week is just trying to be as strategic as possible and putting the ball in places where you know I can give myself good chances for birdie but also not give myself too many difficult places to to play from is the goal dumb followup probably but does it involve more thinking over the ball with each shot? Are there more things to think about? 100%. You’re feeling the wind how much it’s coming into you and uh if it’s off the left or right u a lot more than than normal and okay how how do I feel? how to turn this into the uh wind or you know if you’re going to try and ride the wind one time how do I control that? Make sure it doesn’t go into a crazy place cuz once that ball gets going with that wind I mean it’s that thing can go forever offline it’ll turn east you know sometimes but just having fun out here is is what I’m trying to to accomplish this week and being pretty strategic just next to you. Yeah. Yeah. Bryson. Uh, people have a lot of different ways to describe like the wind over here. Some guys have called it a heavy wind or a thick wind. I was wondering if you if that makes sense to you, if there’s a way to quantify that and how that’s different than somewhere else. I’m still working on that. Uh, we’re doing some testing right now and uh going to continue working on how heavy different types of wind affect the golf balls. um something I’m working on on a personal project and it’s going to take time to understand it from a terminology. Yeah, heavy one’s a great way to describe it. It just it’s thick like it it just if okay I’m not going to okay uh you know it’s one of those situations where you’re you’re in the environment and you go all right this feels like a 15 mph wind and all of a sudden it plays like a 30 mph wind and you’re like what the heck? So I think that’s the trick of it. If you grow up here, you play a lot of golf over here. Uh you get quite comfortable and and knowledgeable about that. I just need more more reps in a sense. And hopefully I’ve had enough reps uh to be able to do that. Played well in some windy conditions. And on Lucia was a good test last week in the first few days. Played well. Uh but again, the wind is different from there to here. So we’ll see how it goes this week and hopefully stays warm and my body stays warm and um but yeah, it is it is a thick wind. Joy in the front, please. Bryson, something on the similar lines. Uh you said last year that you were blown away by the wind. Yeah, literally. But uh this year you have had some really good drown in the wind. I we talked about Miami and then good one. Wama was another. Uh did you what what kind of things did you try to do to become a better wind player and given your scientific bend of mind did you get into a wind tunnel and try to do things? Oh man, imagine, okay, this is going to be wild, but imagine a scenario where you’ve got like a 400yard tent, right? And you can just hit any type of shot with any wind with all the fans. Like that’s that’s what I imagine like like in a hanger or something like that in a big stadium. Uh that’d be cool to test one. Uh but two, all I’ve really done is hit more half shots and tried to play into the wind a lot more. So if it’s a left to right wind, I’ll draw it. If it’s a left right to left wind, I’ll try to cut it more often than not. If I try to play with the wind, sometimes I just I lose control of that golf ball. And that’s that’s what I did whenever I had a right to left wind and I was trying to hit draws. Man, that thing would go forever offline. Um, so those are the few things that that I’ve been working on. And wouldn’t it be cool to test in like a massive wind wind tunnel? Yes, I’ I’d love to I’d for sure do that. What a fascinating series of answers to some very good questions, Andy. Yeah, he’s such an interesting character, isn’t he? And yeah, I could listen to him talk about the technique and the strategies and the way he’s going to battle the win this week for a long, long time. And he’s never he’s never quite figured the Open Championship out. He tied eighth at St. Andrews in 2022, but we showed a graphic during that press conference there where his results at the Open are nowhere near his results at the other three majors. but he loves the challenge and he keeps coming back and he is a player I think people at home watching don’t realize sometimes how much time the players will spend here this week on the range not just on these practice days not just before their rounds but after their rounds whether they’ve played well or not and Bryson is definitely a player who will be putting the hours in here this week and and as you say fascinating to listen to what did you make of it no it is interesting I mean I do think you know if you think about his game which is sort built, I would say, more around T-shots. Um, when we were watching him play the Masters, for example, looked as though, you know, it I I wouldn’t say he can’t fade it, but I mean, he never really hit any good shots to any of the pins on the right. So, I don’t think a one-dimensional shot is going to fit around this golf course this week if conditions, if all things stay the same. So, you know, can he hit something lower that is a fade? I mean that’s quite against his natural pattern of shots. So maybe that’s a disadvantage for him. Um and and you know he does he does have the power for sure. But I don’t know where it gets him on the on a week like this on a course like this. So it’s it’s going to be a more a precise a precise game of of working your way into the sort of scoring positions off the tea. and and can does he have the discipline to recognize that and to and to keep doing that? The other thing as well away from the technical side of things, isn’t it nice to see Bryson Deambo there smiling through his answers, charming? That hasn’t always been the case, but there has been, I think, a big shift in the last couple of years with him. And you warm to him and you want to hear what he has to say, which is which is great for the game. Yeah, I think it’s tough. I mean, you you know, when he when we first met him, he was like 20 years old. You can’t hold a 20-year-old’s brashness against someone as you mature. I think that’s I think that’s uh interesting to see. So, Bryson Dambo, could he do it? JJ Spawn, US Open champion. That’s got to sound good. It must feel good, mustn’t it? Coming then to the open as that major winner for the first time. His confidence will be skyhigh. And what a moment that was on that final green when he had two putts to win the title. Only needed the one from a monster distance. Yeah, it was it was an extraordinary final day because well, he didn’t really he got off to a terrible start. off to an unlucky start and then he hit some foul balls as well. There was a rain delay and he just came out a new man. So, let’s have a look at his swing. Compact in stature. Good compression through the ball. Gets that lower body nice and forwards and open through the ball. I was on the driving range just up until a few minutes ago and quite a few American guys saying, “I can’t believe I didn’t bring my woolly hat.” It has got a bit chilly out there, I must admit. There we go. Look at that. F’s feet going to finish into that left ankle there. just working through his numbers. That’s his major career. The highlight is the one win a top 10. So, going to be interesting to see can he bring that sort of game to this week. See JJ bottom left just stretching out trying to find the positions for the body. So that’s the tilt of the shoulders and then you can see so that’s that’s typically how you would see a tour player work through his transition. So what happens to what happens in the transition is that you know as the as the as the end of the turn is finishing the start of the down swing is starting and the down swing starts really by kind of like a lateral and sometimes a dropping shift of the pelvis so that the there’s like a delay between the chest, the arms and the club. You can really see it clearly on JJ’s swing there. So for him working very much the shoulder plane and it’s almost like keep your back to the target and make sure you push down into that left foot. That’s the kind of the key move the good ball strikers have and it’s absent from the move that bad ball strikers have. So let’s have a look. So you can see if you want if you picture his legs here. So forget about the club. Picture his legs. You can see him pushing towards us down into that left ball of the foot before the leg clears and the weight goes back into the left heel. And I had to double check this because I was doubting myself, but this is his open championship debut JJ Spawn and he hadn’t finished in the top 20 of any major until that win at Oakmonts. So, this is uncharted territory for him. Here we go. So that’s the plane. Then the coach I think will hold the shaft. Hold the shaft. Delay the upper body from going too early. So it’s the lower body that’s going to start. So loads the chest. Starts with the hips. That’s into the left ball. Yeah. The coach is telling him just mate just do that. Like what’s the problem? Here we go. Coach is always unbelievably helpful. doesn’t give a lot of lot of feedback there, does he? Doesn’t look super happy, super sad. Kind of keeps himself very eventempered. 34 years old, born in Los Angeles, lives in Arizona these days, as so many of the golfers do in Scottsdale. He’s been playing golf since he was a toddler. I read a really interesting thing that his mom was an avid golfer and she continued playing golf right the way through her pregnancy with JJ until she was something like 8 months pregnant. And that’s uh they say part of the reason why he’s taken to this game so naturally. But there’s his major results as I mentioned tied 23rd at the Masters in 2022. His best majors finish until the US Open victory. Yeah, what a change. Mums are amazing, aren’t they? Just amazing. So, here we go. So, it’s load and then leave the upper body behind and lead with that push down. And it’s a push. It’s a right foot to left foot push. Pushing your pushing your almost right hip back behind you. Keep that turn going low down onto that left side. And then you can post off it to clear and keep that club face nice and neutral. So up. That’s it. There. Taking that step into that left side. That’s an interesting little drill. Let’s Let’s maybe have a closer look at that. What was that? Okay. Away. So load. There’s a lot of cool. I didn’t That looks like Michael Flatly. Here we go. Load. What? and then step. Wow. Okay, this is a mystery. Interesting. Um, we might have to have another look at that. It’s hard to hard to call that. So, here we go. The JJ twostep or seven step. One, two, and move. Okay. So I think he was just getting himself comfortable. Maybe his distance from the ball. He was just checking to make sure he had the right distance from the ball. So you can see really interesting footwork. He loads. He loads, steps onto the left. So he’s transferring the weight onto the left and then the club releases later. So, it’s kind of like the footwork, the w the the pressure shifts, the hips clear and then it goes hips, chest, arms, club in that sequence. You’ll be trying that one at your own driving range, won’t you? Let’s have a look at this. So, step back, step into the left foot, and release it. Simple, actually. It’s so simple. It’s just a little sequence drill. Here we go. Make sure you don’t get your When you step in, don’t get your foot anywhere near the ball. Step and hold back again. Step and go. What was it? The put your left foot in, your left foot. Anyway, so what was it? The hokeyp pokei. This is it. The JJ hokeyp pokei. Well, he’s not going to thank us for that. He’s in amongst the big boys on Thursday morning. 958. He tease off his first round alongside Xander Schae and John Ram. There’s some fantastic groupings in the first two rounds tea times as there always is. Larry, Morawa, and Sheffller go out after JJ Spawn on Thursday morning. So that US Open victory has put him right at the top of the tree in terms of the groups he’ll go out with at these big tournaments. Now Ben Griffin in the background. So JJ, US Open champion. There it is, the driving range at the 153rd Open. That’s the beach and the cliffs and over the top the majestic links of Royal Port Rush. Heat. Heat. Welcome along to the open. It’s everything you wanted and more. As fantastic, is that Absolutely brilliant. Quite an extraordinary day on the tea. Yeah, she was staring at this one down and for good reason. Look at this. Just delightfully done. She’s on top of the world going directly at the hole. Tell you what, go on. Oh, get in there. There’s something about the AIG Women’s Open. Oh my goodness. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome into the Open zone. The twins team hoyg guard Rasmus and Nikolai. Everyone, how you doing? Good to see you. Nice to see you, Nicolai. Hey, Raasmus. You all right? Good to see you. All right, Raasmos, thank goodness you’ve grown your hair. I’ve got no idea how to tell you two apart. You’re starting to grow your hair though a bit. Stop. Don’t do that. We’ve got no clue otherwise. Yeah. Yeah, I know. But I’m going to let it grow now. So, you are? Yeah. Is that cuz you like raspites? He had a little bit of flow going and I thought it looked pretty cool. So, why not? The long hair is coming in to Martin Kubra Iora as well. The young Spanish kid. Everyone’s growing their hair long. Who’s copying them? I am. Well done last week. You’re here because you’re qualifying genetic Genesis Scottish. Second time you’ve done that too through the Scottish. Tell us how you’re feeling on Sunday. I’m feeling great. I mean, I obviously know what was on the line. It was my only way to qualify for this uh championship. So, um, super excited to be here. And I did I did it in 23, so I kind of knew what it felt like to be out there, but, uh, it wasn’t on my mind at all until the last few holes and I could see my name high in the leaderboard and then I I thought with a decent finish, we we’ll get here. So, um, yeah, very pleased to be here. Rasmus, you’ve joined Nikolai on the PJ tour now. You’re both out there in America. Tell us what that experience is like. You’re you’re both out there at the same time on tour. You sharing houses, you going out for dinner all the time together? Yeah, we do. Um, we we started renting a house over there just to make life a bit easier so we didn’t have to travel back to to Denmark all the time. So, yeah, it’s been it’s been fun most of the time to travel around with him. But, yeah, it’s uh it’s cool that we can share the the life on tour together. Now, you shared an event together as well in Jurich, New Orleans at the Jurich Classic, runner up there. Tell us what that was like as experience playing together in a PJ tour event. It was good fun. I mean, we we tried it last year as well. uh we didn’t perform that well, so uh we kind of had to to get one back. But yeah, we had a great week. Um we had good fun on and off the course and uh it was it was a relaxed vibe and we ended up playing some real golf and got close. So um I definitely had an amazing week. I hope R had the same thing. I didn’t I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um right, you’re not going to be a team together because we’re going to take you get you to take on the Shane Larry challenge. So one v one you two against everyone else who’s been in here already. So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to play uh towards the gray giants causeway out there. And this is a shot you’re trying to recreate. This is Shane Lowry’s second shot to 18 in 2019. Okay. Uh we’re going giving you an exact slope as well that Shane had on that. I don’t mean he was six he was six clear here. This was easy for Shane. Not like he was at home or anything like that. Um so, um the Giants cause we’re heading for that’s 175. It’s nearest the pin. Okay. Nearest the pin. So you want to aim for the the base of the giant’s causeway right out there. There we go. Not quite to scale obviously. Are we trying to hit it? Are we trying? You’re trying just to the base of it, I would say. Okay, so it’s 175 and we got a 1 and a half% slope we’ve put here into the m into the platform. Okay, who wants to go first? Oh, look. They’re spinning a tea for it. This is great. This is great. 175. By the way, do you both hit it roughly the same distance? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m a little longer than Nikolai with with a driver. Okay, that’s not true. That is not true. Um, okay. What are you thinking here? What what club you gone for? 175 yards. I’ve gone with a six iron. So, it’s 160 m, but Yeah. Yeah. I’m probably going to try to keep it low. I’m trying to keep it low here. Okay. I’m going to give you some help. Six is a very popular option so far. Yeah, I would think so. Yeah. Okay. All right. Good. Okay. Yeah. Look at Rasma smiling cuz he knows he’s got advantage here cuz he’s going to watch you. Watch you here. Do we have one try each? You got one. That’s it. Just one. Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. Oh, I thought we I thought we had a few here. All right. Just the one. Okay. As my director said, it’s just like real golf. It feels like it. Yeah. All right. Okay. Talk to me what you’re thinking here. Uh but I’m thinking about flatting it down a little bit. Should have Yeah, it feels almost straight in. Okay. If anything, maybe a fraction of the left. So just started just a little bit left and hopefully keep it online. Okay. All right. You’re talking a great game. Need to back it up though. You did. Woo. That would have been down in the um down in the um Yeah. You know, do do you want to know something? Yeah, we’re going to see the replay here. No. Um, the interesting interesting thing about that, we’ve not seen anyone go there. You got to be the first one. You got to be the first one. 60 ft apparently. We’re saying Oh, yeah. It’s a difficult two. It’s just It’s bounced off you, but that’s all right. You know, it’s it’s doable. Okay. So, Rasmus, you’ve basically got nothing to beat. I’m only joking. Um, let me Are you putting a lot of pressure on? I know. That’s a problem. Are you Oh, here you go. Oh, there was your swing there. Sorry there, Nikolai. Yeah, not the best, Tracer. Not your best. Yeah. By the way, are you too competitive? Not really. Here we go. Raasmus just chuckle there. Are you two quite competitive? Yeah, you are in everything. Everything. Even this. You’re going to have a challenge. I will be now. Yeah, for sure. You will be now. Yeah. But it’s got to be so easy being number two here. It It’s such an Yeah. So tell us, are you got similar swing thoughts to Nikolai Raasmos here? Well, as Nicholas said, flying it down is probably a good option here. Um, you know, I’m going to try as much as I can to control the the club face and just cover it a little bit more with my upper body. So that’s uh that’s my swing thumb. Okay. Also a sixiron. I’ve also got a six iron. Copycat. Copycat. I think you should go seven to Okay. No pressure. Oh. Oh. Oh. Now you’re identical twins and you’ve almost hit an identical shot there. That’s that that is really that’s really weird. I’m just going to say that’s so So who who was closest there? Here we go. We got to see on the monitor. Here’s the replay first from the simulator. What were you What were you What did we say? 60 ft. I didn’t see it. So I I don’t know. I think it was 50 ft. So unbel So unbelievably Nikolai has won by six feet. Raasmus. Good man. We should almost have one more try just to just another. Oh the crowd. Crow on hit 10 goes each I think. So Dan Brown had a Dan Brown had a mulligan yesterday and his second went to 5T. So the mulligan mulligan’s work in this game. But that’s a different wind direction as well. Yeah. If downwind yesterday. Yeah. It got to be easier, right? Easy. It hit like an eight iron. Got to be so much easier. It’s eight iron. He barely hit an eight iron. Okay. No excuses this time. N. Okay. No excuses. Now it’s I mean you might have caught a bit of the green that time. I don’t know that. Okay, you’re getting close to 47 ft. Nikolai, how is that closer by the way? Here we go. Here we go. Oh, I’m very nervous right now to be fair. Here we go. So, this was Nikolai’s one. I think we’re going to You caught a piece. Nikolai can’t even look at the screen. He’s that disgusted with it. Look at him. Ras laughing again. Okay, come on. The door’s so wide open. Yeah, it is. That was way long, wasn’t it? Sorry. I think it was long and left. Yeah, long and left. Do we need a seven? It was. Yeah. No, chip one. Chip a six. Chip six. Worked out nicely. Yeah. Yeah. Sun sets at 10:00. Raasmus, so you know. True. Yeah. I mean, that’s going to win. It’s way short. It’s the right club. It’s the right It’s the right club. It’s the right club. 24 ft. Winner. And at least I got one back here. Oh dear. Here we go. Here’s the W. Here’s the winning shot. Is this is that kind of ball flight that you’re kind of working for as well this week, Raasmos into this kind of wind? Yeah, 100%. You want to control it as as much as you can and um yeah, just you don’t want to go too full on it and create too much spin. So, that would be uh you’ll see a lot of shots out there. Absolutely like that. Um Rasmus bragging rights for you. Nikolai so not happy. I can’t look he can’t even can’t even look at you anymore. Um look guys, enjoy your week. It’s going to be a really great one here at Royal Port Rush. Wish you the best of luck. Thanks for coming to the open zone. Of course. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks, Nicholas. Thanks very much. Enjoyed it. Cheers, guys. Thanks very much. Oh, really good stuff in the open zone just over there. Delighted to be joined by Niko Etchavaria. And Niko, you got a hole in one last week at the Scottish Open. Absolutely fantastic. Remind us which hole it was and how far it was. Uh number six at the Renaissance. Um 120 yards. pin was in a very very tough front corner. Uh full 60 degree downwind. So your caddy was helpful I believe. Very helpful. Yeah. Smiling. Yeah. We were in between the 54 and the 60. Uh luckily we didn’t birdie the last the the hole before so I was last one to tee off. Oh awesome. And that uh after seeing two shots it it made it clear that it wasn’t the 54 it was the 60. to to learn from the previous players, not not to be the last on the last hole, but in terms of the Scottish Open, pretty pretty decent finish. Oh, did you win any prize for the hole in one, by the way? Yes, won a car. Oh my goodness, the car. What is Where is the car now? Uh, I don’t know where the car is now. Uh, I don’t know if it’s been built yet. I see. But, uh, I’m going to get a car in the in the United States where I live. That’s why you’re smiling, isn’t it? As as far as the caddy though, it was the wrong hole cuz was it the 17th? The 17th you had a hole in one. One for the player and one for the caddy. Oh, Niko, you got other screwed up on the hole. Yeah. Oh, you’ll have to take you driving around. You can have it at the weekend. Yeah. Yeah. He’s still getting a check for a percentage of of a good play last week though. Sure. Great. So, listen, you’re here at the open. This is your first open championship. First open. How are you feeling? Great. Um, this is one of the best course golf courses I’ve ever played in my life. Um, first true links. Um, it’s a proper test. It is. Uh, very very excited with the with the first open in in such a cool venue and hopefully we can make the most out of it. Bit windy now. Pete, I was going to say I mean for like like you say first kind of true links like Renaissance is links adjacent links. Linky like this is a true classic of a cause. Is there anything you’re changing in your game going out onto this type of track that you would normally do? We’re actually hitting some uh numbers with the Trackman into the wind. Um you can’t land it short of these greens, which makes makes it a little tough when when there’s wind. You have to carry certain distance. So, we’re we’re just hitting some shots with the eight irons. uh playing with different trajectories and seeing uh how a ball just riding a little more can be 10 yards short or 10 yards long. So just playing around with that. I mean with conditions like this just to put this in context. So obviously you play most of your golf PJ tour. So you’d be carrying your eight iron on a nice day in California what about 170 yards 170. So today it’s about 15° real feel about minus 6. What are you What are you currently hitting? It’s the same club. We are right now we’re playing around with it. It’s going 134 yards. Um, but the thing is that I’m not hitting it full. You can’t hit it full because the ball will ride up. So that’s why we’re playing with uh trajectories, spins, uh, curvature, and just golf is so much more fun like this. We actually spoke to John Perry, the Englishman earlier on today. He said, “Well, as long as you hit the fairways and hit the greens, you’ll be all right.” I was like, “Oh, John, really?” He’s only This is his second open and the undulations and the contouring of these of this golf course. I mean, it’s but it’s a fair test. It is. Can we just have a quick look in your bag? Is that okay? Yeah. So, we’ve got um talk us through this. That’s uh I don’t know if I’m going to be playing that club. Um that’s a two iron that I never use a two iron. I got it for this week. Um, it might be wind dependent on if it’s a certain wind. Uh, I might put it in play. If not, I’m going to use the the fivewood that I normally use. Right. Got you. It’s your is going to play an important role. You said this is one of the best courses you’ve ever seen. You’ve obviously played the course. How long ago or just yesterday? Yeah, I played uh nine holes off the back nine yesterday and I played uh one through 14 today. Uh but it’s it was very important to play more than nine holes today because I played four holes in the back n yesterday today with a different wind than yesterday. So I got to see how different of a course can be. I was hitting five iron into 11 yesterday and today I hit uh 54 degree. So, it’s a different place, you know, and local knowledge is so important. Speak to the locals, Pete. That’s what we’ve been told. Yeah, it’s just so different. I mean, the the course, the way it’s routed, we spoke about this before. Um, it’s not nine out, it’s not nine back. And like looking at the forecast, even this long out, it does have a shift in the wind pretty much every single day. So, being on top of those conditions and understanding where the wind is coming from is going to be crucial. Like we just I spoke about with the carry numbers. Yeah. Yeah, and like I said, the front of these greens, most of false fronts, the false fronts, like eight or nine of them. We were speaking to Gary McNeel, that the head pro here, and he said a lot of players, you got to be so wary of that. In terms of layers that that um I think a lot of our viewers would be interested with the amount of waterproofs you wear. Sometimes it’s quite difficult to swing. Do you find it difficult to swing a waterproofs? Yeah, especially for a Colombian. This is I don’t have enough layers. Uh unfortunately, where I’m from, the weather’s perfect the whole year. Uh so Oh, that’s terrible. Oh, no. feel for you. I am not built for this. Uh but I’m doing my best. Um I have three layers right now. Okay. Oh, okay. Very, very smart. They’re quite thin layers, aren’t they? That’s the key. You don’t want anything too bulky. Pete, you’ve got your sleeveless. Have you got any Actually, have you got any clothes for Pete? The Colombian is better prepared than the English man. Could Could you take this off and give it to Pete because he’s he’s actually got goosebumps. Pete, do you need to go indoors? We’ll get him a cup of tea. You’ve been brilliant. Thank you, Nico. Wish you the best of luck. Thank you guys. I’m going to look after Pete. Come on, Pete. He needs a cup of tea. Come on. We’re We’re off. Thanks, Ho. Thank you. What an absolutely charming guy with a great swing. Nico Echavaria, the Colombian. He said, “Golf is way more fun this way.” I know. And and that that’s brilliant, isn’t it? That is that sums up Lynx’s golf. And and it’s always nice to hear when players come over from North and South America and they just they just accept Lynx golf and they fall in love with it. And I think Etch Varia, he’s making his debut at the Open. Yeah. He’s going to have a fun week and it’s going to be fun watching him. That’s for sure. He would be a player that might be worth following round if you’re coming over the next few days. Yeah, I was on the range in the lunch break with Pete Cowan, the mighty Cowan. We were watching Wakim Neman and he is an amazing ball striker. Now, Denny McCarthy is known on the PGA Tour as the boss of the moths, which means he is the best putter on tour. 200 starts he’s had yet to quite have a victory. He’s got so close so many times. But it’s amazing. It’s like people idolize the guy who can hit the furthest, right? But if you’re the boss of the moss and you’re the best putter, people hate you. It’s a it’s a different deal. It’s is considered a dark art. If you’re if you’re an amazing putter, it’s considered offensive to those who are not so good. He’s played in two opens. He’s missed the cup both times, so he’ll be desperate to put that right this week here at Port Rush. Here we go. Let’s have a look what that is. Maybe a mini driver. What would you make of the of the putting test out there this week at Port Rush? You know, we’ll be watching this guy trying to go around in what, 20 putts, something like that. Low 20s if you possibly can. But can you attack these greens once you’re on them? I think there are places to attack, but I mean there’s a lot of slope. The greens are slow. If you’re an American player, the Greens are probably 2 ft slower than you’re used to. The weather’s taken a turn for the worse, by the way. You can see people dashing for cover. The umbrella’s going up right into their faces by the looks of it. Not raining in our booth, I may say. So, just loving. That’s sideways rain, isn’t it? That’s proper Irish rain. What a shame, mind you. Get it all out the way before Thursday. Tomorrow is meant to be beautiful, isn’t it? The uh Wednesday practice day, it’s going to be glorious sunshine, we’re told. But the forecast from Thursday onwards is extremely changeable. And Denny’s decided it’s not worth carrying on for a few minutes. A friend. See if this shower passes. Yeah, it’s one of the elements forged by nature. The locals are out in their shorts and t-shirts smiling away and the visitors all huddled up undercover. Anyone who’s brought a poncho, fair play to you. That’s well prepared, isn’t it? Ah, the poncho is a key bit of kit, isn’t it? So, it hasn’t always been like this. Can promise you that. The beach, the cliffs, and the majestic dunes. Paradise on earth. Becoming champion golfer of the year is rarely a straight line. I got to play my first open very fortunately in St. Andrews. As a golfer is most special place in the world. To play an open there is incredible and I actually played quite well. Nicely done. 300 through 10. I didn’t qualify in 2011. I didn’t qualify in 2012. 2014 I shot 65 in the final round actually to finish ninth which was pretty cool. That was my best finish ever in a major and then from 2015 onwards kind of all downhill at the open championship. Got to break a few eggs before you can make an omelette. I was just going through such a bad phase in my career and then 2018 was Carni where myself and my caddy split up and probably one of the lowest points of my whole career. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such good form going into an open. What a start. Shane moves to 11 on He’s leading the Open Championship. I get down onto the tea and I’m looking around the crowd going mental and I’m just taking it all in. I’m like, this is incredible. Oh, what a Lowry. There’s no in between today. Like, it’s either going to be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. What a time to throw in another birdie. I have to go and win. And that’s the way I felt and thankfully I did. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to find out more. Just swing. Visit golf.golf to get started. Why not give golf a go? Just swing. Swing wild. Swing weird. Swing wonky. Whoever, however, wherever. It doesn’t matter. Just swing. Head over to golf.golf to start playing. Find out where you can learn to play at golf.golf. Oh, give her the umbrella. Bless her. That is a grumpy face, isn’t it? She came to watch the golf. Her dad said, “Listen, you’re going to love this.” And that is just huddled under the umbrella. The range is empty. Rain is coming, but George Harper Jr. braves any conditions he is forged in nature. Wow. Uh, great timing, guys. Uh, it’s kind of miserable out here. I I can’t lie to you. Um, and I haven’t got my rain jacket on at all. Uh, so yeah, look, it’s pretty miserable stuff. But one thing I do have is a couple of twin brothers, which is exciting. Uh, the Hoygard brothers are ready to go. And well, oh god, this is this is turning to absolute crap. But great timing. We’re on the 13th. Normally a very normally a very pleasant par three, but uh now all of a sudden quite miserable. And as you can see here, this is now turning into a fashion show. Uh the wet weather’s not quite as dashing, but they’re there for a roll. They do a job. Uh and we had a big crowd here before watching the lads, but now it’s uh now it’s just disappeared pretty quick. So, the boys are just getting strapped up and then we’ll get them on. So, here we go. Look at these guys weather. Literally weathering the storm. Uh, all smiles. It’s a great spot to sit here on the 13th. Um, and I’m not sure our cameras can get through this umbrella, but we’ve got Nikolai here, mate. Little bit of turn of the weather. How do you manage this during the open? Uh, I mean, we got to prepare for it. we probably end up being like this anyway. So, uh you just got to embrace it and it’s a Tuesday and we can’t complain. We at the open and uh I’m having a friendly match for now with Ras. It might it might change but for now it’s friendly. Yo, it’s good practice in this, isn’t it? Because it it’ll probably be worse than this come Thursday, Sunday, right? It probably will. It probably feel worse. Yeah. During tournament, but because there’s more on the line and it’s bit more survival, but for now we uh we embracing it. How’s the friendly match going? Uh what’s the score? What’s the update? What did What did R do in the last? So, I’m I’m leading right now. Leading right now. I hear I hear you’re losing. I could hear that from a distance, mate. You must be pretty excited to be here. You’ve done this a couple of times now. Just get in by last minute. That’s pretty good, isn’t it? Yeah. Um it’s kind of the only way to get in this this year. Um and we got close. So, I’m very happy to be here and uh played a good weekend. So, excited to get going here now. Very nice. Rez, how are you? Good. Good. Enjoy your brother’s company. I know. You can pretend, you know. Yeah. Mo most of the time I do. Yeah. Yeah. Most of the time. All right. Must be really good. Right. 13th hole. You’re having a match, but I think we should also have a closest to the pin comp as well. While we got the cameras here. Happy with that. Sure. I think it’s a good shot right now. It is on the green. On the green. Yeah. In these conditions at the moment. So, um, yeah, that’s the goal. Loser buys dinner. And that’s actually what we’re playing for. Oh, you’re already playing for that. We can add uh something else onto it. All right. Well, let’s let’s kind of get the get the concentration levels up a bit. What are we looking at here? What are you observing and lining up here on the 13th when you get into your work? Well, the funny thing is yesterday I played this one down off the right and was hitting nine iron in here, which felt pretty simple. Um now we probably looking at six at least six iron I’d say. uh with being in off the left, it’s cold now, rain. So, yeah, it’s something for me that starts on that left side and kind of falls onto the middle of the green, not not not having to try to do too much with it. Yeah. And look, it must never get old playing alongside your brother at a major. It’s uh you know, not many people can say they’ve done that, right? It’s pretty awesome. It is. It’s uh it’s pretty cool that we can share life on tour together and especially in in major. So, uh yeah, it’s something we try and do as much as possible. play practice rounds and then obviously soon as the tournament starts, you do your own thing. But up until then, we try and enjoy each other’s company as much as possible. Nice. All right. Well, the green is cleared, so I’m going to hold you here. The green’s cleared and uh we’re ready for this intense competition. You guys have got the honor. You’re up in the match. What do you need from me, Nicolot? Well, if I’m correct, it’s just coming hard and off the left into and off the left. Uh, not a fun wind at all for this hole. Uh, it clearly isn’t. I got no idea what I’m supposed to do. No idea what you’re supposed to do. 166. 166. It’s playing probably what, 5 10 yards down, but then we’ll balance that out with the wind. That’s where I’d say play as one 175 180 cuz it looks like the danger’s short rather than long. Right. Correct. Yeah. You can take my job if you want. No, I don’t want your job. It’s too heavy for me. This bag for everyone. Six. What do you got? I’m taking five. Five on. Okay. Good club. All right. Here we go. Brothers going headtohead. Raasmus. Yes. All right. Current leader. Oh, that’s just needs to leak. The wind’s not hitting it. Wind’s not hitting it, mate. Oh dear. That’s That’s landed on the bunker left. That’s probably my fault. Poor Caddyy tips. All right. Hard luck. Okay, Raasmus. Now he’s he’s down on the match, but he’s got the doors open. Dinner on the line. Yeah. Oh, we’re just playing a Broady match. So just counties. Yeah. So doesn’t matter if I make a five here. Okay. So must be tough to see the ball in these very drizzly conditions. But the green is all his Rasmus now. Best of luck to him. We are getting absolutely soaked here. It’s straight at it. Needs to get up. Needs to get up. It’s straight at it. Oh dear. Oh dear. That’s Yeah, that’s short. Okay. Well, I don’t think anyone’s got closest to the pin there, right? Probably a good time to wrap this up. I can I can confirm it is really wet and tough, so uh you know, it’s nothing to do with their ability. Thank you very much, brothers. Good luck this week, everyone. All right, back to you guys. I’m going to put a rain jacket on. Yeah, that was fantastic from George. The Hoy Goddards, we we saw them with Josh Shantman and they’re super generous with their time. And I mean, one thing which we forget, they’re Danish. How How well do they speak English? It’s It’s beautiful, isn’t it? We’ve certainly put them through their paces in the last 10 minutes, haven’t we? In the open zone with Josh. And now we’re down on that 13th with George. Yeah. But yeah, good good guys and uh yeah, as you say, not even their first language and just conversing naturally. No, the Danes, the Hoy gods, ski the god, as you would say. There he is. That’s dedication, isn’t it? You know what? I’d be that guy. I’ve come all this way. I want to watch the golf. Look at him. That’s a That’s a proper golf fan. He should We should get something up there to him. He’s determined to see Denny McCarthy go through his full training routine. Yeah, it’s not amazing weather. He’s still down there, McCarthy, I think, under that umbrella on the left hand side. So, he’s uh he’s waiting it out. Oh, it’s uh very soggy down there. JJ Spawn also braving the weather conditions, mind you. I mean, I suppose the this is a colder rain than you had at Oakmont. Oakmont was a warm rain. This is a cold rain. McCarthy heading back out. JJ Spawn, who we saw earlier, didn’t we? Uh he’s back out there. I wonder if he’s gone uh gone out for a few practice holes and then come back to the range. Yeah, well JJ was working on his game. You got to think, you know what, he wants to keep that going, but that looks like glove in the pocket. Yeah. The role of a champion. And one of the things that is unique about the Open Championship and part of the important history is that the champion golfer of the year has to return the precious clarret jug back to the RNA so that the the competition can start again and it has to be contested for from fresh. We join Xander Sha the 2024 champion as he goes through that ritual. Yeah, returning the CLA jug is a little bittersweet. You know, it means obviously means I was the the open champ, which is uh an awesome feeling, but all good things come to an end, so you have to reearn the possession of it. I think my memory sort of peel back. Sunday was obviously a really good round of golf, you know, true open golf. I I felt. And then of course, you know, the walk the walk up 18 is something you never forget and something you want to relive as as many times as possible. I’m I’m really looking forward to to getting back on property. I remember liking Port Rush a lot when I played it. From what I hear, it’s it’s going to be completely sold out. It’s uh you know, potentially going to be one of the biggest opens ever. Growing up as a kid, that’s that’s kind of all you want to do is is play on the biggest stages and and in front of the biggest and best crowds. Yeah, the open’s completely different to to most majors just purely based on one, its links, and two, you have uh no idea what sort of weather you’re going to get when you’re on property. Lots of different challenges uh present themselves when when you’re competing in in in this tournament. Just something you stare at all the time. I’ll have to uh I’ll have to reearn this one. Sandra, great to see you. Welcome. Thank you. Great to have you here. Good to be back. Great to see you. Come this way. It’s fantastic to have you here. I’m afraid it’s time to to pass this back, unfortunately. I hope you’ve had a great year with it. I’m kidding. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. If I can just join you for a brief chat. Xander, you told us how incredible it was to receive the clar jug a year ago. How are the emotions now you’ve had to hand it back? Yeah, it sucks to be honest. Um, but uh definitely, you know, obvious motivation to to to win again and and to to get it back. Mark, your first open championship as chief executive of the RNA. How special to be part of this process of receiving the trophy and passing it on to a new champion? Well, very special. Well, Zander’s been a great champion, so we’re delighted to have him back. Looking forward to a good week ahead. Um, this also marks really the start of our championship week. It’s the culmination of lots of hard work from the RNA staff and lots of our partners. So, we can’t wait to get going. Mark, Port R is such a special venue. Tell us exactly why it’s perfect for an open championship. I think first and foremost, it’s a brilliant test of Lynx golf. Uh, we’ve got a great stage here for some of the best players in the world. It’s also just a wonderfully scenic golf course. Great views of the causeway coast and Dunloo Castle and the surrounding area. And I think it’s also special because the Northern Irish fans are so passionate about golf. Knowledgeable. Last time out in 2019, noisy. So, we’re looking for more of the same this week. Xander, what does the Clar Jug mean to a guy that’s won it? A champion golfer of the year. It It’s a It’s a dream. It’s It’s what we dream of as kids. Uh winning um my dad being European. something that, you know, him him being my swing coach for quite some time, it’s definitely something that he he brought up once or twice uh while while we’re preparing for tournaments and and as I got older. So, it’s it’s a moment we’ll cherish forever. Por Harrington, the last man to successfully defend. How do you fancy your chances? Yeah, I was just actually with Patty at the airport. So, um hopefully he can he can rub off some good vibes. Mark, as you say, this marks the start of this championship. How much anticipation and excitement are you now feeling? We’re underway. Zander’s here. The trophy’s back. Huge anticipation. The golf course is in great shape. Uh we’ve got 278,000 fans coming through the gates this week. Record attendance yesterday before the action really even gets started. So, we’re ready to go and looking forward to crowning the next champion golfer of the year. Gentlemen, really appreciate your time. Good luck this week. Thank you. Okay, guys. very worthy champion. Xander Shalay always had the feel that he respected and honored his position as the champion golfer of the year. Oh, there are a few brave souls just sitting in there. He’s probably, you know what, he’s probably gone find a bit of peace and quiet and watch our show on his phone live on the range. Now, we saw Xander Shelf hand the trophy back and let’s join him as he did his press conference. Tell us what he’s thinking. Yeah, I’m I’m super excited. I I just remember um last time I was here, I I really enjoyed playing this golf course. forgot how difficult it is um and how penalizing it can be. So um it’s been fun to get back on on site to get back on the holes. I think everything kind of came back to me quickly. Um and yeah, looking forward to the week. Okay, go to the fourth. Sean, you said last week it would be a win if you played 72 holes without fiddling with your swing. Did you do that? I was pretty close. Yeah, I think I had a better understanding of what I was doing, which was helpful when I was hitting bad shots. So, um it didn’t get too windy and it was 75 and 70 most days. So, um but there there there were a couple days where it was windy and you had to kind of move the ball around correctly. Um which helped me. What was the last time you went 72 holes without fiddling? Um, it’s just something about going through my process, not feeling like I need to go to the range, not feeling like I need to do a whole lot after my rounds versus seeing my trainer and my physio, and then going home and and relaxing. Um, I feel like this year has been a lot of straight to the range, looking at swing, trying to figure out why I’m not putting well, all these things. So, um, had a had a few moments last week, but, uh, overall it was better. We’ll go to Mike three. Uh, Xander, do you think your process of learning Lynx golf was relatively easy compared to people you know? What was the transition like? I don’t think it was easy. I think I’m still learning a lot. I think, um, even from last week to this week, you know, we actually have divots flying this week. Uh, last week was, you know, ball ball mark lists and and divot lists. So, um, just learning how how, you know, the ball reacts on certain grass, if it’s going to jump or not. um when you’re sitting in, you know, like a fescue bush or or weed, how that’s going to come out. Um how much is going to grab your club, there’s so many things you still learn on the on the way, but um more of it’s just a mentality. I think when when you say Lynx golf, um it comes with weather. And when you play in bad weather, you have to have a good attitude. And you mentioned a couple things there, but when you initially started playing Lynx golf, what are one or two technical things that you’re like, “Okay, now I have to think about this and do this that I might not have to back at home.” you just bring the ball flight down, knowing that if it’s downwind, if it’s blowing 10 to 15 miles an hour and it’s downwind, mo, you know, most courses are designed to to be played with a certain wind direction. So, knowing you can hit a gap wedge from 175 yards knowing it’s going to hit and take that skip and hitting it to 30 35 ft short, it’s a good shot versus in the US you’re, you know, you’d be hitting an eight iron from 175 trying to fly it within, you know, a foot of the hole um and having it stop right there. So, uh, you have to visualize a lot more than just hitting your number, uh, on a machine. And Mike one, thanks so much. Uh, I don’t know if you’re a tennis fan, but, um, did you get to watch any Wimbledon? And, uh, if so, do you compare the four majors in golf with their very different surfaces to the four very different surfaces that tennis presents in its majors? I did. Yeah, it was it was a I don’t know a lot about tennis, but I enjoy watching it. It just to me it looked like they were they were having having a go at each other for for you know the first couple sets. Um it was really fun to watch. But uh yeah, it’s obviously different. Tennis is is a one-on-one heads up. You just have to beat the guy right in front of you um on on pretty similar court conditions. Uh golf is, you know, this week is a great example of having to deal with a wave. There’s typically a good and a bad wave in an open championship and you just keep your fingers crossed that you’re in the good wave and try and play well. if you’re not fight for your life and make the cut and try and do something on the weekend. So, in terms of comparing the Clay to Lynx to Court to Parkland and Wimbledon to Yeah, I don’t know. Um, it’s, you know, it’s a nice comparison, but it’s pretty different. Oh, Fanny Sunnison, welcome back. The mighty Fanny. She has been such a huge part of Nick Faldo’s successes around here. Great friends, been friends with Henrik for years and years and years. and she’s she’s had just had a very recent call up Henrik. What an incredible competition it was between Henrik and Mickelson. Yes, Fanny Tunerson brought back by Henrik for the live golf event in Dallas just recently and they’ve decided to continue that through this week. Such a familiar face of course in St. in the 2016 Open Champion in style. Amazing style. Yeah, that was one of the greatest final days in Open Championship history. Him and Phil Mickelson going toe-to-toe. Blow forblow really, wasn’t it? All the way through that final day. Incredible. You know, Mickelson just kept pushing and pushing and pushing and Henrik just kept answering. He just dumped the ball every single place he needed to. So Henrik interesting if you just watch his eyes there you know he’s he’s probably at impact he’s looking at us not at the ball so when everyone says he watched the ball anahston was something no one did duval and certainly Henrik so that was it was just an incredible competition 2016. I think one of the great contests, maybe only 1977 to challenge it. Proof that it was raining as we told you before. The driving range went through sort of an evacuation. A lot of guys out on the golf course. Not Henrik Stenson. Henrik. Now there’s some three great minds. Well, two at least. Fanny the caddy, Pete Cowan the coach, and Henrik the golfer. Just checking out a bit of wind, wind direction. two Swedes of course, Stenson and Sunnison. And Stenson was in a tie for 20th place six years ago here at Port Rush. He struggled a bit at the Open Championship though in recent years. Missed three out of four cuts. Such a such a tidy player. Classy player at his peak certainly. So just watch this. Watch how his head release. Watch the peak of his hat. Ara in a bra. So Henrik just working on there right Henrik. Here we go. It’s hard to hard to hit balls when people are talking to you. Still smiling. Here we go. Watch. Watch the peak of that hat. And up and head releases and through. Okay. MRA. So fascinating just to watch trying to get the sequence going. Oh, he’s talking to Pete. Maybe we can pump that volume and hear the chat. And in general, I feel like there’s a problem not feeling like I get too much that way. Then like I’m stabbing it almost like I get Yeah, it’s not sliding though. But there’s a drill. I’d like to see where is this. going to go back to 9:00 there pretty much. So basically yeah as you’re moving it move that leg to move the club in position this way and then move it. So you really are here you’re moving everything in position this way but you’re not spinning this way you’re just moving into the pressure. So split grip, you’d be there, your wrists align, and then you can use your body to control your ball flight from there. So little half shots. Okay, Pete is in now. Henrik, shutter. Here we go. Get back to 94. Set it. And there move the club with your body into that smooth pressure down the left leg. So hips hips take your hands through maybe delivery position as you’re coming through. Allow it to release. Trying to get the pressure maybe ahead of the of the club there. Simon, why would they be getting into this two days before the open? Yeah, you know what though? If you’ve arrived with sort of nothing, you’ve you’ve nothing really to lose. I think those two guys know each other so well. Pete’s Pete has watched Henrik hit a million golf balls. You know, that’s so valuable. So, he’s going to pick on something. And the other thing is Henrik’s going to trust him because of their past history. So, Henrik maybe trying to get a little bit less lateral with his hips coming down. You heard him say slidy. Maybe a bit more rotary arms. And then let your arms pass it. It feels like it’s moving across the ball rather than towards. And this feels like a a reasonably informal feels like a really reasonably informal sort of situation here where perhaps they’ve just bumped into each other near the range and Henrik said, “Do you mind coming and having a little look at this or something?” Yeah. Yeah. Or or or I or they I I’m pretty sure I was chatting to Pete earlier. He was at in Ander Luthia where Liv were competing last week. I’m sure Henrik um was there. So I think this could be a continuation of something. So, you know, it’s funny because Henrik is a left-handed guy, right? So, he’s he’s a he’s a puller. And maybe, you know, you see that with some of those guys, maybe the pull, the instinctive weight shift, the weight pressure shift is is counter if you’re playing golf, you know, right-handed. So, we will leave that fascinating duo and go and find something equally refreshing. George Harper Jr. Wait till he’s gone. He’s big time. He’s big time. He’s the man of the people. Brownie, welcome to the Open. Uh I believe we are now live. Welcome to the Open. Uh it must be another special occasion, another special feeling to be here for the second time now. Yeah, it’s uh it’s nice to be back. It was um you sort of wait for it in the calendar, don’t you? You’re earwigging it for a while and uh and yeah, we got here yesterday morning and you kind of drive across the top and you see the whole golf course and the grand stand and stuff and it just gives you that little uh little buzz again. And to come off the back of a great win in Germany at the BMW, confidence must be relatively high. Yeah, it was um it was nice. I just had I just had three weeks off, so um I was to be honest, I was just gearing up for these two weeks. I didn’t really know what to expect in Germany. Um I always try and hit it a bit more neutral. Um leading up to the links event, you get the crosswinds. I I usually like seeing a fade, but if you get a strong left or right wind, you can’t really be in a fade because then it turns into a big block slice. So, um, so yeah, I was trying to trying to just work on being a bit more neutral in in Germany really. And, um, just so happened that it, uh, that it, it worked out quite nicely. Nice. And it was a bit of an emotional win as well from all accounts. Uh, sorry to hear about your good friend as well, but how much does that charge you and inspire you as well? Yeah, it was uh, it was amazing. It did, it sounds a bit cliche, but it really did feel like he was he was sort of like he was there and just kind of like egging me on a bit. I was thinking about him. I was kind of just thinking the whole time just do it for him and his family and friends back home just to give them a bit of a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, I suppose. Um, so yeah, it was nice. It was a it was a nice obviously a great event to win. Um, and under the circumstances, it was um that bit more special. Nice. So now you’re back here. You made a run at the Centrun as well. How exciting was that? But you’ve almost got that extra bit of experience now where you’re not just going to make a run and Yeah. Uh I’m going to try and do similar to what I did last year to be honest. I I did I did play it down last year. Uh I was trying not to make it the big occasion that it is. Um and I’m going to just try and do the same this year. Where’s your ball by the way? Uh not in the fairway. Oh, I’m like trying to take you to your ball. So you’ve got OB. Yeah. So prep’s going well. Um Oh, so you’ve just come here to talk with me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, fantastic. That’s outstanding. And And now you’ve done So you’ve done the BMW and before that the ISPS and you were saying if you can get the guitar, you’ve all of a sudden got the identical run. Yeah. We’ve got a little three Pete with Yubo going on. Yeah. So um hopefully hopefully you win some more and then I’ll try and keep catching him up. Yeah. Well, maybe same events. Maybe you just win the Open this week and overtake Yubo. Yeah. And then he he can copy me after. Yeah. All right, mate. Well, it’s very good to talk to you. Should we go drop your ball in the middle of the fairway, maybe? Or how do you want to do this? Uh, I think I might need to practice out the rough. Okay, let’s take you to the rough. Come on. Let’s get you out of here. Look, obviously preparation’s been fantastic. Um, you know, he’s won a couple of weeks ago, but for now, we’re just going to we’re just going to go work on the lefts. Uh, he’s looking great, feeling confident. He’s the man of the people. Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Brown. We’re here on the range celebrating HSBC’s 160th anniversary and the rain has just about stopped, which is great news. here with Curtis Snipes playing in his second open championship. And Curtis, your first open was here in 2019. Remarkable. You like this place? I just love Northern Ireland. Yeah. Yeah. It’s nice to be back. Yeah. Yeah. It was memory was a little faint, but we’ve had some good practice the last few days and it’s all coming back. That’s really good. You came through qualifying. What did it feel like to to come through that process? Pretty unbelievable really. Like considering where I was probably about a year ago with my game, I couldn’t really believe I’d done it. And um I didn’t actually know the scores at the time. I didn’t even believe Alfie when he told me coming off the green, but uh yeah, once it hit me, it was pretty emotional. Good stuff. Alfie’s on the bag. He’s going to be on the bag all week, which is super exciting. We’re going to do a challenge, which is uh the HSBC 160 challenge. You’ve got to carry it in your first three shots. Going to give you that attempt to carry it 160 and then hit the hit the board 160. So, how you feeling about this in this wind? in this into off the left is probably the worst wind for me as well. But it’s fine. It’s all about the practice, isn’t it? So, we’ll give it a go. Okay. Off you go. 16. And I’m gonna let you know. I’m going to be given the info. Oh, given the info about Alfie. There’s a there’s a marker there. Don’t fall over it. Off you go, Curtis. How’s he going to do? Uh, I think he’s going to do well. I got a lot of trust in my player, so I’ve given the right club. So, I’ve I’ve done my job. What’s What’s the club? He’s got seven. He’s got seven iron. Oh, you said it’s a bit fat. Is it? Okay, let’s have a look at the figures. We’re going to I’m going to be told that’s 150. It’s all right. Brian Harmon, he did 158. He’s at the top of the leaderboard. It’s okay. Just listen. We’re warming into it. It’s windy. How? Okay. So, that wind, it’s pretty strong, isn’t it, Alfie? Yeah, it’s pretty strong. It’s off the left as well, which I think you’d rather have the other wind. Uh, that What about that one? How’s that? We might have to do that one again. Oh, that’s right under the board. Hold on. Am I trying to hit the board? Which one? Which one is it, though? There’s a lot. It’s the one on the left. Okay, let’s go again. Oh, there we go. I think we’ve got a little graphic now to show you exactly how far that one went. It’s that one, Alfie, on the left. The ball on the left. There we go. Curtis, let’s have a look at these figures. Just wait one second while we see if these flag up. We’re getting Top Tracer on it. Come on. We can hardly bear the anticipation. It’s going to come. Alfie, what’s your guess? Okay, we’ve got a slight technical issue. We’re going to go for another one. Go for another one, Curtis. In fact, can we give you that as a practice one, shall we? Yeah, was that pace it if you want me to? You go pace it. Okay, here we go again. That’s going to be quite good. I think that’s on it. That looks on it. You not Are you happy with that one? I reckon that’s 160. Here we go. Oh, it’s 172. Oh, you’ve had too much sweet to mix for your breakfast. Was that short of the 160? Can we have one more go? Cuz we didn’t measure the second one. We’ll have one more go. Try and carry it one more time. 130 ball speed. The wind is dropping. So, that was 170. Just take a little bit off that. Take 12 yards off it, Kurt. You’ll be all right. There’s a There’s a prize. Oh, what’s the prize now? That I think that’s got a good chance, Curtis. Where’s that gone? Oh, it’s good. It’s good. Oh, it’s 165. That’s not a bad effort. That’s not bad. Unfortunately, you don’t win a prize for that. It’s Brian Harmon still leading at 158. But listen, there’s another chance to hit the board 160. Three more goes. Off you go. Any any top tips for him? Uh, I think. Oh, no. No. Don’t let don’t let me hit it. The reason I’m on the bag and you’re playing. There’s a there’s a bag of sweets or a protein bar for you if you if you hit the board. Do you want to try six? Flight it. Little little chippy six. Yeah, that actually is a good idea. I mean, I should I should probably stop being boring and try and hit a driver, shouldn’t I? Actually, that’s a great idea. No, we could take the driver. So, this is a punchy six, is it? Yeah, I think it’s got better chance of hitting the board cuz that’s the goal now is just to hit the board. Oh, where’s that gone? Let’s have a look at those left. It’s 172. You like 172. You’ve done that twice. I bet you couldn’t do Well, you probably will do that again. Okay. What’s the advice now to second one? Uh, hit it further right than the last one. Alfie says go further right. Further right. Yeah. Don’t start it as left because obviously hit it a little bit lower. So, there’s a reason you’re on the bag. Yeah, there’s a reason on the bag. Yeah, I like Alfie. Oh, it’s got to come down. Oh, it’s too big. Do you know this is a great It’s actually a really good great game to do at home in your garden with 50 yards. Come back at 8:00, I’ll still be here trying. What did you say? If you come back at 8:00, I’ll still be here trying. We’ve set you a challenge now. Last one. Come on, Curtis. Should we give him a cheer, everyone? There’s only three people watching. Oh, that was better. Better ball flight, but slightly left. Do you know you’ve been an absolute star for trying that? Oh, you were so clear. I’m going to give you a high five. And the three people watching going to give us a clap, aren’t they? Yay. Great stuff. Awesome. Well done. You’re not at the top of the leaderboard. You win absolutely nothing, Curtis. But you are a winner because you qualify for the Open Championship. Exactly. Yeah, it’s all about the small wins, isn’t it? It’s all the small wins. On a serious note though, it is brilliant. It’s such a fantastic story coming back here for this playing in your second over at Royal Port Rush. Did you play yesterday? Yeah, played. We played front nine yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, we got quite eager. I got here on Saturday afternoon, played 18 Sunday and then gone front back. So, you’ve seen the whole course. Do you have family and friends coming? Yeah, everyone’s getting it tomorrow. Yeah, quite the entourage. So, it should be fun. And what about the nerves? Can you remember that first tea shop back in 2019? Yeah, I can. It was nothing like it. I was actually as soon as I qualified I was like, “Oh, I’ve got to go through that again.” But um but no, it’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? And practice round. Have you Who have you played with in the practice round? I played with Jordan Smith and Aaron Ry today. We’ve been on it was yesterday by ourselves by Just asking Alfie who you’ve played with stroll by ourselves on when you come to the range and you see see all the I mean you know a lot of them is there any is there ever any intimidation factor or is a case of just learning and absorbing all the moments? This is probably the most intimidated I’ve been all week. Yeah. Yeah, the 160 Shannon just got We don’t We don’t mean to intimidate you. No, no, nothing intimidating, but it’s cool to see, isn’t it? You know, a few of the guys out here, serious flushes, so it’s it’s nice to see. You’ve been a great sport, Curtis. Thanks so much for your time, and we wish you the best of luck this week. Keep trying that challenge. He will do. He’s been a great sport. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, fantastic challenge. I thought he did pretty well there. I know he had a few goes, but just goes to show you, you know, second ball dropped it in there two yards. Absolutely. Yeah. And as D said, one to try on your own range or at uh at home. Obviously, you might not have 160 yard long garden, but uh you can play it on a smaller scale, of course. And there is Kurt. He’s still going. He’s still going. That’s That’s the problem with golfers is you just can’t leave it alone until you’ve done it. He’s going I think he’ll have a go and just trying to absolutely land it straight on there. Isn’t it remarkable to have made two opens and they’re both at Port Rush 2019 and now this year 2025. And uh nice to hear he’s got a big entourage of supporters coming tomorrow because that will really help, won’t it, for somebody who hasn’t played much golf at this rarified level. You you need people with you every step of the way. Yeah, he’s a charming guy. Was so nice to talk to, wasn’t he? Little pudd of change there. I think the sideways rain has eased off, hasn’t it? It’s still pretty blowy out there and a bit damp, but uh I think players and spectators will start making their way back to the range. There you are. There’s a good handful of players back down there now. Yeah. Your whole thing of the whole blue sky. Hey, listen, Simon. Can you see the blue sky? That was a bit uh optimistic, Andy. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I I’ll accept that now. Clutching. Someone say clutching at straws, but we’re all good. Yeah. Cold air. So, umbrellas are down. Oh, smiley faces, the fans, the heartbeat of golf. Yeah. So, driving range just starting to repopulate again after ah an hour or so of fairly heavy wind and rain. It all came from there. Unpredictable, isn’t it, Andy? Yeah, we’re getting towards the uh the end, I guess. I mean, daylight will be around until long after 9:00, but I imagine the range will only be busy for another hour or two. So Stuart Sink, who I still have not completely forgiven for winning against Tom Watson, joined Josh Antman. See what he had to say. Hopefully an apology, but let’s see what happened. There’s a number of previous champions here at this year’s 2025 Open Championship and I’m extremely glad to have the 2009 champion next to me, Stuart Sink. Stuart, very good morning to you. This is your and I just told you and you were quite surprised about this. This is your 26th Open Championship. How does it feel to be here? Yeah, I love being here at the Open. It’s so fun to play, challenging, but the courses reward good play and you have to really be smart and execute. I mean, it’s just a perfect combination of all the factors that golf as a championship level really should ask. You were here in 2019. It was last played here at Port Rush. What can you remember about that year in the course? I just remember the course being really a good course. More elevation change than most of the links we play for the Open. And I had a pretty decent week, made the cut and finished in the, you know, maybe just a little head of the middle of the pack. But then the one thing that stands out in my mind is the the weather that came in on, I believe it was the final round, right? Yes. Final round. We had about a two-hour spell where it was just horrendous for golf and Shane Lowry battled through better than anyone else. And then that’s why he was holding the CLA judge. It wouldn’t be an open championship without horrendous golf to be fair, would it? No, you it’s something you have to deal with almost every year. The weather is just uh very unpredictable and it can wreak havoc on the ball flights and even the putting and it’s just uh every every year when you get the draw you’re looking like what’s the weather forecast going to be like because it can be such a huge disparity between the early and the late rounds. I want to take you back to 2009 in Turbury. I think you’re in a short short sleeve shirt here to be fair. I think so. I think so. Oh no, you’re in a jumper. You’re in a jumper. I put that on for the last few holes though. Yeah, it was. I look this was an amazing open championship for a number of reasons I want to talk to you about in a minute but what is your abiding memory from 2009? Well I mean it’s hard to not say lifting the clar jug in a playoff but then there’s also the Tom Watson factor of course. Yeah because I mean just like I’m a golfer I’m also a fan of golf and sport and I recognize the situation and the story that was unfolding there with Watson. It’s just amazing and I had so much respect for for that at the moment and it’s one of the things that actually helped me I think maintain my composure during the last part of the regulation in the playoff. There’s a fantastic documentary the RNA have done called Underdogs that I know you’re obviously a big part of in it and there’s there’s moments in it where you talk about the fame but also the scrutiny that came with that win. Can you describe that for us? Well, I think a lot of people wanted Tom Watson to win and it was at an age when social media was just starting to kind of, you know, become the norm and people were realizing that they could just type things on their phone or their computer and not have to worry about any like repercussions. It was a one-way communication and uh they were exercising that healthfully uh that year because uh there was some negative comments. You know, obviously people wanted Tom Watson to win. completely understand. But it was uh I didn’t really take anything too personally because it’s sport. Myself, I’m a fan of other sports. You know, my favorite teams back in the USA, I don’t like their opponents and so when they beat my teams, I do not like them. So, I understand everybody’s sentiment, but it was a personal time when, you know, that kind of came back to me and some of the comments were pretty harsh. But if you’re going to play in the big arenas like this, the top of your sport, your game, you’re going to play in big championships. You’re going to have to expect some negative feedback sometimes. Okay. You you mentioned big arenas there. You’re in a big arena right now and you’re about to do the Shane Lowry challenge here if you’re up for it. I know you haven’t you haven’t really hit a shot yet. I hit I hit two warm-up shots for the day. So you’re going to try and replicate this shot. Uh Stuart, it’s um or beat it. In fact, this is Shane second into 18 in 2019. Give a six clear here. We’re going to play nearest the pin. Okay. Uh we’ve even given you a one and a half% slope on our true true scope platform here. One and a half%. Yeah, that’s exactly what Shane had. Oh my gosh. In 2019. So uh if you want to come onto the mat. Okay. Um so what club are you going to go for as well? So 175 shot and all of a sudden just for you the winds just pumped about an extra 20 mph. That’s the way it always is for me. Yes. Okay. This is what you’re aiming at. That’s the uh the replica of the Giant Causeway out there at 175. Okay. Well, I have a sixiron. You’re going sixiron. I’m going six. The wind I feel like is coming in off the right. This 175 is probably playing 190 195 yards. And uh I hit my sixiron right around 200 yards, but I am not warmed up at all. So, uh because of that, my speed’s down. I’m trying to balance a lot of You’re getting the excuses in here early, Stuart. This is I like this a lot. So, tell us when the wind’s pumping like this out on a link golf course. Tell us what you’re thinking to everyone watching as well. Yeah, when the links start uh getting a lot of wind like this, especially when it’s a little cool, uh it becomes really difficult to play your shots up against the wind. So, you almost have to just accept that you’re going to ride the wind somewhat. So, you can start a ball off, say on this wind here, you can start it off cutting a little to hold it straight, but by the time it ends its flight, it’s going left. Okay? And so, you you cannot get the ball to hold. Um, and so that’s just it alters the way you have to aim on some shots, the way you play, the trajectories, but every um, every hole at this course, especially Port Rush, the holes go all over the place. There’s no out and back here. They’re all over. So, you have all different winds, and it’s one of the great challenges about this course. But today, right here on this shot, Shane Lowry would have faced a lot easier shot than we have right now. That’s another excuse. Oh, I like it. This You just got lucky. Yeah, he just got lucky. You could tell Shane that. Not me. Okay. 175. Give me your best go. Okay, here we go. 12 feet to beat, by the way. Oh gosh. Oh, the wind just died there. I tell. Come on, ball. I lost that. It’s a little short. It’s a little short, was it? I thinned it. Oh, okay. Oh, there we go. We We’re wait We’re waiting to to hear where it This is 8 ft. Excruciating. 8 ft. 8 ft. Okay, there we go. There’s a shot there. Look at that. I tell you what, for someone who hasn’t hit a shot this morning, you’re going to take that all day long, aren’t you? I’m take that all day. But I I have one request, please. This is the first request. Can you give me Can you give me about uh 71 holes of Shane Lowry’s previous shots this week besides that one? Deal. I don’t think that’s the one that won him the open. It’s the ones before it. Yeah, they should swing there. Do you watch your swing back a lot by the way? I do. Do you are you are you someone who analyzes a lot? cuz Andrew know that came in early and he says he doesn’t really look at his swing at all. I I look at it for a few things, but I don’t analyze it a lot because I don’t trust myself to know that. I have coaches that are professional at what they do. I’m more of a professional at playing golf. They tell me what to do. I believe it and I uh I buy in, but I don’t really analyze, but I do look and see some of the key points that I’m watching for. Okay. Excellent. Uh look, Stuart, thanks for coming to the open zone. Enjoy your 26th Open Championship here at World Rush. Thanks very much. We are. Thank you, guys. All right. And the winner of the gold medal, champion golfer for the year. Winning the open changes a life. A hero at 22 and the first ever to win the title. A name remembered, a legacy secured. Again, open champion Jack. But look beyond the champion and you’ll see that maybe there’s a little more to it. From first swings to final parts. From the back streets to the big stage. From the inner cities to the outer reaches. The open’s impact stretches far beyond the fairways. Every ticket, every fan, every roar drives our mission to shape the future of G. Removing barriers, protecting the land, honoring the past, leading for tomorrow. Yeah. So, yes, the open is lifechanging, but what begins as a moment for one creates a game for us all. My business has taken me all over the world, and one day my son will take over. The family business just wasn’t for me. I wanted to build something of my own. And when my father saw how passionate I was, he did everything to support me. Now I have a daughter. All I want is for her to be 7,000 m from home, but this is exactly where I need to be. And no one understands that better than my dad. Wherever Lipo Business takes you, HSBC can help. Stuart Sink open champion. Amazing. Amazing scenes. Peter Finch, your thoughts on that. Tom Watson, which would have been an absolutely golden moment in the game. Yeah, I I do feel sorry for him. I must admit like he said there that he would have been a really popular open champion in many respects about you know not winning in a while triumphing a great course but unfortunately he was up against the fans favorite and the fact that Tom Watson didn’t win will be as remembered as much as Stuart Sink did win and it was just an unfortunate way to clinch that trophy but he’ll always be an open champion. He will. Tom Watson, fivetime open champion. Yeah, he had a few. Let’s not forget was magnificent. How did his nine How did that ball land there and release through the back of the ring? Anyway, I’m still not over it. Here we go. That looks like Clint Eastwood. No, no, it looks like Dustin Johnson. He could have been a cowboy. Can you see him with this the guns on the hips and the whole thing? He’s got all of that. Don’t you think? I I can’t imagine him being that quick on the draw. So, I think he’d have been a dead cowboy pretty quick. I hadn’t even gone there. Hadn’t even contemplated that. Can you imagine him trying to rob a train? No, probably not. Anyway, by the way, I don’t think Cowboys did that. I think they were mostly with cows. So, Dustin Johnson on the range. just clipping a few away. He played well uh last week. I think he shot 64 I want to say in Valdderama which is a very very hard course. So he must be coming into a little bit of form. 15 starts runner up that was to Darren Clark tied 51st. Hasn’t been in amazing form when he have we have seen him in the majors in the last few years. Oh yeah, for such a great golfer, he’s underperformed in the majors. There’s absolutely no doubt about that. Considering where he was only 5 years ago. Yeah. Literally one of the very best players in the world. Yeah. Okay. Preington. Oh, now Patty’s Golf Tips. Patty’s Golf Tips. Are you have you seen any of his um content? I suppose. Yeah, we did some we did some filming with him last year. Did you? And I must admit, it was the easiest video that I’ve ever made cuz all I had to do, we played nine holes, had a match. Yeah. And I just had to get him going on a subject. Yeah. And bang, three holes gone. I didn’t have to say a word. No, no, no. He’s a I I I I admire massively the longevity and and and the fact that he’s still very much in the game. He’s not he won the US Seniors Open just a couple of weeks ago, but he is he’s in this game. One thing I’d say about like Podre and the enthusiasm that he has and how that comes across is because he just loves golf and that helps with longevity. If you love the game and you are still invested in your performance, you’re going to carry on. You’re going to work as hard as you ever had. I mean, you’d probably say that he works as hard now as he did when he was at the height of his powers when he was on European tour. I mean, you know his game better than me. No, I mean, he he’s I would say when he appeared, he was he was a a great golfer. I and I would say he built his success in the amateur game more around his short game than his long game. I think for him to get to another level up he needed to improve his um his ball striking in particular I think probably even by his own admission wasn’t to standard. Um working a lot on shifting the pressure a little bit of left heel coming off the ground to help the back as you get older. Just watch it up and down. He uses a lot of footwork as his as his kind of a base. That that was from probably his um his first coach. There’s Pete Cowan just on the left there. But Bob Torrance. Yeah, Bob Torrance. Yeah, bless him. Was was really Podri’s um first coach and and took him and took him and and really molded him into the player that was going to be someone who could contend at majors. But I think that was that was one of Bob’s great skills was sort of finding out like how to open doors and and get you to to climb up steps. Yeah. And he did have those just that fantastic fewear period, didn’t he? Two two open championships in a PGA. Yep. Yeah. And in in kind of like a tiger era as well. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, everything kind of classic I would say about the grip. You see some funky grips, but that one looks pretty classic to me. And then it’s it’s really it’s about sort of connection I always think for Podrick between sort of chest and arms and then rotation. It’s got some new grips on as well. This this Oh, yes. It’s got the kangaroo leather grips. Is that right? Yeah. What for for the rain? Yeah. So, a lot of the Australian guys seemingly have this grip and it’s very tacky. Is it? It’s unusually tacky. And he started to put them on uh just because of the conditions. Like you said, when it gets a little bit wet, you want to be holding on. You want to be maintaining control of the club. Okay. Well, have you had a test of those? Yeah. Yeah. Get on with them. They are like when I say they are unusually tacky. So, so you mean like if you if you need the cl if you like if you’ve got wig wiggles in your hands, you mean once they’re on, they’re on? So when you grip and you take your hands off, you can hear your hands peeling away. Okay. I mean, they feel unusual, but you can imagine if you get used to them how how secure. Really, that could be good for me. I’ve had seven hand operations. My hands hardly work at all. So that could that could actually help me get them to stick around the club. What were they called? Uh, I don’t know the actual name of the company cuz it’s just Kangaroo Leather. Okay. Kangaroo Leather. You could probably figure out where they come from. I’m going to go and ask Poding in about five. No, in about 45 minutes. Honestly, ask any of the Aussie players. They’ve all got them. Okay, Harrington. Now, the reason he’s looking far over to the left side of the range is to see our top tracer technology, which is all about the numbers. The usual finish obviously trying to get that right. Is that keeping the ball down? Yeah, maybe these are a little bit lower shots. So, this is the this is the top tracer technology. This is the ball speed data. Podrick just working perhaps on a on a on a driving iron trying to keep that apex down. Peter trying to sort of have the the link style crosswind ball in play shot. Yeah, there was quite a few of the players out there with this wind as well which is pretty much directly into their faces now. So working on that kind of low drilled shot. I did see a two iron pretty much in every single player’s bag. Now there’s a few debating whether it’s going to be fivewood, 7wood like where they would play on PJ tour on slightly kind of stiller courses where they want the elevation but I imagine they’re going to be coming out. I imagine the two iron’s going to be going to be in by the time two iron feels like a much easier shot to control fivewood 7wood. So let’s have a look. Harrington, let’s have a look at that apex 74 is about 30 ft lower. That’s a really bullety one there. perhaps lost a hair right and spun up in the air. So, we will leave Podrick to work on his shots off the tea. And let’s find Dy Stewart. Well, we’re down. We’re trying to keep warm actually, aren’t we? We’re getting very close. Oh my goodness. It is really It’s bitter now. Simon Dyson, six time winner on the DP World Tour. You played We were just trying to figure out how many opens you’ve played in. How many? Eight or nine? Yeah, something like that. Yeah. And also, you’ve played here at Royal Port Rush in the Irish Open in 2012. You had a pretty decent finish. Yeah, it was good. JD won it. Uh I was defending champ. I won it in 11. Yeah. Uh Kehani and then came here, finished I think finished top 10, but just fantastic golf course. It’s it’s uh it’s really nice to be back. Simon, really good to see you. Now, tell us who you working with. Uh George Blow uh plays on Challenge Tour. uh Hotel Planettor now obviously uh but yeah very very good player so he’s brought his swing coach uh Andy McCormack and yeah we do more short game than anything uh pitching and then a lot of performance work but and then on course as well so the dice are you are you telling me you’re not claiming that gorgeous golf swing is a is work of art I’d love to claim that but that’s nothing to do with me and what’s the prep been like so far this week with George obviously you’ve been doing a lot of short game and onc course performance stuff. What’s that been like for for you this week? It’s been great. You know, the facilities are so good. You know, he’s a workhorse. He just loves to practice anyway. Uh he played with Brooks yesterday, which was great. I think he’s playing with Scotty tomorrow, Sheffller, finals tomorrow. So, I’m I’m really pleased he’s playing with lads like that because that was the one thing that really helped me when I was playing, you know, playing with like Darren Clark, Lee Westwood, people like and Rory Gmac, you know, you want to play with better players, see what they do different. Can you just put your name down next to Scotty Sheffller and that’s it. You’re playing with him. I wouldn’t put my name down. I want to embarrass myself. I think a lot of our viewers would like to do that. But how’s he ended up playing with Scotty tomorrow? Hey, just saw I think Scotty his name was down on his own quart 10 just thought you know what I’ll put my name down. So yeah it’s just played with Marco and Dan there you know both playing great. Marco Penge Dan Brown Dan Brown both been playing great. I mean they they’re all really good friends and it was it was really nice to watch them all playing on the bat n today. Should we take a walk over here? What were you going to say? Go on. I was going to say Dice. You’ve obviously been a an amazing player. You’re a coach now, but also you got some on your back here, haven’t you? Are you learning your hand at cameraman today as well? Photographer for George Blur when he’s working on his swing and playing. So, yeah. So, let’s let’s move around here and you can talk us through what he’s doing. If Kev, our cameraman, can can turn around that way. There we go. And uh yeah, tell us what’s happening right now. So, I mean, he’s obviously working with uh Andy and just trying to sync everything back up. you know, out here you can get a bit disorientated, can’t you, with the wind, trying to mix the flights and stuff. So, he’s obviously just trying to get a little bit of synchronization back in there. And then, uh, we’re going to go and do a little bit of putting as well. He wants to get a bit more feel for the pace of the greens, but um, yeah, lovely lad and very very good player. What’s a way you just mentioned there, Dice, what’s a way that he could, obviously, he’s doing his long game now, he could get pace of the greens at a place like this where they’re typically going to be a little bit slower. What sort of drills would you use with George straight away to get the pace? I mean, we take a lot of outcome out of it. So, it’s all pace work, fan, hitting your zones, things like that. And we did a bit this morning and it really showed as soon as he started getting the pace, he started holding a lot more putts. I mean, pace is very important, especially around a course like this, cuz they’re quite quick downhill, but they’re quite slow uphill as well, so it’s it’s tricky. Can I just ask you about his grip right now? He’s got his uh left hand below his right. Yeah, that’s uh that’s a Pete Cowan drill that I used that years and years ago. So, it’s basically just to load the club a little bit better. Keeps everything on plane right elbow tucked and it’s just a feeling that he really likes to do and he does it with his chips. He does it as a feeling in the back swing and it’s just something that he always goes back to. And he does the split grip there as you can see as well. And that does pretty much the similar thing as well. a little a little insight into the course, guys. You’ve been out there walking with the boys as well today. What’s important around round around this golf course? What’s what’s a key factor going to be this week for the guys? I mean, driving’s big. You know, we found with the lads today when they were hitting the fairways, the thing with the greens, there’s always a place to miss. Like first few holes, you can miss right and it all kicks in. Um, so that’s what I we’ve kind of seen that if you can get it off the tea and have find those fairways then approach play. Some of the greens are quite small, don’t get me wrong, but they’re all bank banked on one particular side. Not all of them, but majority of them. So you can you can get a score going if you find the fairways. Amazing insights that awesome guys. We wish you the best of luck with George this week. Really good to see you. Yeah, great to see you. A We’ve known each other a long time. George Blur will be looking out for him. Played with Brooks Keepka yesterday. He’s playing with Scottish Sheffler tomorrow. That’s what you do to put your name down. You get to play with the world number one. We’ll see how he does this week. Great stuff. Yeah, it is fascinating, isn’t it? It’s Tuesday evening, let’s say 522, and he’s just grinding out his drills. You know, I think the amateur golfer at home just thinks, you know, you don’t have to work and find your feels. I mean, that’s really grinding that out. Yeah, it’s I mean, a lot of this stuff you imagine that he would have already done and he’s just refreshing his refreshing his memory. There’s not really any players on the range unless they’re struggling at this point who were going to be working on anything new. like any golfers out there on that range who were working on new swing changes might be struggling come Thursday. So just getting those feelings just trying to understand kind of a feel to where they want to be at impact and trying to give them the flight. I mean a lot of the a lot of the golfers out there are going to be probably just getting that feeling of getting on top of it, trying to compress it, trying to understand how to flight it a little bit more. But the split, all of the split grip stuff is always trying to just stabilize the face rotation, the shaft rotation, and get your body to do the work, which is kind of how a modern tour player hits the ball, like not dependent upon your hands, cuz there’s too many high days and low days with that kind of sequence. So there it is, the split grip down into delivery there and then the rotation and down and then rotation. So then tried to recreate that. I I quite like that action actually. It’s pretty good. It’s he’s got some good sequencing in there. Well, he’s had a very good couple of years. He’s still like on the hotel planner uh tour at the moment, but he’s playing some really really good golf. He’s building himself up what you’d say is the oldfashioned way like working way up through the mini tours kind of building confidence, building your game, and then getting to this point. I mean, what an incredible moment for him to be on. So, kind of getting into closing stages. A lot of guys will have had a practice round. Podrick has had a practice round and come back in. He’s on the range. Dustin Johnson has been out on the golf course. He joined us on the range. Same with Stenson. Rory was pretty much one of the first out. Yeah, I’ve not actually seen much of Rory on the range at all so far this week. So, Brooks Kepka, major specialist, I would say, Peter. Uh, I would probably say former major specialist. Former major specialist. Yeah, he certainly lost a lot of that imposing uh kind of presence that he had formally where he was in contention. People were looking over the shoulders because they knew he wasn’t going to go away and like realistically like in the last few years has he competed? Yeah. Ever since that kind of capitulation at the Masters where by his own admission he had a bit of a choke. He’s not really competing. But I mean that says it all really. Since 2010 he’s won the most majors as well as Rory. So yeah. So Pete Cowan, he’s everywhere today. Yeah. Pete Pete Cowan. But I mean what a great resource to have behind you. The set of eyes, the knowledge. I mean these two guys have been friends forever. Well, I think Brooks was saying uh a few was it at the USPJ I think where Pete pulled him aside and gave him a bit of a a little bit of a rollicking. Yeah, certainly interesting. You know, be you know what could Kepker like what’s missing? He I think he’s got the mental side when he has the technical side under control. You know, he he is kind of like he’s a he’s a serial fader. He likes to be kind of steep left leaning generally deep divots work drops the ball to the right. Let’s have a look at his action. I mean, with his especially, he’s probably one of the most impressive ball strikers I’ve seen in the flesh. There’s a few players when you walk down the range. Rory’s definitely one of them. Bryson’s one of them. And Brooks is another player that when he’s striking your irions, it sounds that little bit different. The flight is so much more kind of powerful than some other players. And I mean for for an open as well the way he strikes it you would imagine that like he should he should be loving this environment. Yeah. You know you you don’t have to it’s not going to be a place to smash drive around here. So something missing from the Kepka game. He’s not injured anymore. the consistency just has been missing like you know not enough not enough good scoring shots and too many poor shots costing shots. Yeah. And nothing’s really changing within his technique. He’s not making any vast uh mechanical differences to his swing over the past few years. It is it’s just been a steady drop off. But it does happen with a lot of golfers. Yeah, ultimately there are a lot of amazing players out there and he just seems to have fallen behind a little bit. Yeah, maybe the appetite’s gone a touch potentially on Liv, but he doesn’t seem like that type of player. He seems like the type of golfer that if people talk about him in a past tense, he would probably raise his game to be back in the conversation. Yeah, I I I find him as almost a self-motivated sort of guy. So let’s have a look at his swing works pretty hard and pretty early into that left side. So there’s a you know by almost by the time that that certainly by the time that left arm is parallel to the ground on the way up he is already shifting the pressure down and into that left side. And then watch how that left shoulder pops up through the ball. That whole left side that very very vertical left side you know that that that high left side is a face opener. Think of the faders. Scotty Sheffller super high launch off of his left side. Kepker super high launch of his left side. DJ when he’s playing well. Same Rory the opposite. Rory a drawer. He’s one of those players as well who as he gets to the top of the swing he has quite soft left arm position and he maintains that coming into impact as well. It’s certainly not that classic extended left arm position that yeah many people would advocate. But there’s a lot of great ball strikers who do use that. Westwood. Yeah. Into impact. Very similar. Jordan Smith. Straight left arm. Like keep your head still. Keep your head still. Keep your left arm straight. But they drop into the same category of like it sounds great, but that’s actually not what anyone does. I would say so. Yeah, I would say. So not not useless information, but I would say dangerous information to to give in the wrong situation. I know Pete Cowan loves it when it’s really cold, windy, and rainy. He’s absolutely thrilled by this. So, Kepka, the baby fade is there. Same with the wind. Same with the rain. It does look fun out there, doesn’t it? Would you be out there grinding? I’d be out there getting used to the conditions. I I was on the I was coaching on the tour for 17 years in a row. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. But you do not really care if it’s hosing down. And if one of your men isn’t performing, you’ll do anything. So, here we go. Let’s leave the range for a moment and find out what George Harper Jr. is up to. Yeah. Hey guys, if I can confirm, every time I talk to you, the rain starts coming in and really spoiling the party. One moment caller. Mark Leechman is in the house. Great to have him here. This is a a great Australian four ball. Cameron Smith, Mark Leeman, Ryan Peak, and Elvis Smiley. Dangerous looking combo. We got the bag of a former open champion here, Cameron Smith. Just trying to help him out here. What are you after, sir? Driver. Good call. Good call. Yeah. Use it wisely. Okay, dog leg left. Two kiwi kitties. Yeah, two kiwi caddies as well. Very impressive. All right. What a moment that was at St. Andrews not so long ago. Off your right. Wind off the right. What’s he covering here? Oh, we’re just trying to cover about 250. 250. We can work with that. Big heavy bags. All right, this is absolutely brilliant. Right in the mixer here swing. Great swing. Thanks, mate. If you just uh let’s go have a yarn to the to the man himself, Cam. Jump over here with Mark. Come on, boys. Get on in here. Look at this. The fellas, how are we? Good. How are you? Fantastic. Mark, good to be back. Couldn’t be better. Yeah, not quite as warm as what Verama was it. Yeah, a little different to Spain last week, but um they love this weather for the British Open. It should be uh should have to deal with the elements a bit and um definitely looking forward to it. You boys love this stuff, eh? Love Lynx Golf. This is sort of a secondary home for you Australians, isn’t it? Yeah, a little bit. Kind of reminds us a little bit of home, I think. Um particularly down south, probably where Lee is more more than where I’m from, but um yeah, always love getting over here. It’s always a good time, the open. How does it feel returning as a former champion? Every time I’ll ask you that every year. It’s a sitting duck, but it’s a great question all the same. Yeah, absolutely. It’s I mean, um just that little champions locker room. I mean, I walk in there, see the names, and talk to the boys and stuff. It’s it’s uh it’s unreal. So, um yeah, every time I get back here, it gives me goosebumps. How’s the form, fellas, Lee? How you hitting them? Hitting them all right. Um the result wouldn’t show that from last week, but actually played all right. So, uh got ramen a few times. Um yeah, but no, happy with how things are looking and um obviously, you know, this is a massive week, so it’ be a good one to play well at. Very nice. Now, Cam, look, I know this is a golf show, but I’m a massive rugby league fan, as are you. Uh, how good was it to watch Queensland do do a number on New South Wales a few weeks ago? That was epic. We, uh, we watched the game there, um, on Wednesday. It was on about lunchtime, so uh, scheduled all the media and practice around it. Um, sat down for a couple hours. Yeah, it was awesome to to watch them do what they did, particularly being underdogs. I think the Queenslanders love it, don’t they? Oh, we love it. And uh look, how are you feeling yourself this week as well? I know um every year you come around, but how do you feel about winning this again? I mean, that’s what I’m going to try and do. Yeah, cheers. Um you know, the game feels like it’s coming along a little bit. Um did a lot of work on the swing uh at the end of last year and um have struggled a little bit on the course, but feels amazing on the range. So um but it feels like I’m getting there every week. every uh every tournament feels like I’m getting closer and closer to to being back in that form. Just need to go out there and do it. That’s my boy. Enjoy it, eh? Always a pleasure, my man. Thank you. Take care. If you come with me, we’re not quite finished yet. We’ve got got a couple more Aussies here. Elvis Smiley and we’ve got Mr. Ryan Peak here as well. Can I borrow you for a moment, kind sir? How are you, mate? Uh, welcome to your first open championship. How awesome is this experience? Yeah, pretty cool. Um, you know, probably a little bit more than what I imagined. I tried to keep it tried to keep it pretty simple, but I’ve got to play with some some big names the last couple days as well. Ben Miraau, JJ Spawn. Um, but yeah, probably the favorite today’s leash cam, you know, something that I really wanted to do. So, good on him. Matt, you won by uh winning the New Zealand Open. How awesome is the journey? Like not only getting here but what you had to go through and for those at home uh maybe tell us a little bit about your story to get here today. Yeah, basically to keep it simple obviously um played a lot of golf when I was young and then obviously made some pretty big errors in my life um through some you know dark dark days but um you know with the help and support that I’ve got from my networks and stuff was um able to sort of come through it and um start to do some good and um create myself some opportunities that now trying to capitalize on and you know the 153rd British Open’s a good one mate it’s pretty awesome and how much are you going to learn from your your fellow countrymen in here and and obviously all the players that you’ve played with over the last couple of days. Yeah, I mean it’s just um you know it’s it’s more just coming out and having the practice rounds. Obviously I’ve got my caddy my coach so we’re trying to um do our game. Um but it’s more about having practice rounds with guys that are that are just going to have a laugh out here and just keep it pretty chill and you know it’s a bit easier to to take everything in when it’s like that. Nice. Well, it’s been good to watch your journey so far and hopefully there’s another good chapter to come as well mate. Good luck this week. No worries. Thanks. Cheers on. Cheers, mate. Perfect. We’re celebrating the 160th anniversary of HSBC and I’m here on the range with Podrick Harrington. We’re going to do the challenge. Podrick, it’s cold though. You said it’s miserable to bring to bring me out. Do you think I’m good in bad weather or something? Well, you are very good in bad weather. You said even I want to go home now because it’s raining so much. Our challenge is to carry at 160. Exactly. And then to hit the board, hit the 160 marker. So, off you go. You got three balls for the first challenge to fly at 160. Uh Brian Harmon is at the top of the leaderboard. 158. It’s going to come up on top tracer on the big screen. Oh, it looked it looked good. How far’s it gone? How far? I’m looking at the data. on 60. Does he get a cheer? Yeah. Come on. High five. That’s amazing. Oh my gosh. It’s our winner. Brilliant stuff. Can we give him a cheer? Podrick Harrington. Everyone, give him a cheer. Let’s get the crowd going. Awesome. Brilliant work. You’ve You’ve actually won. Can I just announce to everyone that you have won a car? No, you’ve not won a car. You’ve won. It’s not a car. I’m being told it’s not a car. You’ve won nothing. The next challenge is to hit the board. So, can we give him a cheer if he does well? Same club. Five iron. Five iron this time. Five iron. Oh, it looks good. Go on. Go on. Go on. Oh, just under. Next one. Using a five. That’s a good What’s the What’s the tactic for this one? That was pretty good. Just driving one in low. It’s obviously got the best chance it can bounce into it. I’m surprised that came up short. I think it was brilliant. You’ve got two more goes. One 134. Oh, just needs a bit more that Podri go on. Oh, it’s gone left. Has it gone left? Is it almost 17? Uh 174. What’s the advice? What’s he need to do? Hit it lower. That’s all you need to do. Hit it lower. Crowd right. You’re going to get a massive cheer if this hits it. And you’re winning that prize of um we’ve got to figure out what it is. Go on. Go on. It’s good. No, it’s good. Yes, he did it. Woohoo. Oh my goodness. I’ve never seen scenes like it. It’s like you’ve won the Open Championship. Does it feel like you’ve won the Open? I probably got a bit more excited there. Nothing like showing off. This is amazing. You You’re at the top of the leaderboard with both of our challenges. Thank you so much. Another high five. Brilliant. Time to finish up. Yeah, he’s even Podrick. Well done you. Excellent stuff. Thanks, guys. Brilliant. Podrick Harrington. I mean, of all the men, he’s probably practiced that something similar somewhere. He’s such a creative player, Peter. Wow. To be able to switch to be able to switch it on that quick as well and hit it. Was that second second shot? The Harrington 160 was the first shot. He carried it 160 on the number first shot. And his third shot, he hit it dead in the middle. His first shot actually was good. He got it caught up in the rough there. So, just goes to show shot maker. Podrick Harrington shotmaker. Does he continue? Does he finish at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday, Peter? Could he do it? Could he be the Watson? He’s got the longevity. What would he be missing the belief? I I would say it’s not going to be dry enough. It’s not going to be runny enough for him to to do a Watson because he does work hard on his game, but ultimately there are players who uh who do hit it further than him. So, the driving range slowly emptying. Lot of players out on the golf course. Still just getting the numbers, the nuances of the of the golf course here. Royal Port Rush will be a serious challenge. There are some open champions past open champions still working on the game. The very distinctive action of Jordan Spith. Your thoughts on Jordan Sp? Have you had a chance to watch him hit a few shots in the range today? Yeah, I mean for a for a wedge and a short iron swing, his actions really good. like he controls the face through the ball wonderfully well and with his wedges he’s still one of the best in the world. It’s just as the club starts to get longer, as the loft starts to get a little bit lower, that’s where he struggles the most. So, we saw him working pretty hard earlier during the lunch break with Cameron McCormack. That’s his long-term coach, working kind of on a set position, kind of like a find the plane position. And then the idea was kind of almost the feeling of leaving the club up there and rotating his chest and hips almost in one piece so he just doesn’t drive onto it so hard. Doesn’t get stuck and get too square onto the ball. I don’t really see the thing is with with Jordan, I don’t actually see that much change from year to year. Like his swing stays pretty consistent. Although he does make some pretty extreme practice swings at time like what comes out the other side is pretty similar. Yeah, it’ be super interesting to see what he can do. Yeah, Jordan Spie’s action. When I when I first met him and he was a junior golfer, he just used to kind of like move off it a bit to the right, kind of get his right hip deeper and then just hit like a low cut everywhere and put like you’ve never seen anything like it. So speed has got a plan though. You could hear him really precisely talking about it. Cameron McCormarmac filming finding the feedback speed looking at the stack. So two little now I can tell you the top of the head you can see there John has been doing the driving ranges here I don’t know 35 40 years that little pair of eyes peering over the top there seen some sights across the years certainly Now, so speed up onto the plane. There it is. And then shallow and rip it open. That’s the plan. He’s an interesting golfer because it is the the ball striking is the long game that does let him down. And around Link’s golf, if he can get it in and around the greens, we all know what a good putter is. We all know how good his short game is, which is an essential part to win an open championship, which he’s already done, of course. Yeah. So have a look at that left foot. It really does get twisted out. He looks fit and strong though, doesn’t he? I got to say just became a dad, I believe, for the second time very recently. So yeah, second or third? I mean, at what point do you stop counting? Oh, they’re all little precious bundles, aren’t they? They are all precious bundles. So, let’s have a look. Watch that left foot really gets pushed out to the outside like a mini shuffler. So, there’s the practice and really pushed right over. Yeah. Again, it’s one of those moves that he’s done literally all his career. Like the outside of his ankle must be made of iron. Yeah. All just gets used to it, doesn’t it? It’s an elasticity. So, just missing one, the USPJ. I I would like to see Spath join the Magic Club of Grand Slammers. Yeah. I mean, the the PJ Championship as well, it not to be too dismissive of the USPJ, but it’s not a competition which needs an incredible skill set in a certain area. So like the open you need your creativity. The masters you would say you know your putting is obviously very important. US Open you just got to I don’t know pray a lot but USPGA there is that opportunity there. Yeah. But when he won his major championships especially he was you know the best putter in the world. Yeah. By a long way. By a long way. But you see, I would say that like I remember watching Tiger Woods when he came out and he didn’t hit he was never a great driver of the ball, but if you watched him come to the opens, he never really hit thousands of balls either, but he could putt for hours. So I would go, okay, Tiger, you are the best player in the world and maybe and and the best or second best ever, but the thing I would like to ask you about would be your putting like what what I mean, he’s got an unbelievable putting stroke. Have you ever seen how much face rotation there is on it? So speed. Well, the the feedback from the from the camera was that it’s not enough. So you’ve got to exaggerate that. The plane was good, but the shallowing was not good. He’s looking over his left shoulder to see exactly what you were doing there. The man with lots of glasses on. Two pairs of glasses or glasses on the hood. How many pairs of glasses have we got there? Cameron. That’s Cameron McCormack. Some some for seeing. Closer. Here we go. If it’s not going well, maybe some for not seeing. For not seeing. Here we go. Up. And now shallow and rip it open. A little fade this time. I must admit though, like his iron swing and his wed swing, like he manages to strike the ball very well. It’s as he gets up to the driver that’s where the the issues begin. Yeah. It’s almost like it gets too lateral and not enough rotational. So, here we go. Cameron McCormack. Just saying need to hit it straighter. Yeah. Why don’t you just do that all the time? That’s little fade there. Why don’t you just do that? You can be the best coach in the world, but you end up saying the same things as you did back when you started. No, no. That’s the whole point. Most of most of coaching is to bat away the incredibly horrendous ideas that the tour players have about what they think they can do. You know what? I think I’ll change my grip. And you go, why would you ever want to do that? I think next week I’m going to start drawing the ball. You’re the best fader of the ball in the world, Martin Kimmer. Here we go. Up onto the plane. rip it open with the body. I would say that was the shot he was trying to play that little baby fade. I mean those those are all in good proximity, aren’t they? Yeah. Yeah. One thing to wish Jordan can do as well, the way he swings it with that low little penetrating shot, he can actually adapt to that very easily. Yeah. Yeah. He is creative. always gives a lot of feedback. Almost need those noiseancelling headphones if you’re in the speed camp. And there it is. On Sunday at about 6:00, we will have a new champion golfer of the year. Heat. Heat. Welcome along to the open. It’s everything you wanted and more. Fantastic stuff. Absolutely brilliant. Quite an extraordinary day on the tea. Yeah, she was staring this one down and for good reason. Look at this. Just delightfully done. She’s on top of the world. Going directly at the hole. Tell you what, go. Oh, get in there. There’s something about the AIG Women’s Open. My goodness. Yeah, there it is. the driving range. We have been watching players all day long working on their equipment. Seen a lot of different clubs coming in and out trying to find the right club for the fairway finder. A Batier now he’s a shot maker Peter Finch. Yes, very creative. Your thoughts? Your thoughts of the fit between Ash’s game and and the and the open championship at Royal Port Rush? I mean, from from what I’ve seen of a he does shape the ball. He is quite creative, but he does tend to be that one direction, that fade. So, from right to left for uh for a being a left-hander and I just I’m not sure. I mean, I’m not sure of what his open history is, like how much Lynx golf he’s played, but I don’t know. is a player who I really like to watch. Like I love his goal swing. I’m just not sure about what that fit would be for an open championship. So actually is really a George Gangas student. So very slight of build, isn’t he? Very powerful, wiry. Quite a lot of shoulder tilt trying to launch that up. 178 miles an hour of ball speed and 378 carry. Speaking of carry numbers, the top tracer that we have been used all day and the massive fireworks show that you see there represents the longest carries of today. And now I I suppose that’s Richard Ta, the amateur from Lithuania. Yeah, the Estonian. Estonia. Estonia. Who? who I was covering in the amateur at Royal St. George’s who chipped in in the playoff to be here is leading Ryan Frogs Kratan Batia just hit jumped in there. Nikolai and Windham Clark. Now, I’ve got to tell you that means that Bryson didn’t hit too many shots there or he was hitting into the wind. But nevertheless, 300 is kind of like a 300 carry, you know, and and it’s cold and it’s windy and it’s wet. Um, shows as well like that the modern the modern approach to a golf swing as well because Richard is he’s not a very big guy. He’s very slight like a you know, there’s not a lot to him. I mean, when we were talking about distances with him on the range, I was I was quite taken back by some of his stock distances, but then when he hits it, Wow. Yeah. his body just snaps around. Yeah. The the kids today have just learned hit it as hard as you can and we’ll figure out how to how to straighten up later on. Let’s head down to Dy Stewart. Thanks, Simon. Not many at the range. Jordan Spe is still here, Trey. Working hard. That’s what he likes to do. He’s one of the last to leave, isn’t he? He’s grafting, isn’t he? Maybe he fancies another one. I mean, he’s he’s working hard, hitting that little fade as we’ve as we’ve seen. And he’s always working on a little bit of something in his golf swing, isn’t he? But it’s good to see how hungry he is still. Absolutely. Winner in 2017, of course. Can’t forget a previous open champion. You’ve been out and about. What have you been doing? I’ve been on the golf course. I was out on the golf course this afternoon. Lost the didn’t didn’t manage to get caught in the rain. Course planner is in here. Notes have been notes have been taken as well. And these are these are actually really interesting. If you’ve never you’ve never seen these. Let’s have a little look at what notes I’ve made. Second hole here off the tea yellow signpost is the line. And you can actually get a look at how many numbers that you get in these things. Yeah, it’s brilliant detail, isn’t it? It looks complex, but this is what the talk this is what the guys see week in week out. So you soon get familiar with it. But it’s super interesting. These are they really are. And today I feel we’ve learned a lot. We’ve spoken to so many players. Um all the press conference as well on the open website and uh available uh on various social outlets as well. So much content to keep up to date with, isn’t there? Yeah, there’s loads. There’s loads of different outlets. But well, I think an event like this, there’s so much going on. It’s got to keep up with everything, haven’t you? It’s brilliant. And tomorrow, this place will be absolutely packed. We’re back with a live at the range at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Who knows what the weather’s going to be like? I feel like we’ve had four seasons in one day today. That’s what we want for an open championship though, isn’t it? I mean, especially around this golf course. You go out to the sea like I’ve been over four or five today and then it all opens up, then the wind comes the other way. You’re really doing a 360 loop around this golf course, but the wind is it’s dropped now and it’s starting. I think the sun’s coming out. It’s brilliant. We’ll be back for Live at the Range tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. See you then.
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9 Comments
Get rid of that Stoogeilroy thumbnail and utilize a golfer that actually respects the game
Netanyahu says he’s ‘confident’ hostage deal can be reached, Iran in ‘deep trouble
Ask netenyahu for ransom swaps Russia
That's right the cops don't wanna send ransom money here in Russia they really fucking do
I like Hovland..class act..doesn't whine like other players..
Min Woo Lee is known for the catch phrase "Let him cook." I didn't know he was called "the chef.
No fucking way Muslims
Looks cold and windy. You can have it
Poor old Finchy, he should be playing not presenting, but his loss is our gain.
Peter Finch is a great choice 👍