The Old Course at Royal Troon is a stunning links golf course by the Scottish sea that has hosted the British Open four times since 1989. However, the winners are not exactly a list of the world's best golfers: Henrik Stenson (2016), Todd Hamilton (2004), Justin Leonard (1997) and Mark Calcavecchia (1989).
None of the four had previously won a major championship, and none have won one since.
But starting Thursday, all eyes will be on three of the world's most decorated golfers as they tackle the 7,385-yard, par-71 course in the final major championship of 2024.
There's Rory McIlroy, the consensus No. 2 seed according to the bookmakers, which seems appropriate after he finished runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau at the U.S. Open a month ago, failing to close out his first major victory in 10 years by missing two extremely short putts on the final three holes.
However, no player has posted more top-10 finishes at major championships in recent years than McIlroy, and since winning the Open at Royal Liverpool in 2014, he has recorded five top-10 finishes in seven Open starts. He is seeking his fifth major championship and first since winning the Open in 2014.
“I’d much rather have something like that left because it means I’m getting closer,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “But yeah, of course I’d love to be able to play golf and get a goal, but as soon as I get one, people are going to say, ‘Well, when are you going to get your sixth? ’ So it’s endless.”
McIlroy openly admits that Tiger Woods was his childhood hero and how grateful he is to have become his friend. That's why it was so funny when he said that after his US Open meltdown, he inadvertently ignored Woods by not replying to his encouraging text message.
“To be honest, I changed my number two days after the U.S. Open, so I didn’t understand it until he told me today,” McIlroy said. “I said, ‘Oh, thank you very much. ’ So I beat Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing.
“I met Tiger when I was 15 and I’ve developed a great relationship with him and his entire family. He also really enjoys spending time with my mom and dad. So, yeah, it means a lot to me. It means a lot that he reached out to me.”
Yes, there is Woods, who arrived in Scotland amid questions about when he might retire, a topic raised somewhat bizarrely by Colin Montgomerie in an interview with the Times of London a few days ago.
“I hope people remember Tiger for what he was, the passion and the charismatic aura that surrounded him,” Montgomerie said. “There’s none of that now. At Pinehurst, he didn’t seem to enjoy a single shot and you think, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ He comes to Troon and he won’t enjoy it there either.”
Metaphorically, Montgomerie placed his comments on a tee for Woods to crush. After all, Montgomerie never won a major, finishing second five times. Most memorably, when he needed a par to win the 2006 U.S. Open, he hit his tee shot on the 18th hole down the middle, but stumbled into a double bogey and lost to Geoff Ogilvy.
Or perhaps even more memorable was when Woods outplayed Montgomerie as if he were standing still in the third round of the 1997 Masters after the Scottish icon suggested the 21-year-old American might be too inexperienced to handle the pressure.
Who is Montgomerie, 61, to comment on Woods' future plans? Asked if Woods is getting closer to the day when he will no longer be competitive, he replied: “Aren't we there? I would have thought we were there.” past “There. There is a time for all athletes to say goodbye, but it is very difficult to tell Tiger that it is time to go. Obviously, he still feels that he can win. We are more realistic.”
Woods, 48, took his swing at the news conference.
“As a former champion, I’m exempt until I’m 60. Colin is not,” Woods said. “He’s not a former champion, so he’s not exempt, so he doesn’t have the opportunity to make that decision. I do.”
To be fair, Woods' day of reckoning might be a long way off. He has won 15 major championships but has either withdrawn or missed the cut in five of the last six majors he has played and has not finished higher than a tie for 37th in any major since his shock victory at the 2019 Masters.
But he made it clear that he is not willing to stop.
“I'll play as long as I can,” Woods said, “and I feel like I can still win the event.”
Woods said he was battling sleep deprivation because he didn't sleep on the flight from Florida to Troon. He couldn't stop watching television coverage of the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
“It was a long night and that was all we saw the whole trip,” he said. “I didn’t sleep at all during the flight and then we headed to the golf course.”
The third player to watch is Scottie Scheffler, the consensus favorite despite never having finished higher than eighth at the Open. Scheffler won this year's Masters and sits atop the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) with six wins and seven top-10 finishes in 2024.
Scheffler was once stopped by a police officer who believed the golfer was disregarding signals in a fatal traffic accident outside Valhalla Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the PGA Championship. Charges of second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree property damage and reckless driving were dropped.
There is also no crime in missing short putts under pressure or aging beyond one's prime. So McIlroy, Woods and Scheffler are free to begin their quest for the Open title on Thursday, competing on a Royal Troon course that, like a race, is known for a relatively easy start, a tricky middle and treacherous prevailing winds down the stretch.
