The Open golf lottery championship

I’m a pretty moderate golfer but do ok around a championship course, I enjoy the spoiled walk that is golf. There is no doubt that a professional would make complete mince meat of me. It is for that reason that I enjoy watching professional make mince meat of a course. They play shots I can only imagine and make putts with a consistency I can only dream of.

Watch the Open though or a number of the other top contests and it’s all become a bit of a lottery IMHO. The courses and conditions are often so tough that it makes it hard for even a professional to play a reasonable game. Worse than that a lot of them are coming around to the fact that in order to win these contests it often makes sense to play very defensive shots. For me this reduces the golf as a spectacle. I would like to see players attacking the greens and being tempted into aggressive shots not the dull defensive play that seems to becoming more common.

All that said, turning golf into a lottery makes the prospect of somebody blowing up from what was a good score much more likely, so laying leaders in the early days is probably an increasingly effective tactic on difficult courses with bad weather. Also understanding the playing style of competitors can also help. Mickleson is known for trying the impossible often and this is considered a flaw of his game. When queried on this he clearly stated that the day he started playing boring golf he wouldn’t enjoy it and his intention was to enjoy playing first ahead of winning. Ah, that’ll be a lay then in a difficult situation. I have to say, if I was Mickleson, I’d probably be the same.

Whether you agree with it or not I don’t think the R&A are going to change tack any time soon.

Category: Golf