The Open Championship 2026: Crowning the champion golfer of the year

[hondo]

DeChambeau and Wyndham Clark in a tight competition for golf’s biggest douchebag. **** that guy.

It's DeChambeau and it's not close.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

I didn’t see it until today. The thing is you know you’re not going to win against the R&A.

 

[hondo]

There are players who’ve been on tour for 15 years and they don’t have the first clue as to how to take relief from casual water or any number of situations that most 30 handicappers can handle. That’s inexcusable.

The Tour doesn't require players to pass any kind of a rules test. They should but they don't. That said, in a Tour event there is a rules official on every other hole and in majors, one with every group. Players are told to never guess. Call the rules guy in.

 

[rtse11]

The Tour doesn't require players to pass any kind of a rules test. They should but they don't. That said, in a Tour event there is a rules official on every other hole and in majors, one with every group. Players are told to never guess. Call the rules guy in.

What if you think you are the smartest person on the course?

 

[hondo]

Right, which is why they changed the rule after Lexi Thompson was dinged two strokes for playing from a wrong place because she put her ball down like four inches from her original ball mark and someone called it in from home. I think she got another two strokes for signing an incorrect scorecard.

I have no issue with a command center on site watching the entire golf course and finding rules issues that way. Rules officials can't be everywhere. But a call-in from home? No way. Can I call in a pass interference that was missed in an NFL game? Of course not. It was a common sense change from the USGA and R&A.

The Tour and major organizations used to accept calls from viewers because they viewed it as one more safeguard for the rules. Amazing how many times those guys were right.

And the comparison to football or another team sport is apples and oranges. It's simply not valid. In team sports, there are officials in a fixed area (stadium, baseball field, court) who see every single play and action. Unless there is a walking rules official with every group (which only happens on the weekends in majors and The Players) that's impossible. Therefore, players have to police themselves.

 

[hondo]

What if you think you are the smartest person on the course?

I'm sure this isn't the first time Bryson has gotten in a pickle because he thinks that of himself.

 

[hondo]

Is anyone surprised there was no report of Trump calling the R&A or ranting on Truth Social about how his buddy Bryson got screwed?

 

[HanSenSE]

And IIRC whoever made the call was watching a replay. Lexi didn’t know about it until she walked in the clubhouse the next day

I think also they didn't let her know until she was already out on the course as well, with little to no time to adjust her game.

 

[ChrisLong]

I seem to remember a ball being next to a tree or something. The golfer had to put one knee on the ground for a stance to punch it out. He put a towel on the ground so as to not stain his pants. That prompted somebody to call in.

 

[HanSenSE]

Found this, FWIW.
Lexi Thompson's delayed penalty

 

[Cosmo]

I seem to remember a ball being next to a tree or something. The golfer had to put one knee on the ground for a stance to punch it out. He put a towel on the ground so as to not stain his pants. That prompted somebody to call in.

Pretty sure that was Craig Stadler. Accused of building a stance, which is against the rules.

 

[ChrisLong]

Pretty sure that was Craig Stadler. Accused of building a stance, which is against the rules.

 

[SixToe]

Right, which is why they changed the rule after Lexi Thompson was dinged two strokes for playing from a wrong place because she put her ball down like four inches from her original ball mark …

Saw this placement situation happen a few times in a Champions Tour event at Shoal Creek several years ago. Egregious.

 

[I Should Coco]

Not sure who Herbert is — and the wheels seem to be coming off his game down the stretch — but his caddy wins the no shave contest going away.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Is anyone surprised there was no report of Trump calling the R&A or ranting on Truth Social about how his buddy Bryson got screwed?

Maybe a little. Then we remember that the R&A took Turnberry out of the Open rotation. He knows the R&A won't listen to him.

 

[Scout]

I miss Johnny Miller on the mic.

 

[Driftwood]

I don't think he ever talked about it much, but Johnny Miller once shot a 63 in a major.

 

[TigerVols]

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I don't think he ever talked about it much, but Johnny Miller once shot a 63 in a major.

He keeps it guarded, like Phil Leotardo did about how much time he did in the can.

 

[UPChip]

They keep talking about most blah blah below 70 in Open history. But aren’t most Opens par 72?

Happy to venture down this rabbit hole:

In the rota, St. Andrews and Royal Liverpool play to a par 72.

Carnoustie plays to a 72 for most of the members and the Senior Open, but a 71 for the Open.

Portrush, Muirfield, Troon and Turnberry play to 71

Birkdale, St. George's and Lytham are 70s.

Of those, several have been changed over the years, some as recently as the early 90s.