BlogOpen Championship Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

Is there anything interesting for this year?

Lots of storylines this week.

The Open returns for a tenth time to Royal Troon, a magnificent course on the west coast of Scotland. The weather was perfect on Monday and Tuesday (it did cloud up in the afternoon), but a storm is expected on Thursday with lots of wind, so it will be interesting. Only a few people will remember this, but in 2014, they had similar conditions in which the practice rounds had perfect weather, but come Thursday, a storm came through and played havoc. Everyone has heard the old wife’s tale of being on the right side of the draw; that all came through in 2016 when the Open was last played at Troon. Everyone remembers it; it’s where Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson lapped the field. Stenson won with a 20 under total, while Phil Mickelson was 17 under. In third place was J.B. Holmes at 6 under par. Now, the big deal of this open is that those that teed off late on Thursday and early on Friday had a significant advantage with the weather. It was brutal early on Thursday, but it got better in the afternoon. On Friday, the opposite happened; it was nice in the morning and brutal in the afternoon. On Friday, those who played in the morning were 175 over par, while those who played in the afternoon were 362 over par. Of the top 26 that cut, 23 of them teed off late on Thursday and early on Friday. So these are some of the things that play in “The Luck of the Draw.”  With the weather conditions coming for the first and second rounds, we better look and try to see if this could happen.

As you have read, Troon is a wonderful course. Yes, length and brute strength will play a significant role, but with high rough, I see few going for the big drive; it’s best to keep it in the fairway at all costs. Putting is going to be a premium this week. Everybody is making a big deal that seven of the last eight winners at Troon have been a great putter (except for Todd Hamilton) who excelled on the greens of Troon. The winner will continue this trend and win this week at Troon. But we must be careful; good putters like Cameron Smith, Denny McCarthy, and Mackenzie Hughes are great putters but are “George of the Jungle,” thus rendering them useless because they can’t hit fairways and greens. Sure, Smith won the British Open at St. Andrews, but their fairways are so wide the space shuttle could land on them. So we have to find good putters who drive it straight. Guys like Xander Schauffele are 10th in Strokes Gained putting along with being 12th in Strokes Gained Off the tee and 5th in Strokes Gained Approach the green. Looking for some long shots that are good in putting, driving, and hitting greens, Akshay Bhatia is fantastic in that, defending champion Brian Harman and last week’s Scottish Open runner-up Adam Scott. Others are Viktor Hovland, whose game is in flex, along with Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg. Also, remember Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, and Davis Thompson. I eliminated Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, and Hideki Matsuyama. As for apparent picks like Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Jon Rahm, they have all had good Open starts, like Jon Rahm being runner-up last year, but they must prove themselves this week. Even Scheffler, with his unbelievable season, has yet to show that he can play well on links courses. He was T-8th in his first Open at St. George’s in 2021, but since then, he was T-21st at St. Andrews and T-23rd last year. The same is true with Bryson; in six starts, he has only broken 70 twice, and both were at St. Andrews in 2022, his only good finish of T-8th. In watching Bryson on Golf Channel shows Monday and Tuesday, he tells us he knows what it will take to win this week, but I still have my doubts.

There are some others to consider: I like Tom Kim; he was T-2nd last year at Hoylake and has played well recently, finishing 2nd at the Travelers and T-15th last week at the Scottish Open, shooting a final round 64. Talking about the Scottish Open, Robert MacIntyre became a national hero on Sunday when he won the Scottish Open. But I have a feeling MacIntyre could be as incapacitated as Ingrid Andress, singing the National anthem before the Homerun derby on Monday night.

A couple of things to think about: the Open Championship has yet to have a winner who has won a previous major. The last was Jordan Spieth in 2017. As for the other majors, there were only two years for the Masters, one year for the PGA Championship, and four years for the U.S. Open. Lastly, of the nine champions, the average age is 32 and a half. The last one is Henrik Stenson, who was the oldest at 40; the first one, Arthur Havers, was the youngest in 1923, and some of the others, Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, and Tom Watson, were 32. Tom Weiskopf was 31, Mark Calcavecchia was 39, Justin Leonard was 25, and Todd Hamilton was 38, show age and experience have ruled the past champions.

Championship information:

The British Open traces its roots to October 17, 1860, at the Links at Prestwick. It is hard to believe that it was played six months before Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office on March 4, 1861.

Eight professionals vied at the inaugural Open Championship, making three trips around the 12-hole golf course at Prestwick. Willie Park Sr.’s 174 gave him a two-shot win over Old Tom Morris. The original prize was the Challenge Belt. It’s interesting to note that a month later, on November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.

In 1873, Tom Kidd’s victory at St. Andrews was monumental. It was the first Open Championship held at St. Andrews, and with Kidd’s win, he took home the first-ever Claret Jug. The jug was manufactured at the cost of 30 pounds by Mackay Cunningham & Co. of Edinburgh. To put that in perspective, 30 pounds today would be worth about 15,000 dollars. Not much money in today’s world, but here is a better view of it. In searching the value of the British pound in 1860, it had a purchasing power of about 63.10 today. So if you multiply 63.10 30 times, you get 1,893 pounds, which means they paid about $3,000 to make up the original Claret Jug in today’s money.

By 1892, The Open Championship had moved to a 72-hole format, 36 holes over two days. With the changes to the Open Championship format, play began to increase. As play increased, a cut was instituted, starting in 1898, to limit the number of competitors over the final 36 holes. The increase in competition led to a decrease in scoring. Jack White’s 296 in the 1904 Open Championship marked the first time a competitor shot an aggregate score under 300. His final round of 68 also set a record for the lowest round by a golfer. The Open Championship went on a six-year hiatus beginning in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I. When the tournament resurfaced in 1920, it did so under new ownership. The R&A was entrusted with the task of managing the event. To this day, the R&A still administers the Championship.

The R&A quickly installed changes to The Open Championship. The event spanned three days, with 18 holes on each of the first two days and 36 on the final day. Also, The R&A began charging admission to see the event. A year later, the R&A started producing a replica of the Claret Jug, awarded to each year’s champion. The original jug resides in the clubhouse of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The suspension of the Open from 1939 to 1946 due to World War II represents the longest gap between Open Championships. Sam Snead won the 1946 U.S. Open at St. Andrews, defeating Bobby Locke.

The 1955 Open marked a new era for the event. BBC broadcasted the tournament on television for the first time. By 1966, the Open Championship was being played over four days, 18 holes each day. For the first time, ABC broadcasted a live feed of the event in America in 1982. In 1977, Regional Qualifying around England and Scotland was introduced permanently to help organize qualifying in which there were two levels, first local qualifying and then moving on the week of the Championship. It had been an experiment at the 1926 Open but abandoned after just one year. In 1980, the Open Championship was moved to its current format, 18 holes over four days, with the tournament concluding on Sunday. A decade later, in 1990, the event set an attendance record with over 208,000 spectators showing up to watch the tournament at St. Andrews. Another significant change in 2005 saw international qualifying, with different sites set up in Australia, South Africa, Asia, and America, and for the European players to try and qualify in their country instead of flying off to England. Today, things are different; there are many ways you can get in. One is either winning a significant event, being high in the world rankings, or being a top winner on either the PGA Tour, European Tour, South African Tour, Japan, or Asian Tour. You can also get through qualifying tournaments, in which there are 12 events in which the top players for that week can get into the Open and four qualifying sites around England and Scotland that finished just two weeks ago.

The 2024 Open Championship will be the 152nd installment of the tournament. This is the 10th time Troon has held the British Open, the first since 2016.

Course information:

• Royal Troon Golf Club
• Troon, Scotland
• 7,385 yards     Par 36-35–71

Royal Troon was founded in 1878 as a five-hole course following a meeting in a local pub by some of the locals of Troon. George Strath, Troon’s pro, was responsible for the original design. Willie Fernie and James Braid later modified and extended the layout. It was first used in 1923 as an Open course and was very successful. In the years before, it was overshadowed by Prestwick, the course that had already hosted 23 Opens and was next to Troon. But the course couldn’t add more yardage to Prestwick, and it was too small to have people; by 1925, the course was obsolete for the Open Championship. So, in a way, Troon succeeded because of Prestwick’s downfall.

The course measures 7,385, and in reality, the yardage doesn’t matter because the wind changes the aspect of the course. The opening holes are accessible, with a series of par fours running down the Firth of Clyde. The 6th was the longest par 5 in Open Championship history; at 623 yards, it can be reached on windy days and has always played easily. The 7th goes inland and sets up for the short 8th, only 123 yards, but if you miss the 2,000 square foot green and land in a bunker, par is challenging. After that, you have the 9th hole that is still downwind. Then you turn in the direction and head back on the back nine, which has eight holes into the prevailing wind. One of the hardest holes on the course is the 490-yard 11th. In 2004, it was the most challenging hole on the course and the 5th hardest for the year on the PGA Tour, playing to a 4.413 average. Only 35 birdies were made on the hole compared to 38 doubles and 13 “others.” In 2016, it was not only the hardest hole at Troon but the hardest of the year on the PGA Tour. I played to a scoring average of 4.561 with only 24 birdies made, with 35 doubles and 26 “others,” including a 9 made on it in the second round by Jamie Lovemark and Steven Bowditch in the second round. What makes the hole challenging is the out-of-bounds on the right, as an active railway line runs the length of the hole. You will see all the train traffic on that line on television, which has a way of disturbing the players. Another challenging element about Troon is the 96-pot bunkers on the course. These bunkers are nearly impossible to get out of and are an instant penalty. Another thing making the holes hard is that most of the greens are higher than the fairway, and if you miss the green, the ball will roll off into a pot bunker or give a player a tough pitch to the hole. Yes, Troon is a challenge.

So there you have in a nutshell some things about Royal Troon, so let’s see how that determines a winner for this week with our vital stats for the Open Championship.

It’s hard to believe we have another major coming up; that’s the good news, the bad news, the last one for the year. The Masters is only 271 days away, and before you know it, we will be talking about the new year of majors. But before that, we have to finish the majors in 2024.

This week, the Open Championship is being played at Royal Troon on the west coast of Scotland, about 35 miles from Glasgow. This course is a gem and, along with Muirfield, could be the best course on the British Open rota. The course is about the same as Hoylake, which held the Open last year, but the course is more open, with the front nine going out to the south and the back nine turning around and heading back north. Of the 18 holes, only one hole doesn’t go north to south or south to north, which is the 12th hole. Usually, the wind blows from the north, so folklore is if you’re not under par by the time you reach the 8th tee, you better just give up because you will shoot a lot. Here is what I am talking about. The par for the front nine is 36, and in 2016, the last time the Open was played at Troon, the front nine scoring average was 36.153, which meant that the field was just a notch over par. The back nine is a par 35, but the scoring average was 37.009, which meant it played two over par. So, the back nine is two shots harder than the front nine.
Many things will happen to set up and make this championship much more challenging than in past years. First is the weather. Scotland has been very wet, which means Troon is green and lush, so if you miss the fairway, it may be tough to get onto the green. As the players said on Monday, the weather was so good it made them feel they were in San Diego, not Scotland. This weather will continue for Tuesday and Wednesday, but then all hell breaks loose. The great weather turns around with rain all four days, along with high winds with gusts up to 35 mph. This makes it even harder for the players to gauge; the normal wind is out of the north, but when the tournament starts on Thursday, the winds will come out of the southwest, making the course play entirely different. With this wind, the front nine will be against the wind, and the reverse on the back nine will have the wind behind them and help them. So players, especially those who have yet to play at Troon, will find it hard to prepare. Sure, they can play on a calm, sunny day, but it will be the reverse: rain, cold, and windy when the tournament starts.

So let’s talk about the course itself. Little has changed since the first Open championship was played in 1923. The layout is the same as it was 101 years ago; the holes are pretty much the same, with the addition of bunkers and new tees. 1923, when the Open was at Troon, it played at 6,533 yards, and a par of 72; AG Havers won with a score of 295. It wasn’t played again until 1950, when the yardage was just 6,583, and Bobby Locke won with a score of 279. The course held the Open 12 years later, and the course was stretched to 7,045 as Arnold Palmer shot 276. In 1997, the course changed to 71, and the course was 7,079. The last time it was played was in 2016, the par 71 course played to 7,190. For this year, the R&A has added 195 yards, and it will play to a length of 7,385, 852 yards longer than in 1950, 74 years ago. So, the evolution of the Royal Troon has been negligible as the players today will play the same course that the Open was held 101 years ago.

Royal Troon is a serious test in which bombers will have a slight advantage. If you look at the roll call of past champions, most of them haven’t been long-hitters. In 2016, Henrik Stenson was 108th in driving distance for the year. In 2004, when Todd Hamilton won, he was 136th in the driving distance for the year. The same happened in 1997 when Justin Leonard won at Troon; he ranked 172nd in driving distance for the year.

This week, the players will find out how much of a dominant course Troon is, and you have to hit it well off the tee, have precision iron play, and putt well. A perfect example is driving the ball; on the 14 driving holes, there are 30 fairway bunkers, so an average of two per hole. Now, these aren’t regular bunkers from which a player can reach the green; many of them are deep enough that an attempt to get to the green is impossible, so you must lay it up. The rough will be challenging for those who avoid fairway bunkers, as the fairways average 34 yards. Yes, it could be worse, but in some places, again, you have to take your medicine and lay it up down the fairway. Remember what we said. Troon has had a lot of rain, so the rough is thick and hard. As for the greens, the 18 greens are guarded by 51 bunkers, or just about two and a half per hole. Again, you hit it into a bunker, and that bunker will gobble up your ball, and the deepness along steep faces again makes it challenging. The greens are only 6,80 square feet, which is about average, so if you’re on the fairway, getting them on the greens shouldn’t present a problem.

So, what are the keys to winning this week?
*Good bunker play – yes, you want to avoid them, but for those that can escape and get it up and down, it will help.
*Some will say that length and brute strength will play an important role this week. That’s different from how past champions won; they did it by keeping the ball in play. So does that mean a player like Bryson DeChambeau will not have a chance this week? Sure, the longer you drive it, the more of an advantage you will have. But with heavy rough, that will be trickier when wet; look for more irons off the tee. In looking at DeChambeau’s record at the Open Championship, he has played six times and only been in the top 30 once, which was at St. Andrews, which has the most generous fairways of any course. DeChambeau could have a tough time unless he gets wise and uses irons off the tees.
*Putting is going to be a premium this week. The greens are flat and very slow under the standards of the top professionals, so look for lots of 7, 8, 9, and 10-footers to be made. The greens at Pinehurst were speedy and had lots of undulations; that is not the case at Troon; the greens on Monday were rolling at 9 on a stipmeter. At Pinehurst, it was close to 12 and 13.
*Will Troon have a surprise winner, or will it be a marquee name? Nobody can predict. Look at the past; it has a history of any Champion. In 2016, Henrik Stenson won many significant events, so his win was no surprise. But in 2004, Todd Hamilton was a big winner in Japan but came to Troon with just one PGA Tour victory. After he won at Troon, he never won again. So yes, a surprise winner like Brian Harman did last year could happen. One name that could win this week is Cameron Smith; if he can keep it in the fairway, his putter could win this.
*Players will have to be able to play in all conditions. For the practice rounds on Monday, the course played easy and dry, with the wind coming out of the north. The same will happen on Tuesday and Wednesday before significant changes of rain and high winds coming from the southwest, changing how to play Troon. So people will only know how to play once the rains and winds start, and yes, it will rain.
*Scrambler: The greens are a bit small, and a player must have the skills to get up and down from off the green or greenside bunkers.
*Player that doesn’t hit it into bunkers. Remember this: Justin Leonard’s win at Troon in 1997 was because he didn’t hit it in a bunker during the 72 holes. If that gets repeated this week, that person will win the Claret Jug.

So, with that said, how can we judge this course? First, we have minimal historical stats, so we will do something we have done in the past Open Champions and another course with limited stats in picking our four key stats. We are using strokes gained stats.

Our first is Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee because driving it straight will be necessary. Getting it in the fairway is essential with thick, rough, challenging bunkers. We can see and hear the players talking about the fescue/bentgrass and dozens of other hazards around Troon playing a factor this week. Even trains will play a factor as the 11th hole runs right next to the railroad tracks, which could bother players, or they could hit it right onto the tracks.
Our next stat is Strokes Gained Approach-the-Green because hitting greens is essential, and you must make sure to hit the greens.

Our third stat is Strokes Gained around the green because players will miss greens and must get it up and down.

Last is Strokes Gained-Putting because that will be very important for players this week.

*Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee: The per-round average of the number of strokes based on the number of fairways and distance hit

*Strokes Gained Approach-the-Green: This takes into account the number of greens and the proximity to the hole in the interest of saving shots.

*Strokes Gained Around the Green: The number of strokes gained from shots around the green. A lot of it is scrambling and bunker play.

*Strokes Gained Putting: The number of strokes gained in putting

The 69 of the 158 players from this year’s field with stats from 2024. Remember there are a lot of foreign, amateur, and LIV Golf players in the field:

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

We have compiled a database beginning at the 2023 Sentry and going through the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open, a total of 76 events (we don’t put in Zurich team event). The database includes how many points a player won during the event and his cost. Out of the database, we can determine the total DraftKing points earned, the players’ average points earned per event, and average points based on the number of rounds played.

Of the players in the field, here are the top 60 playing in at least seven events:

DraftKings tips

*Here are the guys that cost the most on DraftKings this week:

• Scottie Scheffler – $12,800
• Bryson DeChambeau – $11,500
• Rory McIlroy – $11,400
• Xander Schauffele – $11,200
• Jon Rahm – $10,400
• Ludvig Aberg – $10,100
• Collin Morikawa – $9,900
• Viktor Hovland – $9,700
• Tyrrell Hatton – $9,500
• Tommy Fleetwood – $9,300
• Patrick Cantlay – $9,100
• Brooks Koepka – $9,000

This week, it will be close to impossible to pick players. The reason is that the prices of the top players are too high. The top four are over $11,000, and the top seven are over $9,900. So, taking Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau leaves you with just $25,700 or an average of $6,400 for your remaining players, which is impossible. Taking just Scheffler means your other five players must average just $7,440. So what DraftKings has done is make it impossible to take favorites. Yes, I like Scottie Scheffler, but at $12,800, he is nearly untouchable to pick five other players. Of course, we know how many points Scheffler can get you; at the Travelers, he earned 149.5. But we must always beware of the poor week, like the U.S. Open when he earned just 35.5. As much as I like Scheffler, and he is the favorite, I can’t take him this week. Bryson DeChambeau at $11,500 is too high for me; he got 126.5 points at the PGA Championship and 98.0 in his U.S. Open win. I have to think twice about taking one of these two. How about Rory McIlroy at $11,400? He is within range and has no scares due to his finish at Pinehurst. He won 105 points at the Scottish Open, so it’s safe to wander into the waters for McIlroy. Xander Schauffele at $11,200 is a good bet, even when he finished T-15th at the Scottish Open and won 87.5 points. Jon Rahm at $10,400 is a no. I realize he was T-2nd last year at Hoylake and T-3rd in 2021, but he has yet to play well in 2024. Ludvig Aberg is high at $10,100; he is still worth the money. He has played well but stumbled over the weekend, which concerns him. Still, he is close. Collin Morikawa, at $9,900, is the best bet of the bunch; he continues to grind it out and, in his last nine starts, has finished in the top 16. He is steady, and Troon should be up his alley. If his putter cooperates, he will win. Viktor Hovland at $9,700 has to be a no. Yes, he has played well in three Open starts, including a T-4th in 2022, but his game is in serious rehab, and I can’t see him getting it together this week. Tyrrell Hatton at $9,500 is not a good pick; I can’t see him playing well at Troon. Tommy Fleetwood at $9,300 is a big mystery to me. He has lots of talent, and you think he is an excellent choice, as he was last week and finished T-34th; it’s very frustrating. He has been up and down at the Open Championship, but since he missed the cut at Troon in 2016, I have decided not to take him. Patrick Cantlay at $9,100 is a no for me; yes, his game is coming around. He was T-3rd at the U.S. Open and T-5th at the Travelers; in the Open, he has never played well, and the cold, wet, windy conditions won’t help his back. Brooks Koepka at $9,000, is also a guy we want to pick but can’t justify it. His record has been up and down in the Open; he hasn’t shown us enough to warrant picking him.

*Players in that $7,600 to $8,900 price range, which ones are worth the money?:

Cameron Smith is $8,900 and high, but he is a great putter, and if he can hit fairways and greens, he could surprise many. Tom Kim at $8,300, is a great pick; he played well last year at Hoylake, finishing runner-up; Troon is a lot like Hoylake. So it makes sense to take Kim, who has played well lately. Brian Harman at $7,600, is an absolute steal and could play well in his defense. Our best value is Cameron Young at $7,500; he has played twice at the Open, finishing 2nd in 2022 and T-8th last year.

Some of the “bargains” this week at Hoylake

We need to pick guys who make cuts and can surprise us. The first name I see is Max Homa at $7,300. He could have been better in 2024, but he has a chance for redemption at Troon. He was T-10th last year at Hoylake. Aaron Rai at $7,300 is a bargain and has been playing well of late with three top-seven picks in his previous three starts. Alex Noren at $7,200, is an excellent pick because he makes a lot of cuts, and was T-6th in the 2017 Open. Akshay Bhatia at $7,000 is a good choice; he has played well lately and has the game to do well in his first Open Championship. It’s hard to believe you can get Jason Day at $6,900. He has a good record in the Open, including a T-22nd at Troon in 2016, and was runner-up last year. He will make the cut and do well if picked. Adam Scott at $6,700 is a steal; he was T-10th at Troon in 2016, and he played great last week in the Scottish Open.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the British Open:

• In the past 32 years, it’s been won by grinders like Brian Harman, Cameron Smith, Shane Lowry, Henrik Stenson, Francesco Molinari, Zach Johnson, Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman, Darren Clarke, Collin Morikawa, and Stewart Cink, who may not look pretty but knows how to place shots in the right spots. There have also been superstars like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth, who were expected to win. And then you had your superstar that wasn’t supposed to win in Phil Mickelson, do the job. It’s been won by great tour players like Ernie Els, David Duval, and Justin Leonard, who capped off their PGA Tour careers with their first win in a major. But unfortunately, the British Open has been won by guys that fell out of the limelight right after their victories. Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O’Meara, Paul Lawrie, David Duval, Todd Hamilton, and Ben Curtis all come to mind. Since their win, they have fallen from grace and have struggled with their games.
• The field is great, 69 of the top 80 in the world rankings. Every great player in the world is here and ready to go. Troon is soft and wet right now with a lot of heavy rough, it could play harder if the wind blows.

The key stat for the winner:

• Avoiding bunkers is always a key at the British Open, and Troon is no different. There are 96 bunkers on the course, and if you hit into one of them, you will probably make a bogey on the hole.
• British Opens have produced winners in the last dozen years, making predictions difficult. First off, since 2010, every Champion has played the week before at the Scottish Open. A perfect example is last year with Brian harman who was T-12th at the Scottish Open.  In 2022 Cameron Smith was T-10th at the Scottish Open and waltzed into St. Andrews to win. With so many playing in that event, the odds favor a winner coming from Gullane. Here are some other things. Stewart Cink became an oddity in his win in 2009, beating Tom Watson in a playoff. Padraig Harrington had two in a row, Tiger Woods had won three in six years, and David Duval and Ernie Els were near the top of the rankings when they won. But Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton were two of the most surprising winners in major championship history, and Paul Lawrie wasn’t far behind. Somewhere in the middle was 1998 champion Mark O’Meara. Collin Morikawa showed that you could win on your first try at the British, and the links experience is unnecessary.

Some other keys to playing well this week:

• Last but not least, don’t listen to any of the experts who make picks, including me. Golf has become nearly impossible to gauge, and picking a winner is almost impossible. The game has gotten so refined with swing gurus, mind coaches, fitness coaches, and dietary experts that golfers can change from playing terribly to winning in a matter of a week. Just look at a couple of the winners of late. Robert MacIntyre was not a player many thought would win again, and he did it at the  Canadian Open and then a month later in the Scottish Open. How many of you thought that Wyndham Clark could win the U.S. Open? And how about MacIntyre winning his national title in Scotland? Yes, golf has gotten very complicated these days, and of the field of 156 this week, about half of them can win.