The fourth and final Major of the 2024 PGA Tour season is upon us as the World’s best take to the storied Royal Troon Golf Club for the 152nd playing of the Open Championship.
Royal Troon last hosted the Open Championship in 2016 which saw Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson famously duel it out in a league of their own. Stenson won at 20-under with Mickelson at 18-under. Third place J.B. Holmes finished third at six-under that year.
The Field
This week’s field consists of 158 golfers from across the World.
A majority of the field is made up of the top-50 of the Official World Golf Rankings and the top-30 from the 2023 DP World Tour season.
Sixteen spots were claimed via final qualifying which saw the inclusion of the likes of Justin Rose, Abraham Ancer, Sam Horsfield and Matthew Southgate, among others.
The Open often shapes up as the most top-heavy Major of the season as every OWGR top-50 player will be in attendance. The only one not playing this week is Cam Davis who’s Rocket Mortgage Classic victory pushed him into the top 50 of the OWGR after the qualifying window was closed.
Fifteen members of the LIV Golf Tour will be in attendance this week, headlined by the likes of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Joaquin Niemann and Cam Smith.
Serigo Garcia is arguably the most notable absence as this week won’t mark his 100th career major. He’ll remain idle at the 99 majors played number until next season.
Brian Harman comes in as the defending champion as he won last year’s 151st playing by six strokes at Royal Liverpool.
Other past winners in this week’s field include Cam Smith (2022,) Collin Morikawa (2021,) Shane Lowry (2019,) Francesco Molinari (2018,) Jordan Spieth (2017,) Stenson (2016,) Zach Johnson (2015,) Phil Mickelson (2012,) Ernie Els (2013 & 2022,) Darren Clarke (2011,) Stewart Cink (2009,) Louis Oosthuizen (2010,) Padraig Harrington (2007 & 2008,) John Daly (1995) and Tiger Woods (2000, 2005 & 2006.)
The Course
Royal Troon Golf Club plays host to the 152nd playing of the Open Championship.
It plays as a par-71 at 7,385 yards and places an importance on accurate ball striking.
Established in 1878, Royal Troon Golf Club holds an extensive history in the game of golf. This playing will mark the tenth time that the venue has hosted the Open Championship since 1923. It routinely hosts this event every ten-years-or-so.
The venue was designed 146 years ago by George Strath and Willie Fernie as a five-hole course. In 1923, James Braid spearheaded the construction of the Old Course which is the same 18-hole layout that is played today.
It received ‘Royal’ status to commemorate its centennial anniversary in 1978.
Royal Troon is your quintessential links course. It checks every box. It sits on the coastline and is exposed to wind and inclement weather conditions.
It features humps and hollows throughout its undulating fairways. This leads to constant uneven lies and unpredictable rollouts.
Royal Troon features the traditional deep pot bunkers that are strategically placed throughout its fairways and around its greens.
Along with the pot bunkers, natural gorse bushes are featured throughout, primarily around the greens.
What sets Royal Troon apart from the rest of the Open courses and other links styles is its unique miniscule greens. The greens are the quarter of the size of those at St. Andrews.
This adds an added emphasis to precise approach play and scrambling. Traditional links play would see an emphasis to lag putting as opposed to scrambling.
Royal Troon is essentially split into three six-hole acts, often referred to as ‘Heaven, Purgatory and Hell.’
The first six holes have been deemed ‘Heaven’ and feature the best opportunities for birdies on the entire golf course. Players will need to get out of the gate hot and play themselves into contention.
This stretch of holes plays downwind and features three par-fours under 400 yards and two scorable par-fives.
The middle six-holes (7-12) is known as ‘Purgatory.’ These holes play into the wind with significant penalties for wayward shots. That comes in the form of run outs into fairway pot bunkers or natural gorse bushes.
The final six holes are known as ‘Hell.’ This is where golfers need to hold on for dear life. A score of even par through these final six holes would be gladly accepted.
Each of these Major host courses, especially for the Open, feature signature holes.
Hole No. 8 here at Royal Troon is known as ‘Postage Stamp’ and features a miniscule green and an elevated tee box. The elevated tee box offers golfers a first-hand showing of the treacherous pot bunkers that surround the tiny green. This hole is a very popular site for triples or worse.
Hole no. 11 is known as ‘The Railway’ and played as the most difficult par-four on the entire PGA Tour in 2016. An out-of-bounds railway runs throughout the right side of the hole and is in play for both off-the-tee and on the approach. Winds often after pushing towards the railway.
Since 2016, the last time this venue hosted the Open Championship, a few changes have been put into place.
Modifications were made to many tee boxes to adapt to modern technology.
Nine new tee boxes were built ahead of this year's edition to add nearly 200 yards to the scorecard.
The most notable change comes to Hole No. 4 which was elongated from a 555-yard par-five to a now 600-yard behemoth of a hole.
Hole No. 17, which was already one of the most daunting par-threes in Major championship golf, was pushed back to 242-yards. It will undoubtedly be a nervy test for contenders down the stretch on Sunday.
The Weather
As with the weather of the United Kingdom, there is a significant chance of precipitation across all four days this week. Thursday and Friday currently calls for a 50-percent chance of precipitation as Saturday and Sunday calls for a 60-percent chance. Winds are set at 13 miles-per-hour across the first three days before jumping to 16 miles-per-hour on Sunday. Temperatures will begin at 64-degrees on Thursday before gradually falling to 60-degrees on Sunday. In all, this is exactly what we can expect for links golf in the UK.
Key Stats
Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)
Ball Striking
Proximity to the Hole from 150-200 Yards
Bogey Avoidance
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Driving Accuracy
Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)
Scrambling
Sand Saves Percentage
Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)
Birdie or Better Percentage
DFS Suggestions
$10,000+
Easy enough, let’s lead off with Scottie Scheffler ($12,800.) Oftentimes we get a slight discount on the most expensive golfers as people look to save a few dollars in constructing their lineup. Do I really have to say anything about Scheffler? He has won six of his last ten tournaments. He has placed top-two or better in eight of them. I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here. He’s the World No. 1 by a large margin. I know the U.S. Open wasn’t his best performance but he followed that up with a victory at the Travelers Championship. He’s tops on Tour in all of SG: APP, ball striking, proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, bogey avoidance and birdie or better percentage. Let’s move on. Next up we have Xander Schauffele ($11,200.) As much as a guarantee as Scheffler is, so it’s Schauffele. He battled to make the cut last week at the Genesis Scottish Open but then turned that into a T15 on the week. He placed second at the Wells Fargo Championship, he won the PGA Championship, placed T8th at the Memorial Tournament, T7th at the U.S. Open and T13th at the Travelers Championship. In 15 events he’s played this season (excluding the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) he has placed top 25 in all of them. He also placed top-ten in 11 of them and top-five in six of them. Schauffele is currently first on Tour in scrambling, second in bogey avoidance, fourth in ball striking, fifth in SG: APP, sixth in birdie or better percentage, tenth in SG: PUTT, 12th in SG: OTT, 34th in SG: ATG, 51st in sand saves percentage, 56th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards and 75th in driving accuracy. Also consider Ludvig Aberg ($10,100.) If you’re looking to save some money at the top of your lineups and get away from the big ownership guys, Aberg is your guy. After what he did last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, his ownership will be lowered because of it. I know he hasn’t shot a final round under-70 since The Masters, but he constantly puts himself into positions to compete and place rather high on Sundays. He leads the Tour in 36-hole scoring average. He’s fresh off a T4th last week and prior to that placed T27th at the Travelers Championship which was one of his worst performances of the season. Prior to that he placed T12th at the U.S. Open and T5th at the Memorial Tournament. He also placed T10th at the RBC Heritage, second at the Masters, eighth at THE PLAYERS Championship, second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and T9th at the Farmers Insurance Open. He has 11 top-25’s in 15 events and seven top-tens. He is also third on Tour in both ball striking and proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, sixth in bogey avoidance, eighth in SG: APP, 14th in both SG: OTT and scrambling, 17th in birdie or better percentage, 56th in sand saves, 57th in driving accuracy and 88th in SG: ATG.
$9,000-$9,900
I’m in love with former the Open Champion Collin Morikawa ($9,900) this week. He is currently second on Tour in driving accuracy, seventh in both proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards and birdie or better percentage, 12th in SG: ATG, 16th in SG: OTT, 17th in bogey avoidance, 27th in scrambling, 39th in SG: APP, 56th in ball striking, 66th in SG: PUTT and 99th in sand saves percentage. He also comes into this week as hot as anyone. He placed T4th last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. He also placed T13th at the Travelers Championship, T14th at the U.S. Open, second at the Memorial Tournament, fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T4th at the PGA Championship, ninth at the RBC Heritage and T3rd at the Masters. I’m playing two units on him at +1600 this week. Also consider Tyrrell Hatton ($9,500.) Hatton has been one of the hottest golfers on the LIV Gold Tour as of late. He placed third last week at Andalucía and won Nashville the event prior. He also placed 18th in Houston, fifth in Singapore, 14th in Adelaide and fourth in Miami. He’s had some good showings in the other Majors this season, placing T9th at the Masters and T26th at the U.S. Open as well. He’s currently second on LIV in putting average, third in total birdies and fifth in scrambling. Also consider Tommy Fleetwood ($9,300.) Fleetwood is currently fifth on Tour in driving accuracy, ninth in both bogey avoidance and scrambling, 23rd in ball striking, 28th in SG: ATG, 45th in sand saves percentage, 47th in SG: OTT, 66th in SG: PUTT, 104th in SG: APP, 126th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards and 132nd in birdie or better percentage. He had a less than ideal showing last week at the Genesis Scottish Open where he finished T34th but prior to that placed 15th at the Travelers Championship, T16th at the U.S. Open, T20th at the Memorial Tournament, T21st at the RBC Canadian Open, T26th at the PGA Championship, T13th at the Wells Fargo Championship, T3rd at the Masters and T7th at the Valero Texas Open.
$8,000-$8,900
This is typically a price range I don’t enjoy but I love all of the options here this week. First up we have Tony Finau ($8,700.) We didn’t see Finau last week in Scotland but he is currently one of the hottest golfers on Tour. He recently placed T5th at the Travelers Championship, T3rd at the U.S. Open, T8th at the Memorial Tournament, T17th at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T18th at the PGA Championship. Finau is currently third on Tour in SG: APP, 11th in birdie or better percentage, 15th in SG: STG, 19th in ball striking, 31st in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 61st in sand saves percentage, 63rd in both bogey avoidance and SG: OTT, 110th in scrambling, 121st in accuracy and 131st in SG: PUTT. We know the putter is what holds Finau back but he gained 2.344 strokes putting at the Travelers, 1.713 at the U.S. Open and 1.710 at the Memorial Tournament. That putter is heading up and with a massive incentive to approach play this week, this could be Finau’s week. I’m also playing a unit on him at +5000 this week. Also consider Hideki Matsuyama ($8,500.) Many of us have short-term memory when it comes to golf DFS and betting and that will help Matsuyama’s ownership number this week. He missed the cut last week in Scotland but prior to that placed T23rd at the Travelers Championship, sixth at the U.S. Open and T8th at the Memorial Tournament. He also placed T7th at the Valero Texas Open, T6th at THE PLAYERS Championship, T12th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and won the Genesis Invitational earlier this season. Matsuyama is currently first on Tour in SG: ATG, second in scrambling, 12th in bogey avoidance, 15th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 27th in sand saves percentage, 31st in SG: APP, 39th in SG: OTT, 78th in birdie or better percentage, 101st in driving accuracy, 121st in ball striking and 136th in SG: PUTT. The putter is what holds Matsuyama back but with these tiny greens and an added emphasis to approach play, I’m not concerned as when Matsuyama is on, there really is no need for a putter as he placed the ball next to the hole. Also consider Cameron Smith ($8,900.) The 2022 Open Champion offers some great value this week. He started the LIV season pretty poor but has been much better as of late. He placed sixth last week in Andalucía and ninth in Nashville. He also placed second in Singapore and second in Hong Kong. He is currently the best putter on the LIV Golf Tour, which we know is his strong suit.
$7,000-$7,900
We’ll start this price range all the way at the bottom with Akshay Bhatia ($7,000.) Bhatia is currently 17th on Tour in SG: APP, 27th in SG: PUTT, 30th in driving accuracy, 33rd in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 38th in ball striking, 40th in SG: OTT, 46th in birdie or better percentage, 53rd in both bogey avoidance and scrambling, 101st in sand saves percentage and 113th in SG: ATG. Bhatia also didn’t play in Scotland but prior to that he placed T2nd at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, T5th at the Travelers Championship, T16th at the U.S. Open and T22nd at the Memorial Tournament. Also consider Sahith Theegala ($7,200.) The value is too great here so be cautious of his ownership number. He is currently 23rd on Tour in SG: OTT, 25th in SG: PUTT, 28th in SG: APP, 34th in birdie or better percentage, 37th in ball striking, 38th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 56th in bogey avoidance, 64th in scrambling, 104th in driving accuracy, 105th in sand saves percentage and 118th in SG: ATG. He had a strong showing last week at the Genesis Scottish Open as he finished T4th. Beyond that, his recent form is highlighted by a T12th at both the Memorial Tournament and PGA Championship. I’m playing a unit on Theegala at +5000. Also consider Corey Conners ($7,300.) Conners is currently fourth on Tour in SG: APP, seventh in ball striking, 27th in SG: OTT, 31st in birdie or better percentage, 34th in driving accuracy, 36th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 65th in bogey avoidance, 95th in SG: ATG, 97th in sand saves percentage, 132nd in SG: PUTT and 147th in scrambling. Conners also had a great showing last week in Scotland where he placed T10th. He also recently placed T27th at the Travelers Championship, T9th at the U.S. Open, T20th at the Memorial Tournament, sixth at the RBC Canadian Open, T26th at the PGA Championship and T13th at the Wells Fargo Championship. I’m also playing a unit on him at +8000 this week.
$6,000-$6,900
Leading off this price range is the cut merchant Si Woo Kim ($6,800.) The most important aspect of DFS is getting a six-for-six lineup across the cut line. Getting someone so sure in making the cut in this price range is a blessing. Kim has missed the cut just once (PGA Championship) this season in 19 events. He also placed T26th last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. Kim is currently 13th on Tour in all three of SG: APP, driving accuracy and scrambling, 16th in bogey avoidance, 24th in SG: OTT, 31st in SG ATG, 40th in sand saves percentage, 51st in ball striking, 52nd in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 69th in birdie or better percentage and 150th in SG: PUTT. Kim consistently makes the cut while being one of the worst putters on Tour and routinely losing strokes on the greens. In the event he is to have a solid putting week, he’ll sky rocket up leaderboards. Either way, he’s a sure thing to make the cut without the putter. Also consider Davis Thompson ($6,900.) Thompson made the cut last week in Scotland which is promising for his first professional event outside of North America. Prior to the Genesis Scottish Open however, he won the John Deere Classic, placed T2nd at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and placed T9th at the U.S. Open. Thompson is currently third on Tour in SG: ATG, 11th in ball striking, 13th in birdie or better percentage, 21st in bogey avoidance, 30th in sand saves percentage, 41st in SG: APP, 54th in SG: OTT, 68th in SG: PUTT, 70th in scrambling, 82nd in driving accuracy and 112th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards. Also consider Tom Hoge ($6,400.) I know Hoge missed the cut last week in Scotland but when highlighting a course that requires elite approach play, we have to include him. He also placed T3rd recently at the Travelers Championship. Hoge is currently second on Tour in SG: APP, fourth in birdie or better percentage, 20th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 47th in bogey avoidance, 64th in driving accuracy, 65th in SG: PUTT, 82nd in ball striking, 84th in scrambling, 99th in SG: OTT, 107th in sand saves percentage and 151st in SG: ATG. The around-the-green number is worrisome but we can hope his elite approach play gets him across the cut line.
$5,900-
First up in this price range we have Rikuya Hoshino ($5,800.) Hoshino just barely missed the cut last week in Scotland. Prior to that he placed T6th at the BMW International Open, T29th at the Italian Open and T10th at the KLM Open. He’s currently 14th on the DP World Tour in SG: APP, 29th in both SG: ATG and driving accuracy, 32nd in sand saves percentage and 54th in SG: OTT. Also consider Ben Griffin ($5,900.) Griffin placed T39th last week in Scotland and prior to that placed T5th at the John Deere Classic. Griffin is currently seventh on Tour in bogey avoidance, 11th in scrambling, 38th in SG: PUTT, 41st in birdie or better percentage, 42nd in SG: ATG, 60th in SG: APP, 70th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 107th in sand saves percentage, 120th in SG: OTT, 122nd in ball striking and 143rd in driving accuracy. Also consider Jesper Svensson ($5,300.) Svensson placed T34th last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. He won the Porsche Singapore Classic earlier this season and placed T17th at the Volvo China Open and T25th at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed as well. On the DP World Tour he is currently 41st in SG: PUTT, 48th in SG: OTT, 57th in sand saves percentage, 67th in SG: ATG and 69th in SG: APP.
Betting Card
Collin Morikawa (+1600) - 2u
Tony Finau (+5000) - 1u
Sahith Theegala (+5000) - 1u
Tom Kim (+5000) - 1u
Corey Conners (+8000) - 1u
Alex Noren (+13000) - 1u
Tom Kim (+5000)
Kim played links courses extremely well. He placed T15th last week at the Genesis Scottish Open and placed T6th there in 2023 and third in 2022. He also placed T2nd at the Open Championship last season. Kim is currently 22nd on Tour in driving accuracy, 30th in birdie or better percentage, 34th in ball striking, 60th in SG: OTT, 63rd in SG: APP, 72nd in SG: ATG, 80th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards, 84th in sand saves percentage, 98th in SG: PUTT, 106th in scrambling and 117th in bogey avoidance.
Alex Noren (+13000)
Noren is fresh off a T10th at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open after coming into the week on the back of back-to-back missed cuts. Noren is currently third on Tour in scrambling, fourth in bogey avoidance, sixth in SG: ATG, 15th in sand saves percentage, 36th in driving accuracy, 40th in ball striking, 43rd in SG: APP, 62nd in SG: OTT, 69th in SG: PUTT, 103rd in birdie or better percentage and 146th in proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards.
Comentarios