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4 days of Live coverage of The Open, 2017 on Sky Sports.

Sky Sports will be transmitting live starting at 0630 on Thursday morning.

Tee-Times for Day One are;


https://www.theopen.com/TeeTimes#!/R1

Augusta National it is not.

Who have you backed?

Here's my nine, which will confirm my skills as the pre-eminent Golf Tipster on blonde.

Noren

Leishmann

Grace

Oosthuizen

Kuchar

Spieth

Rahm

Chappell

Fowler

Filthy weather, exactly as it should be for The Open.

Mark O'Meara had the honour of teeing off in the first group, and promptly hoiked it out of bounds. Playing 3 off the tee he then plonked it in a pot bunker right against the face.

He ended with an 8, and the three ball at this par 4 ended an aggregate 6 over.

Lets Go Sandy Lets Go

anyone listening to 5 live?

Poulter is going well and they have his son commentating on the round with the guys following the group (conor macnamara etc)

very nice stuff.

"go on,yes, he's made it!"

No, not a big fan of 5 Live, or golf on the wireless.

Pleased Poults is going well though. It's the Wenger effect.

Jordan Spieth
Alex Noren
Marc Leishman
Branden Grace
Brian Harman

Rahm from ages ago, courtesy of Doobs.


Best of luck everyone!

You too Marky.

19 years ago that Justin Rose finished 4th here as an amateur.  19.

I don't know about 5live, but The Open on Sky feels uncomfortable.  Like when one of your mates wears a basball cap the wrong way round, or when some crazy old fella puts on a bizarre multi-patterned jacket and asks how do I look?

There was a Spieth putt ealier where one of the commentators said "he doesn't miss from here", and I found myself celebrating when Spieth missed.  Next they'll be showing test matches on there.  bah humbug.  Maybe I'll get used to it by Sunday.

Anyone else put the BBC on this morning and took 5 minutes to work out why it wasn't on yet?  Just me then.

Tikay, my list is like yours, except missing Spieth, Kuchar and Grace, add in Poults.  Rahm is the best result.

Think we move in the same circles.

Rahm wasn't mine, it was Rinswun who picked him out.  I was an early fan of Spieth.  

Oops!

Sorry rinswun.

No worries, hopefully we'll all be eating the value had come Sunday. Speith is a scoring machine. Unconventional approach to getting the job done (only hit five fairways) but as my old cricket coach used to say, the scorebook doesn't know how you got 'em.

Anywhere I can bet on the 3 balls in running?

Spreadex have some:

https://www.spreadex.com/sports/en-GB/spread-betting/Golf/c27

The ~£3 I usually have on Kevin Na in these majors @600+ is always great value just for the invariable roller-coaster ride and his ever-furious anti-railers.

All in all great craic - and you never know he might actually win one someday as he is a very talented golfer.


PS.

Richard Boxall Sky commentator/pundit/analyst: Discuss

I think he is truly dire and adds absolutely zilch to the coverage.

Enough.

Not sure what drives you to aftertime a semi ok bet, that you never mentioned, at all, before the event?  No one cares. Yet you make no mention of the two plums you put up on TFT. Do you want our congrats?  :dontask:

Followed ppl in on Poulter

I keep backing Casey. One of these majors....

Did Fleetwood on the back of his recent form & home turf. That's working out well.

he's personable enough and not at all conceited imo.  Mark Roe on the other hand......

To be fair, he isn't the only one on Oosthuizen.  Lucky some luckbox put up Poulter to save us.

They really should be renaming ;bigadz;  Ralph took the baton months ago.

Boxy is entertaining but his knowledge is pretty poor for a guy working on the Tour for a living! Roe is horrendous.

Interested to see what Bones is like on course.

I've spoken of my love for Kevin Na's golf game so many times previously and hardly thought another daft couple of quid was worth a mention.

Do you remember when you used to claim that you lumped on every one of Chapman's winners on the following Monday?

For the record - I always have a daft couple of quid on Kevin Na in big tourneys at huge prices.

Adz you appear to be one bitter and twisted individual judging by your response on here - I hope that is not the case and you simply over-react in print as it's such a trivial matter.

How's the course at Arbdale playing so far anyway?   ;ifm;

Bitter? Why? I havent posted a couple of losers and disassociated myself from them and then tell the world about another bet to try and make myself look less stupid. As mentioned elsewhere, you have easily surpassed any aftertiming done by anyone else, at any stage. As recognized by others less "bitter"......

Twisted, yeah probably, but f all to do with your posts ;)


As for Boxy, he always has an amusing anecdote to tell, and like everyone else has said, Mark Roe, far worse.

Ty Longines

Yes, it's nip & tuck between yours & mine.

No idea how I missed Poults, I back him in every Major. Adzy tipped him up at 90/1 iirc, & somehow Tighty was AWOL that day & so Fred missed him too.

Anyway, I'm happy enough with what I have.

I'm not at all sure about the tie.

If it were done up properly (& I understand why it is knot....), maybe, but loose like that looks a tad scruffy to me. Not Beef Johnston scruffy, but scruffy enough.

Full marks for trying though.

Thought the coverage on Sky was much better than I feared, & was pretty good overall. Obviously, Alliss & Brown would be the icing on the cake, but that apart it was pretty good I thought, even Jenny Woodentop was better. She was wearing a proper golf windcheater & looked the part, but then, inexplicably, she reverted to type & donned a cocktail dress & high heels, ugh.

Wayne Riley is excellent, as are both Butch & Claude Harmon, imo.

Some livewires, some duds......

Noren, who Tighty tipped up in Road to Riches, would be my best result.


Noren -2, T11th

Leishmann -1, T24th

Grace E, T35th

Oosthuizen +8, T150th

Kuchar -5, T1

Spieth -5, T1

Rahm -1, T24th

Chappell +3, T86th

Fowler +1, T52nd

you have 66-1 on Kuchar

always there or thereabouts and might have ok conditions today too

Oh yeah, so I do.

It's amazing how I pick 'em. And how you know......

 :D :D

who put up Kuchar?  I normally go nuts on everyone's picks but missed him. 

Edit.  The weather forecast was showing a blip, which has now disappeared.   Please ignore

Cracking scoring in the conditions by Kuchar.

And look how well Ooshuizen has moved up the leaderboard.  He gets 2 under he could make the cut the way things are going...

Of my 9 selections, 5 now have no realistic chance, leaving Fowler who is 8 off the lead, Noren 6 off the lead, plus Kuchar (2nd) & Spieth currently leading.

Have to say, when Spieth is on his game he is imperious. 

Hoping for strong runs from Noren & Kuchar today.   



Noren E, T10th

Leishmann +5, T61st

Grace +4, T45th

Oosthuizen +12, Missed Cut

Kuchar -4, 2nd

Spieth -6, 1st

Rahm +3, T35th

Chappell +8, Missed Cut

Fowler +2, T24th

I'm quite an easy man to please.

I just want Spieth to tear them apart.

NO BOKKING

Bit late for that.

I've been on since the start :D

Considering he had the worst of the weather, what a tenacious effort by Poulter yesterday.

He did spray it around a bit, but somehow, hole after hole, he managed to get up & down to save par.

Sadly, I'm not on him at fancy prices - or any prices - but I'd feel more comfy if I were, he's been, to my eye, mightily impressive so far.

Those that got on - which I know included Doobs & Adzy - the VBOL today & tomorrow, that's a cracking 90/1 sweat.  

That's that then!!!

Jordy must now be wondering where it will go wrong. ;)

you follow up the no bokking warning with this?   :(

Did you see that Spieth celebration from the Travelers I put on your blog?  We watched it at the Golden Nugget and had no idea what was going on.

Good luck with your bets; I would take Kuchar and Spieth over Poulter.

A deliberate bok methinks. :D :D :D

I know a couple of us went in again after Fred pushed him out to 100-1 too.

Fingers crossed, but I fear the damage above may be our undoing. ;surrender; ;D

Not bad

Some round, that.

Wasn't expecting to have any interest with that bet.

This morning I wrote him off as "no realistic chance".

Be interesting to see how low the leaders can shoot this afternoon. The course is there for the taking today.

Some round that from Spieth.

Today pretty much summed Poulter up. He still thinks he's a world beater where in reality he was off pretty much the rest of the field today.
As for Rory, he needs to find some consistency fast

With a win today Jordan Spieth would become 1st player in golf history with 10 PGA Tour wins including 3 majors before age 24.

Bloody Nora, just when I thought the Sky coverage was really quite good, guess who is commentating?

 I'm sure you can cope, given you're odds on to land the forecast ;)

Having backed 9 of the field, I was rather hoping to land the tricast, never mind forecast.

The boy Austin Connolly who looks about 12 years old, & weighs bugger all, looks to have quite a future. Not only consummate ability, but an ice cool temperament, too.

He fluked an eagle at a par 4 yesterday, holing out from 150 yards or whatever, & instead of all the usual hooting, hollering & high-fiving we usually see, he just carried on with his game. When they hole out from so far, it's mostly luck, rather like a fluke in snooker, & it's ridic that the gallery at Golf & the audience at Snooker applaud these things & pee their pants with excitement. The players seem to lap it up, but Austin was having none of it.

What a life lies ahead for the kid on the Golf Tour. Good luck to him.

Think I'd back him for a few majors if the prices were right.

Ha!

As for Connelly. I'm sure I read that he's quite friendly with Spieth, so definitely mixing in the right circles.

Jeez, as if Monty were not enough, not we have Jenny Woodentop on screen in full frumpy apparel.

Yup, big mates with The Spieth, and they have the same swing coach.

They're both a bit young to be hitting the Green Door...

I saw him interviewed on Sky, and he referred specifically to this.  Apparently he said to his caddy "that didn't happen", so he could concentrate on the next hole.  Seems like a smart lad... 

Unfortunately he followed up by with a bogey.

No dangers here Tikay.  Start counting your money ;whistle;

 ;djinn;

At least I've livened the afternoon up.

King Bok is in fine form.

Now Jordan lips out and it's all square.

Just keeping it interesting  ;scarymoment;

Then they both hit terrible tee shots at the next. The 21 year old Chinese chap - who seems a lovely lad, and is leader in the house, must be starting to fancy his chances. The bookies will certainly be rooting for him.

Now this is getting exciting. Lad in the clubhouse sitting happy here

Yup, Mr Li is loving all this.

Not sure I've ever seen an unplayable lie situation like this. He's marched past the equipment trucks, the driving range, all sorts.

Wayne Riley was asked how far to the green. He said "no idea, but it's 127 yards back to the fairway".

Amazing stuff. Looks like he is going to drop it between two lorries.

Now Rory has joined the party, and can get to -6. Be the most amazing thing ever if Rory won this.

How did Spieth get a 5 there after all that palaver?

Even so, he started the day 3 ahead and long odds on, and is now a shot behind.

Make that all square.

Make that a shot ahead.

Jordan put a cape on behind the trucks? Amazing competitive spirit to go 2-3-3 after that 35 minute hole

Just went to see if there was a golf forum on Betfair, and boy is there.

Scenes over there, after the events of the afternoon :D

Well done to Matt southgate. Used to play with him regularly many years ago at Thorpe hall. shame I quit golf!

congrats lads

Would have been a great tournament, even if Kuchar had won.

Well done everyone that got weighed in.

(Even Tikay ;))

I never thought i'd ever be describing the sound of Monty's commentary as "dulcet tones" but when he took Darren Clarke's spot in the booth that's what my ears told me.

Astonishing.

Fantastic Open.

At about 3.30 on Saturday it looked like we were in for a hell of a Sunday with all the big boys gathering.

It wasn't to be, and Sunday looked like being a cakewalk for Jordy. However, it produced some real theatre from th very first hole.

I thought both players handled themselves superbly, and Gee Golly, I hope Kooch wins something nice this year.

Also Jordys speech at the end was a tribute to himself and the sport.

The whole thing was wonderful, wasn't it?

And in the heat of the moment at the 13th, I had plum forgotten that Spieth had imploded at The Masters last year (?), & it would most certainly have been at the front of his mind "oh no, not again".

Under that pressure, to somehow scramble a 5 there (including his penalty stroke), then go Birdie, Eagle, Birdie, Birdie is simply astonishing.

I felt very sorry for Kuchar, but was sort of left with the impression that maybe he'll be a Nap to finish in Top Tens in these things but does not quite have the game or heart to win one. I'm not sure though, as in many ways, at so many holes yesterday, Jordan seemed to get lucky, & Matt seemed to run bad.

Mr Channing said in his Betting Emporium piece - if I recall correctly - that he was wary of backing Kuchar as he "smiled too much". When I read that, it felt a little harsh to me, but with hindsight, I think I get it now. When things go wrong for Kooch, he still smiles, whereas when they go wrong for Spieth, he gets stuck in  & turns the dial up.

The whole thing was wonderful theatre.   

What a comeback by Rory, too. If he had not dropped 6 (?) shots on the front 9 on Thursday......


The little boy Connelly, the Chinese chap, Mr Li, so many stories.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

And having spent all day watching it "live" on Sky, I then did the same as, according to Twitter, Uncle Ralph, & watched the highlights on BBC.

We got to see some sexy trucks, too.

Channing should have no qualms about backing him, the cutn never smiles at all.

Was a little surprised to read that the US PGA (in 3 weeks time) will NOT be on Sky, but will be on BBC.

It seems the PGA & Sky had a bit of a standoff during routine contract negotiations, and the PGA took their ball away & gave it to the BBC.

This could also imperil Masters coverage next Spring.

Welcome back Peter & Ken, bye for now Jenny Woodentop. 

First few times I read that, I thought you were referring to Mr Channing......

As to Connelly, yes, I get your drift. He's just a boy though, 20, 21 I think. At that age, they very often take things very seriously & have yet to learn the value of smiling. I don't think it is because his head is up his arse.

Worth bearing in mind, too, it was his first ever Major. Do well in that (hello, Justin Rose) & it could change his life forever, big time.

I think I read somewhere that Sky are losing all of the American golf next season.

It'll probably be on BT sport presented by Michael Owen and Andy Townsend.

I think they wanted a bigger audience...

Jesus. Thought I'd heard the last of the Bagshot Bigot.

Lovely course Old Thorns.

I shall be spending my 50th there next Jan, with a goodly crew.

Hoping the BB is in town. ;)

If Spieth hadn't found his ball on the 13th, what would his options have been?

Go back to the tee - stroke and distance penalty - no other option.

So the geezer who found his ball pretty much saved him the tournament?

Minimum double bogey pretty much, with his head all over the place.

BT make move to take The Masters from Sky

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2017/07/25/bt-make-move-take-masters-sky/

Spieth's final round annotated by the man himself with nice "we guessed" footnote.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFkVz8LXYAAE7nK.jpg)

the economist analyses...

The data suggest that boom-or-bust play is, in fact, a better way to win at golf

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2017/07/risk-aversion-golf?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/jordanspiethsopenvictoryillustratestheperilsofplayingitsafe

er, Kucccchhhhh

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFmYYaaXcAAqSLR.jpg)

Got to be a troll surely.

Doubt it's a troll - he's from Devon.

Sidmouth, gonna be at least 94.....