British Open 2015: The Top 10 Storylines Heading into St. Andrews
The 2015 British Open will not lack for star power.
In fact, no fewer than 18 former champions aged 60 or under will be in the field when play gets under way at St. Andrews on Thursday, as will 10 of the top 11 finishers from the 2014 event at Royal Liverpool.
Nevertheless, the most notable absence will be a glaring one.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy sustained what turned out to be a serious left ankle injury while playing soccer with friends on July 4, and subsequently announced four days later that he'd not be making the trip to compete for the fifth major title of his career.
The news quickly redirected the golf world away from pondering a 72-hole shootout between 20-somethings McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, and toward contemplation on just how long the Northern Irishman would be on the shelf and what long-term impact, if any, the malady would have.
But even without Rory, there's still a tournament to play.
And a whole lot of reasons to pay attention.
With that in mind, here are 10 top storylines heading into St. Andrews.
10. ESPN Plays out the String
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The ESPN family's relationship with the British Open began way back in 1962, when its now sibling under the Walt Disney umbrella—ABC—broadcast taped highlights on its "Wide World of Sports" program.
ESPN eventually acquired early-round cable rights before becoming the exclusive live broadcaster of the event in 2009, as ABC’s role shifted to showing highlights.
But after this year at St. Andrews, the countdown clock will officially get to ticking.
NBC announced in June that it had come to a 12-year agreement to carry the tournament beginning in 2017, a deal that will cost upward of $50 million annually. The event often presents a viewership challenge in the U.S., because play begins in the morning hours in the North American time zones.
Nielsen said the final round of the 2014 tournament drew 3.3 million viewers, compared to 4.6 million for the U.S. Open, 8.3 million for the PGA Championship and 11.1 million for the Masters.
An ESPN statement said, "We look forward to televising the Open Championships and other R&A championships this year and next year and wish them the best in the future."
9. Is the World About to Discover Tommy Fleetwood?
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If you were watching Sunday play at the Scottish Open, you might have heard the statistic.
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, the 47th-ranked player in the world, not only shares the course record at St. Andrews—site of the 2015 British Open—but over the last eight rounds he's played there, he's 41 shots under par. Yes, that's 41 shots under par.
The 24-year-old returns to the course after shooting a 10-under 62 on the way to a runner-up finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship nine months ago, and he has a genuine dark-horse chance to add a major bullet point to a comparatively modest professional resume that includes wins at the 2011 Kazakhstan Open (Challenge Tour) and the 2013 Johnnie Walker Championship (European Tour).
The British Open is often a breakout stage for previously anonymous players on the world scene, so, if he's contending for a jug on Sunday, remember where you heard it first.
8. Can Adam Scott Crash the Party?
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Adam Scott knows all about contending at the British Open.
In 2006, he tied for eighth. In 2013, he tied for third. In 2014, he tied for fifth.
And as for 2012, let's not even go there.
Scott had a four-shot lead with four holes to go but finished with four consecutive bogeys and lost the Claret Jug to Ernie Els. The hangover was eased by a win at the Masters the following spring, and there's momentum heading into this week's British return after a tie for fourth at last month's U.S. Open.
Caddie Steve Williams, who had the bag for Scott's win at Augusta and for 13 of Tiger Woods' majors, came out of retirement to return at Chambers Bay and will be at St. Andrews with Scott as well.
Scott finished tied for fourth at the U.S. Open with the help of Williams' return. In addition to the Masters win, he and Scott managed 12 additional top-15 results before parting ways.
"Hopefully," Scott told the Herald Sun, "the old spark lights up again. I am just trying to get something going."
7. Will St. Andrews Be, Well...St. Andrews?
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The images of St. Andrews are memorable to U.S. golf viewers.
Long rough. Windswept fairways. Bunkers large enough to swallow a home.
But in the estimation of one Tiger Woods, the 2015 incarnation is shocking.
"I had seen photos of it a month ago," the 14-time major winner told ESPN.com. "It was bone dry. It looked like it was going to be one of those dust bowls again; hard, fast, like the years I've played St. Andrews. It's changed. They got big rain and a lot of sun. It's totally changed."
Woods won the British at St. Andrews in 2000 while shooting all four rounds in the 60s and not hitting a single bunker for the entire tournament. He won there again in 2005.
"I'm going to have to do a little bit of feel around the greens, my putting," he said. "I wasn't expecting the firmness to be that soft. We made ball marks on the greens. I don't ever remember making ball marks around this place. It's not going to get any faster. It'll be on the softer side for an Open."
6. Farewell, Old Tom
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Tom Watson didn't try to lessen the impact.
"My time is over," he said, per CNN, referring to an imminent swan song from British Open competition.
"It's like a death, in a sense."
Watson won his first Claret Jug 40 years ago and went on to win four more through 1983. He's not been a top-10 contender at the British in more than half a decade but will play this time around thanks to a special allowance from the tournament's higher-ups.
"The finality of it will, you know, probably make me cry," Watson said. "I don't know what's going to happen yet, but I know that my friends and family, Hillary and my son will be caddying for me.
"It will be wonderful to be able to walk that last walk with my son and meet Hillary at the green. That will be a special time for me."
5. Can Lefty Finish a Six-Pack?
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If competitive sentiment is a precursor for 2015 success, Phil Mickelson's got a real shot.
The five-time major winner was foiled in an attempt to finish off a career Grand Slam last month at the U.S. Open, but he returned to Scotland this month for a special tour of Muirfield—site of his win at the 2013 British Open and maybe a source of positive mojo heading toward St. Andrews.
"We spent an hour and a half on a golf course where there wasn't a soul, and reminisced about what took place there," Mickelson told the assembled media on Sunday, after finishing a Scottish Open tune-up with a two-under par 68. "Two years removed from that win, I still can't believe how much it means to me."
Mickelson has been across the board in his last six events coming in, pairing top-fives at the Masters, the Wells Fargo Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Classic with a missed cut at the Players Championship and ties for 65th and 64th, respectively, at the Memorial and the U.S. Open.
He wouldn't be the oldest British champion ever, but, at 45 years, two months and three days, he'd be close. Old Tom Morris was 46 years, 102 days old when he won the event in 1867.
4. Will DJ Bounce Back from Chambers Bay?
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Greg Norman had a terrific professional career, was a major champion and made enough money to allow multiple generations of the family to live without a care. But he'll always be remembered for anguish.
As the British Open approaches, Dustin Johnson knows how the Shark feels.
The burly American was a 12-foot putt away from winning the U.S. Open last month, and a four-foot putt away from forcing an 18-hole playoff with Jordan Spieth. But when he three-putted the 18th green at Chambers Bay on the final day, he took a dangerous turn toward a negative career connotation.
It wasn't the first near miss for a guy who'd previously come close at the British and the PGA, and, to hear those close to him tell it, it won't be a permanent obstacle to finally breaking through either.
"He looks at all those collectively as, 'I'm good in majors, I know how to play them, I put myself in position to contend,'" David Winkle, who's represented Johnson since 2007, told PGA.com. "With every one of those, he's more confident he can contend, and win. It's a process, learning how to prepare and play majors golf, and he's getting better and better.
"He's the most resilient I've ever known. Back at the house, he was the least outwardly gloomy one there. He has such a healthy perspective on life. It's not, 'Am I ever going to win a major?' I think he'll win more than one."
3. Can Tiger Turn Back the Clock?
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Face it, folks. This one's about permanent.
Until Tiger Woods either (a) breaks his multi-year drought and wins a 15th major or (b) announces his retirement from competitive golf, any preview of any major championship is going to weigh in on whether this will be the week the magic finally reappears.
So, will this be the week at St. Andrews?
Probably not. But maybe.
After all, the now 39-year-old has won there twice and claimed to have been "shocked" in a recent practice round to find the greens forgiving, rather than their typical treacherous state.
But then again, while it's been seven years since he won, it's been barely a month since he shot a third-round 85 while finishing last at the Memorial, and even less than that since he opened with an 80 en route to missing the cut at the U.S. Open—in conditions many liken to those found at the British.
The line-makers at Odds Shark appear to be leaning toward magic, considering Woods—though he's ranked 241st in the world—is positioned as the seventh-best betting proposition at 20-1.
2. The Champ Is Here...Not!
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We already spoiled this one in the intro, but, in case you've been residing under a golf-free rock for the last week or so, here's the bad news.
Rory McIlroy's not playing the British Open.
The 26-year-old ruptured a ligament in his left ankle playing pickup soccer on July 4, had surgery to repair the damage and probably won't be competing for majors for at least the foreseeable future.
Upon suffering the injury, McIlroy reportedly sought the counsel of another high-profile major winner who knows a thing or two about getting hurt and coming back (or at least trying to).
"He picked my brain a little bit. We had a good talk," Tiger Woods told ESPN.com. "He's doing the right thing, taking care of his body first before he gets back out here. No doubt, he's frustrated that he's not going to be able to play in the Open Championship, especially here at St. Andrews. And how well he's been playing of late, and this golf course really does set up well for him, too.
"That's the way it goes. We all get injured at one point in time. Sometimes it's through the sport or sometimes it's through fun activities. You just never know."
1. Will Jordan's Slam Quest Continue?
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So Rory's out and Tiger's not what he used to be.
But if you think that means a British Open bereft of a top-shelf storyline, think again.
In reality, the 2015 championship is being framed going in—and will be remembered going out—by a single query: Will Jordan Spieth add the third piece of the Grand Slam?
The 21-year-old Texan has copped the first two trophies of the year in wildly different manners.
He was a wire-to-wire dominator before slipping on the green jacket at Augusta in April, then he watched Dustin Johnson go from leader to co-leader to runner-up on a single harrowing green at the U.S. Open last month. His challenge at the British is daunting enough given the depth of the field and the severity of the conditions, not to mention the constant questions focused on an exceedingly rare historic quest.
He's just the sixth golfer in history to win the first two slices of the Grand Slam pie, and the first to do it since Woods in 2002. Only Ben Hogan, in 1953, added the British after winning the first two.
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