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Those of us who were there at St Andrews on Sunday 17 July 2022 witnessed probably the best back nine in championship history. Cameron Smith’s five consecutive birdies from holes 10 to 14 dealt a devastating blow which leader Rory Mcilroy could not withstand. The vocal, partisan galleries roaring and willing him to bring it home, were silenced by the sheer brilliance that Cameron displayed.

Not that Rory played badly, at all. He had two birdies and pars, but he needed to progress the four shot lead he held at the start of the final round and play more aggressively.

“It’s really easy to get defensive out there and keep hitting it to 60 or 70 feet. You can make pars all day but you’re not going to make birdies” he said. He didn’t fail to get it done, he was just overtaken by somebody doing something phenomenal. He didn’t take advantage of the most birdiable holes, 12, 14 and 18. He said that things had not gone his way ad he needed to be a touch more aggressive going into the greens. He said that he was a much better player than he was even a year ago. His driving seemed to be even better and he is a wonderful driver of the ball and all week. His putting was good, it just went cold on Sunday.

Rory has had top 10 finishes in all four majors this year and never seemed to have played better. However, it’s a long wait now, another 8 months before he gets another attempt to win the Masters. “I’m disappointed but I got beaten by a better player” he said “I needed to respond to what Cameron was doing. But this year is going well and there will be other championships, other chances”.

“This is the biggest Open of our lifetime” he said. And indeed, against the background of what is going on in mens professional golf, it did seem to be a loud crescendo of all that had gone before, that everything had led to this.

I saw Cameron’s disgust with his Saturday round of 73 and thought then, he really wants this – there was a caring about what he was doing, and thought then if that’s his bad round out of the way, then he will be dangerous tomorrow. Indeed his strategy was to “make a ton of birdies and attack the round”

And attack he did. On the 10^th his drive of 345 yard reached the fringe of the green, he chipped to 2 feet to make a birdie. On 11 his tee shot left a 16 foot putt which he holed for birdie. On the 12^th his drive found the edge of the green. He putted to 11 foot from the pin and holed the putt. On 13 he found the fairway, got his approach on the green where he had double bogeyed on Saturday, and sank an 18 foot putt. The difficult 14^thhole saw him hit a 315 yard drive to the left of the fairway, clear the green with his second shot where he chipped to 5 foot and birdied.

It was remorseless.

On the Road Hole he left his tee shot in a bunker and was careful on his approach, he took his putter from off the green to set up a par putt, the only time he really played defensively all day. By the 18^th tee he was grinning as he was about to come home with a -20 score better than Tiger’s winning score in 2000.

“I had so much fun out there, I felt really comfortable. The pressure was there but I love feeling uncomfortable too”

His driving seemed to be the key to the strategy, he has improved his work ethic to spending many more hours on the range. Going forward he said he was enthusiastic about the Presidents Cup and the Tour Championship.

Although Cameron batted away a reporter’s direct question about his possible plans to join LIV he did not confirm or deny – he just said “I’ve just won The Open and you’re asking me that?”

“This one’s for Oz” said Cameron on being handed the claret jug, he follows his fellow Australian Kel Nagel, who won the Centenary Open in 1960. Double Open Champion Greg Norman, who was not invited to St Andrews, was jubilant “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy” he screamed on his social media. All the more jubilant because persistent rumours about Cameron joining the LIV Tour will not go away. And Rory has been the most vocal defender of the PGA and DP World Tours. The next few weeks will see which way our new Open Champion jumps – hopefully he will take time out to have his first visit back to Australia in three years and do some serious thinking down there.

What a day. This is The Open that keeps on giving. There’s something in the air here, and now Rory McIlroy, who has been the defender of traditional golf, is tied for the lead going in to the final day. Perhaps he is on a mission. And not just a personal one. Although it has been a frustrating eight years since he last won a major and he was unable to play at the St Andrews Open of 2015, so there’s unfinished business, there may well be something else motivating him, to be a champion not associated with the new LIV tour.

Rory has seemed calm and serene all week. Even playing amongst a wall of partisan support willing him on he seems to be in control.  His near miss at The Masters this year seems to have re-energised his self belief, and golf seems to be fun again. He says that he thinks he is a much better player than he was 12 months ago and it shows.

His long lag putting seemed to be excellent and his magical holing of the bunker shot on hole 10 yesterday ignited the whole round. His ball striking seemed to be pure and even when he overshot the green on 17 his calm recovery for a bogey shows how even keeled he is mentally.

The crowd were with him, sweeping him along but he didn’t seem to be shaken out of what he called “his own little world”. There are a lot of vocal Americans here this week too sometimes shouting out bewildering things like “light the candle” or “mashed potatoes”. Do What? The home noise should drown that out on Sunday. The Rory Roar as we now know it. With 16 top 10s in the majors since 2015 he is the most in form player in the majors and he holds the course record, 63, at St Andrews from the 2010 Open. 

Viktor Hovland matched him shot for shot as they both carded 66s and his own round was incredible. 4 birdies in a row from the 3^rd hole he also took advantage of the easier par 4s and the par 5s. He’s had a run of average performances and no top 10 in a major yet, but he is only 24. 

It was slightly shocking to see Cameron Smith not being able to capitalise on any opportunity in his round. He looked rather shell shocked when he came off the final green. Perhaps he has got his bad round out of the way and definitely he looks to be the most dangerous of the hunting pack. Hovland and McIlroy stand tied at -16 four shots clear of Cameron Smith and Cameron Young with Siu Wu Kim and Scottie Scheffler a further shot back.

This magnificent afternoon has set up the final day for a spectacular duel.  Let’s hope we get it. There has been an electric atmosphere amongst the galleries. The wind wasn’t a factor, making the tricky pin positions less dangerous than they could have been.

What has been noticeable this week is that Rory seems to have been much more businesslike, not a lot of engagement from him and his playing partners – apart from the deeply respectful tip of the cap to Tiger Woods as he came down the 18^th fairway on Friday as Rory was heading out. 

One day more, one more dawn, one day more Rory. The Golfing Gods would say you’ve waited long enough.

I mentioned to the man from the Hindustani Times yesterday that I find Sahith Theegala one of the most interesting players I’ve ever seen. And one of the fastest i proving golfers on the planet too.

“I love it here ar St Andrews it’s absolutely the best” he said after finishing six shots off the lead. This afternoon will be the first time that a wider audience will get to see him play. But, since joining the PGA Tour last October he has had five top 10 finishes out of 25 starts. He’s now 66 in the world in his rookie year, one of the biggest improvements of any player.

His short game is so creative, it’s the nearest thing to Seve that we’re likely to see, But he shapes all of his shots, part of which may be attributed to the scoliocis, curvature of the spine, he has to live with. His head moves a lot on the downswing to compensate, you’ll see an almost side bend on the downswing. .But the comparisons to Seve are also in his talents as an escapologist. Wayward tee shots set up for escaping from near impossible situations. Boring he is not. Fascinated to see what he can do today.

The 6 foot 3 Californian’s father brought the family to America from India in 1987. Imagine if he could win tomorrow the explosion that could take place in the sport there. It would be a dream, but not an impossible one.

On Wednesday this week Greg Norman, twice Open Champion and CEO of LIV Golf, gave an interview to his local newspaper, the Palm Beach Post. Interview by Tom D’Angelo

Q When did you first think about starting a new league?

A In 1994, ’95 I wanted to start one because I knew being a global player at that time golf had an opportunity. There was virgin space sitting there available for the players to have an equity stake in growing another tour for their own right.  I always fought for players’ independent rights for decades.

Kerry Packer in Australia was one of my best friends. I saw what Kerry did for cricket and thought, ‘My God, if he can do that fir cricket, look at where it is today with franchise values in India in the billions of dollars for team cricket. So I got a lot of this education and foresight very early on in my career and I knew I could move the needle because of my playing ability and my personality.

Q Was recruiting players to join LIV easier or more difficult than you envisioned?

A I thought it wasn’t either one.  It wasn’t difficult because once you sat down with the players, walking through the business model and seeing the opportunity from a franchise perspective, getting their agents was the difficult part. Once they grasped hold of it, done. Bingo.

Q Was the PGA Tour ripe for someone to come along and start a rival tour?

A 100 percent. They rested on their laurels thinking they’re the only game in town, they’re the monopolist, they can control the game and this is the way it’s going to be. From a player’s perspective I’ve always said the Tour works for us, we don’t work for the Tour.  And I was in the minority with that voice.

Q Did you envision this level of backlash from the Tour?

A I knew their game plan before it even started because of what happened in ’94 and ’95.  Obviously, the game is a little different because of the financial backer we have, because of the players looking at in a different prism, the fans are looking at in a different prism.  I think the PGA Tour, I actually feel sorry for them because they’ve really hurt themselves by the rhetoric they’ve been spreading.

I’ve taken the high road.  OK, you want to say these stupid things, go right ahead.  Our business model has stood up to the players and they absolutely love it.  Our product has stood up to the players and the fans and they absolutely love it.

Q Your reaction to the Department of Justice investigating whether the PGA Tour engaged in anticompetitive behaviour in the fight with LIV Golf?

A They brought it on themselves.

We haven’t done anything other than putting together a business model and giving independent contractors a right to earn a a living doing something else, as well as still being a member of the PGA Tour.  The entire business model from the ground up was built to coexist within the ecosystem of golf, coexist within the majors, coexist with the DP World Tour, coexist with the PGA Tour.  Allowing the players to play here and play there.  

That is a testament to their stupidity, quite honestly.  Instead of sitting down and taking a phone call from us and just say ‘hey, work this out.  We can do it. .It’s an easy fix it’s ridiculous.

Professional Team Golf

Q Where did the team aspect come from?

A We did a 12-month survey on a global basis “What do the fans want?” Part of that survey was me going to the Ryder Cup and seeing that fan engagement from a team perspective and I said, ‘This is what it’s all about. This is what we got to do”. The fan survey came back saying that we want to see more team golf. The players want the individual side from a competitive standpoint, we need that. But how do you integrate and bring in more fan engagement, you create the team side.  How do you create a team?  You bring in a principal player, give them a franchise to build themselves.  The league owns 75 per cent and they own 25 percent.  A healthy team, a healthy league, no different than any other league, NFL, NBA, cricket. We’re going to monitor and help them build their team value.

Q So the ultimate goal is for 12 teams to run themselves, do their own marketing, sell their own sponsorships?

A Yeah, absolutely. (It’s the principal player’s) responsibility to manage that team. You have to bring in the people. You have to bring in the management. We’ll oversee that and we’ll help.   And that’s how you build this value.  The number of players that are. Principal players today that are excited about the opportunity is just incredible.. To see them engaging with our internal team is infectious.

Now when you see Carlos Ortiz holing a 40 footer (in Portland) and the team members erupting and making more money than they’ve ever made in one tournament, that’s what it’s all about… And wives and significant others coming up to me and saying, ‘I’ve never seen my husband so happy’.  This is the stuff these people don’t see or hear.

Q How confident are you that you’ll be able to sell these teams?

A I’m very confident.  Understanding that it’s never been done before in golf and understanding the popularity of golf on a global basis and understanding the virgin space sitting there and the lost opportunities the PGA Tour hasn’t taken control of… I think the chances of ultimate success are very high.  The fans are embracing it after six rounds of golf, the energy level within is enough to say I’m very, very confident it’s going to be an easy product to get out there.

‘Firestorm of controversy’

Q Your reaction to the players who have been outspoken against LIV?

A Shame on (those) who create this firestorm of controversy when you look within their own system when they got 23 odd sponsors who do $40-plus billion dollars of business with Saudi Arabia. C’mon, seriously?  If you’re going to go down this path just be ready to accept you’re going to get some stuff coming back your way.  And it’s not hard to find it.

Billy Horschel made this comment about the hypocrisy of the (LIV) players.  I’m sorry for Billy for saying that because I’ve sat down with Billy Horschel, I’ve talked to him…just be true to yourself when you’re making those comments.  Because he has seen what LIV is all about.

Q So with the money coming from Saudi Arabia you knew there would be backlash?

A Let’s just take Saudi money away from it, it was going to happen irrespective because you’re going up against a monopolist. If It was a hedge fund out of New York, would it be any different? Maybe, because it was U.S. money.  I can’t answer that question because it’s not the case.  But I will say, the business model because it’s disrupting a monopolist, it would have happened.

Q Did you ever hesitate one bit because of where the money is coming from?

A Me, no. Why? Because I’ve been to Saudi Arabia.  I’ve been building golf courses in Saudi Arabia.  I was part of the internal change in their culture to some small, small degree because golf is a force for good on a global basis.

When I see the good the game of golf is doing within the country, it’s no different than Vietnam.  Pick a country where I’ve built a golf course I can tell you point blank the value golf has brought to that country. We are building multiple golf course sin Vietnam.  Vietnam is a third-world communist country.  Vietnam recognises golf and its free market capitalism has been a godsend to them. It’s just exploded in that country and created a 6 to 1 tourism dollar improvement.  And Saudi Arabia is doing the same thing using the game of golf as a force for good to open their country to tourism.

It’s just insanity to me people sit back and try to hurt the development of the game of golf through political or whatever reasons. It just disappoints me so much because I see the true value of what golf has done on a global basis.

Q What was your reaction when Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee called for your removal from the World Golf Hall of Fame?

A I did find it laughable.  Has Brandel Chamblee ever been to Saudi Arabia?  Has he ever built a golf course in a third world country? He’s a paid talking bobblehead.  That’s all he is.  He’s got my phone number. He’s never picked up a phone and asked me a question.  Sadly, you’re making yourself look like a jerk.  It’s like water off a duck’s back to me.

LIV-ing in the pro golf ecosystem

Q Do you believe LIV golfers will earn World Golf Ranking points?

A WE have abided by all the technical rules committee’s request.  We checked all the boxes.  Our strength of field is there.  The criteria for the ask is there.  I hope as an independent organisation they remain independent for benefit of growing the game of golf.  They’ve done it for other tours.

Q Two events in, has it exceeded your expectations?

A Going into Centurion, my expectation was OK, we’re not really in London, we’re at a golf course. Was it a great recognised golf course. Not really. How are we going to be received? We were received really well. So I would give London on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 7.5.

Then we’re getting ready for Portland and we’re all very nervous about Portland because of the Oregonian attitude towards Saudis.  The elephant in the room, right?  We had letters from the 11 mayors against us.  From our CSR (corporate social responsibility) we got rejection, rejection, rejection.  OK, this is going to be an interesting week.

We go in there expecting the worst and it turned out to be 11 out of 10 because the fans spoke. It was about the game of golf.  It wasn’t about Saudi money.  It was about Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson. Portland, the northwest, was starved for golf.  It was a resounding success.  I walked three holes every day with the fans. I’m signing autographs and I’m going ‘Oh my gosh, this is real’.

Q Do you need a stronger field than two in the top 20 and about 20 of the top 100?

A We have more announcements coming.  Out of respect to The Open we’re not going to make any announcement this week.

In the world of business you got a competitor coming to challenge you, understand what your competitor’s got by sitting down and signing an NDA, having a conversation and see (what) works for us.

It just baffles me they haven’t even had the decency to do it.  We opened the door for them a couple of times and they didn’t want to come in.

Q Are you worried this will tarnish your image?

A I answer that this way, unless you truly understand the business model and the good LIV is going to do for the game of golf, then don’t even bring that up.  Maybe my legacy had always meant to be this.  My legacy on the golf course was –  I love to play the game of golf, I could put bums on seats, I could hit a white golf ball from point A to point B better than most.  And I was proud of doing it.

Maybe the lost opportunity in the game of golf has been brought to another place because of my vision, my belief, my commitment.  And it’s not just me – I have executives from all around the world, they’re not involved with sports but they’re the smartest business people I’ve ever been around – it’s just because I’m the CEO.  I’m extremely proud of it.  It doesn’t bother me how people have their opinions because they don’t know the facts.

Written by Tom D’Angelo, Palm Beach Post. tdangelo@pbpost.com

On Tuesday Jack icklaus was awarded the honorary citizenship of St Andrews. He is only the third American, after Benjamin Franklin and Bobby Jones to be awarded this honour.

I was in the town heading to pay my respects to Old and Young Tom Morris. I stopped one of the stewards outside one of the university to ask for directions and he said you can’t get to it at the moment there are too many falling rocks, it’s dangerous so it’s closed.

But, he said, you can see Jack come out in a minute, And he let me go across the courtyard past Younger Hall where Jack was being invested as an honorary citizen of St Andrews.

Inside too were Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Sandy Lyle, Dame Laura Davies and Jose-Maria Olazabal all being given honorary degrees.

Jack come out in a minute? He took a couple of hours.While I waited and waited patiently a dear American friend passed in a courtesy car, with just a driver, so I was able to wave to him.

Eventually Jack and Barbara paraded the streets in a blue and white Rolls Royce and I ran alongside them. It was a moment. A farewell, because he won’t be coming back again.

During one of the practice rounds I heard a player saying that he had “done a Nakajima” on the road hole.

In case you don’t know of Japanese tour pro Tommy Nakajima and his antics on the 17th hole at St Andrews, here’s what happened during the 1978 Championship. Doing a Nakajima is now written into bunker instruction lore.

This Nakajima is not to be confused with the World’s number one amateur 21 year old Keita Nakajima who has been comepting here this week. What a remarkable swing, which you can see here. What a hugely exciting prospect to follow in the footsteps of Hideki Matsuyama.

This beautifully restored and colourised picture by Mancave Originals showing Bob Jones practising for the 1927 Open Championship at St Andrews

We must doff our caps to the Sky Sports Golf team who, with the 6 hour rounds at this Open Championship have been on air from 6.30am to nearly 9pm.

This Radio Times excerpt for this day in 1988 shows what golf coverage of the Open used to be like. Five hours on BBC 2 and 40 minutes highlights. How lucky everyone is who has a Sky Sports subscription.Not a weak link in their excellent team and dedicated workhorses all.

It’s been an emotional week for so many of us here at St Andrews, there’s something in the air. But nothing like seeing Tiger Woods pull his cap over his face because he had tears streaming down as he heard an unbelievble ovation from the crowds who filled the 18th stands and lined the fairways. cheering, stamping their feet in approval, applauding him onto the green.

But – he didn’t stop on the Swilkan Bridge.

And that is a hopeful sign that he’s not done with golf yet. If he had stopped and doffed his cap, as Jack and Arnie and Tom and so many great Open champions have done before to make their final bow to the game at the home of golf, we could well have known that a retirement statement was coming. But after he signed his scorecard to miss the cut he stopped to talk to the host broadcaster.

“It was an unbelievable warm ovation and very emotional for me. The collective warmth and understanding. I’ve been coming here since 1995 and the next Open at St Andrews may not be until 2030. I just don’t know how my health will be, whether I’ll be able to compete at St Andrews. I’m sure there will be more Opens, but maybe not at St Andrews. I just don’t know if I’ll still be playing”.

So there’s our answer. When Tiger chooses to bow out, it won’t be here at the home of golf. Unless the R&A return to the five year rotation to bring the Open back to St Andrews perhaps, or even sooner. Perhaps it will be Goodbye World at Augusta. But for now, we can breathe out that Tiger plans to still stick around and compete on his own terms as he is able.

I got up to St Andrews on Tuesday and arrived from the airport about 10.30, to catch the end of Tiger’s practice round. The atmosphere around the two practice days was electric, it was very special and different from any other Open all week. I’ve attended nine Opens at St Andrews and nothing has been like this. 

As Tiger said himself you had the sense that this was the biggest open championship there ever had been. I caught up with him as he left his presser and he seemed to look different. He strode out to his courtesy car where his girlfriend, caddie and manager were waiting for him. He’d had his say about how he felt about LIV golf and he looked lighter, almost as though a big decision had been made. And at the Celebration of Champions and the Champions Dinner he was smiling broadly, and joshing with Lee Trevino, waving at Rory McIlroy’s little daughter who waved back from the Old Course Hotel.

“Let’s hope it won’t be the last time we see him here” said someone watching as he strode out. He had deftly dodged questions from the press about his future with “I just don’t know” but he admitted that St Andrews is his favourite golf course in the world and it was right that he was here. It was much more important that he was here than any other champion and we all waved to his departing car, just in case.

He had a late start on Thursday and the round was interminably long, finishing near 9pm. Several times he stood on one leg, lifting the damaged right foot off the teeing ground. This was the leg that he had nearly lost in his car accident. He was clearly finding it hard going.  With the Open returning to St Andrews probably in another five years, and he now being 46 it may be the last time he competes, although former champion Mark Calcaveccchia is in the field at 62. He seemed to struggle with all aspects of his game, but the galleries carried him along on a wave of emotion.

As he played the 14^th on Friday and American private plane was spotted coming into land at the airfield that was the former RAF Leuchars, very likely to take Tiger away from all this. I wondered whether in three holes, on the Swilkan Bridge there would be a special goodbye wave and an announcement at his presser as he missed the cut. He wouldn’t have wanted to have left like this but it was huge that he got here at all.

Although LIV CEO Greg Norman was disinvited from the celebrations of the 150^th Open the spectre of LIV was still present. One journalist riled Phil Mickelson by asking him to expand on his emotions about being advised to stay away from the dinner and celebration of champions. It was clearly a sore subject even though he explained the situation with the logic of a robot, sticking to the “line to take’ that had been worked out in advance. Using words like “ecstatic and incredibly happy” about his future, didn’t fit with what was seen. Every picture tells a story and he did clearly look very stressed out and his face betrayed his emotions. Whether, logically, all that money offered by LIV, the time off, the chance to play a different format with other top competitors would be enough when the reality down the line kicks in. Particularly so when the LIV tournaments have so far been attended by rentacrowds on free tickets, not fully engaged with the concept. 

Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson’s caddie brother Austin were definantly wearing LIV branding and Ian Poulter was clearly booed on the first tee. It did lend an undercurrent to the week as there were a lot of press questions about the “civil war’ in mens professional golf.  But somehow, it hasn’t spoilt the week. There is a bigger, almost spiritual thing going on. When I got on to the course on Tuesday I was surprised how emotional it felt because I haven’t felt that before at St Andrews. It was interesting.

Before getting into the championship there were a couple of magical events in the town which were worth waiting a couple of hours to see.

I ran alongside the blue and cream open top Rolls Royce which had Jack and Barbara Nicklaus in the back. They were waving royally to the cheering crowds which lined the streets after Jack had been invested with the Freedom of St Andrews, only the third American to be so awarded after Benjamin Franklin and Bobby Jones. Jack looked clearly moved. The ceremony in St Andrews’ University Younger Hall is available to watch. And out came Lee Trevino, Catriona Matthew, Sir Bob Charles, Sandy Lyle and Jose-Maria Olazabal who had all been awarded honorary degrees. It was quite a moment to see all of this.

And the following day at Younger Hall was a lovely memorial service for the beloved BBC broadcaster Peter Alliss. His family also paraded round the streets of the old grey toon accompanied by a piper. Peter had planned to retire at this championship, but he passed away after the Masters late in 2020, so it was fitting that the ceremony took place here so that he could be part of it all.

And in the Royal and Ancients newly refurbished Golf Museum was the most wonderful photographic display honouring Seve Ballesteros compiled by his family. The R&A encouraged everyone to leave a message about what made St Andrews such a special Open venue.  I wrote “our Seve winning in 1984” and finished with what he always said “everything is destino”.

The golfing gods have already chosen the man who will be bestowed with the great honour on Sunday of being not only the champion golfer of the year, but the 150^th champion. This will be an important winner at this unfortunate time of discord because this championship has been like a peak of a crescendo. We need the worthiest winner on Sunday.