Should the British Open be a Major?

[ma11l]

I personally don't think so anymore.  I've watched as much of this tournament as I can stand this week, and it's been a total crapshoot.  I understand it's the home of golf and what not, but the game has evolved.  What these guys have gone through this week is not golf. 


The British is not a true test of the game as we know it today.  They say a good tournament is shown by having the best player win.  That is not the case many times at the British.


I would love to see the Players become the fourth major.  There's no one that would skip that because they don't like it ala Kenny Perry this week.  Kenny caught a lot of flack for his decision, but I don't blame him.  I wouldn't want to go over there and put myself through those conditions when I'm playing well either.


I know this change will probably never happen in any of our lifetimes, but would anyone else like to see this tournament scratched from the elite group of majors?

[wdleehi]

No.  The conditions is part of the reasons is is fun to watch. 


What other major could we be talking about Greg Norman right now?

[Big Ticket]

You're making the mistake of crowning American-style "PGA" golf as the true form of the game.  While the perfectly manicured grounds, tree lines holes, and crushed marble sand may be prettier to look at and create a different type of playing style, British Open golf is still the closest and purest thing to the original game as it was founded.  Besides, most of the top Brits and other members of the European Tour play those type of courses in those type of conditions on a weekly basis.  It puts a premium on a different style of play... ball striking, accuracy, creativity around the greens, controlling shot trajectory, managing mistakes, etc.  American golf has become too much "tee it high and let it fly", worry about lie later on.

If anything, I think there needs to be another links style major that the Americans play in.  The US Open is the ultimate test of American style golf, The Masters is the ultimate tradition, the British hearkens back to golf's birth, and then the PGA is just kind of bleh...  I'd like to see an Australian Open or Asian Open or something else to recognize the infusion of talent from other parts of the world.

[amenhotep04]

I personally don't think so anymore.  I've watched as much of this tournament as I can stand this week, and it's been a total crapshoot.  I understand it's the home of golf and what not, but the game has evolved.  What these guys have gone through this week is not golf. 


The British is not a true test of the game as we know it today.  They say a good tournament is shown by having the best player win.  That is not the case many times at the British.

This makes no sense whatsoever.  Look at who has won the British since 86.  I would hardly call these guys chopped liver. 

2008 - Padraig Harrington
2007 - Padraig Harrington
2006 - Tiger Woods
2005 - Tiger Woods
2004 - Todd Hamilton
2003 - Ben Curtis
2002 - Ernie Els
2001 - David Duval
2000 - Tiger Woods
1999 - Paul Lawrie
1998 - Mark O'Meara
1997 - Justin Leonard
1996 - Tom Lehman
1995 - John Daly
1994 - Nick Price
1993 - Greg Norman
1992 - Nick Faldo
1991 - Ian Baker-Finch
1990 - Nick Faldo
1989 - Mark Calcavecchia
1988 - Seve Ballesteros
1987 - Nick Faldo
1986 - Greg Norman

The  British is a great tournament because we get to see players incorporate different styles, and different shots to win, as well as battling the elements. The American golf courses are often times too easy, not having players pay for bad shots.  The British is not that way.

[SShoreFan 2.0]

Without a doubt!!!

The British Open is the greatest of the 4 majors in golf (St. Andrews ring a bell?).

[nickagneta]

The Open is the biggest and best golf tournament in the world. I think the whole premise is rather comical. Links golf is refreshing and different and original.

Take all the technological breakthroughs the game has and in the Open, in bad weather, throw them out the window. You know who the real golfers are after this tournament is over.

Lefty will never win this tournament.

[mustang]

The Open is the biggest and best golf tournament in the world. I think the whole premise is rather comical. Links golf is refreshing and different and original.

Take all the technological breakthroughs the game has and in the Open, in bad weather, throw them out the window. You know who the real golfers are after this tournament is over.

Lefty will never win this tournament.

The British Open is great, I agree. And Mickelson may be overrated, infuriating, and arrogant, and a real pain in the you know where to root for (and I'm a fan).

But anybody who has more than one green jacket hanging in his closet is a "real" golfer, flat out, end of story. There are more Celtic banners hanging from the New Garden than there are men who have accomplished that feat (and I know we have many banners, but I thought it might be a nice little tie-in to the site). Gotta respect Phil for that...

[ma11l]

The Open is the biggest and best golf tournament in the world. I think the whole premise is rather comical. Links golf is refreshing and different and original.

Take all the technological breakthroughs the game has and in the Open, in bad weather, throw them out the window. You know who the real golfers are after this tournament is over.

Lefty will never win this tournament.

So you're saying that Phil isn't a real golfer?  3 majors (all coming during the Tiger era) and 34 PGA Tour wins.  Sounds pretty good to me.

I think it says something when the second guy on the FedEx Cup Standings and the hottest player on Tour doesn't feel like making the trip to the British.  Other players have done this in the past.

I understand it's the home of golf.  But I believe some of the courses on the rota are outdated.  Springfield is the home of basketball, but we still don't have to play with peach baskets do we?

[oldmanspeaks]

American style golf can get boring and can easily be nothing but a rich man's game. The British Open is all about making shots in less than ideal conditions on less than an ideal surface. It is a true test of your ability to adapt and I would hate to see it go away.

[CelticPride]

It's one of the three tournaments a year that I watch (Masters and US Open)
I'll take the winners of the British over the winners of the PGA championship any time.

It's fun watching the best players of the game meet with adversity and overcome it. When every first shot hits the fairway, the game is kind of boring. (And doesn't even come close to what the game looks like when I "play" it.

[ChampKind]

Get rid of it because of the conditions?  That's what makes it great.  Would you suggest dropping Wimbledon as a major because it's played on grass?  Pot bunkers and weather conditions only create more obstacles - it's not a random element, but something that must be planned for and overcome in the weeks leading up to the event.

[nickagneta]

Okay so I was harsh on Mickelson. But he won't ever win the Open in my book.

He is, about as much as I have seen in a golfer, as American as it gets. Give him the perfect conditions, the wide fairways, the low cut rough, and all the techilogical advances that are available to players these days and abbundant on the PGA Tour and he is great.

But if you were to throw Lefty back in time 30-40 years and make him play with that technology and throw in a whole bunch of pretty tough courses and Mickelson wouldn't have been a great golfer in those days.

I personally have never seen a supposed great in golf miss more putts inside 4 feet ever. Throw him in bad conditions or don't give him his best stuff and he doesn't sniff the leaderboard. Get him rattled in an early round and forget him for the rest of the tournament.

Put Lefty on the European Tour for a year and let's see him play on some of the courses they play on and the conditions they play on. They aren't playing in Florida and California and Texas conditions over there most of the time. I think he would seriously struggle.

I give him props for his Masters wins and PGA Championship. He's a long hitter with a great short game. Those guys do real well at Augusta. And the PGA is usually the easiest of the 4 majors. But there's a reason he is hot and cold at US Opens and usually pretty average at The Open. Tough conditions.

Mickelson is a great golfer, excluding Tiger, on par with about another 10-15 golfers worldwide as best at what they do. But put him on a tough course or tough conditions or under last round pressure and I'll take most, if not all, of those 10-15 other great golfers before I would take Phil in a bet as to who would win.