TUESDAY 15 JULY 2014
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THE SPORTS BETTING PROFESSIONALS
2014 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW... GOLF, THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2014 THUR 17TH – SUN 20TH JULY
The 2014 Open Championship is going to be as entertaining as ever with Royal Liverpool hosting just its second open in the last 46 years. This beautiful course was the venue of one of Tigers Woods’ finest Open performances, with the American taming the course back in 2006 following Robert De Vicenzo’s victory in 1967. I’ve had a poke back into the form of both of those victories – the record of Vicenzo’s win is pretty decent actually with fine weather for all of the four rounds – and Tiger’s victory was played in much the same circumstances with firm, fast conditions for the entire tournament.
THE 2014 COURSE… The course – which will play at 7,312 yards and has a par of 72 – is a Harry Colt design that, as is always the case with his courses, requires the kind of top drawer GIR* ability we all would expect from a links track. *GIR – Greens Hit in Regulation: This figure tells you the number of greens the golfer reaches in the ‘regulation’ number of strokes decided as fair for that particular hole. No ‘putting’ activity is figured in this stat. The course has changed slightly since Woods won in 2006 and together with the completely different conditions (significantly different to the sun baked rock hard fairways that carried forever eight years ago) but the same prerequisites will always hold firm as we will discuss a
little later in the ‘must-have stats’ section…
THE 2014 WEATHER FORECAST… Looking at the long range weather forecast and it looks like we’re in for a damp three, maybe four days, with light winds throughout the tournament. As is always the case with most courses, it’s the rain that falls before the four days that is just as important, and there’s a chance the course could have to field wet conditions for at least half of the seven days preceding the event. As for the tournament itself, the Met Office are currently forecasting rain on all four days of the event with conditions getting worse as the final rounds approach – but the wind isn’t going to be as bad as first thought which could lay up the course for the bombers like Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson – who could both overpower Hoylake with their power. The key aspect though is the softness of the course which, if the Met Office’s forecast is anywhere near accurate, will only get worse as the Open progresses.
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