Ratings: Strong Overnights For 2017 Open At Birkdale

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SBD's Austin Karp shared some overnight ratings for Jordan Spieth's win at The Open and for the first time, it may exceed the U.S. Open in total viewership.


Adweek also reported the total interactions on social media. What this means, I have no idea:

 

On the sports side, the final round of the 2017 Open Championship on Golf Channel and NBC drove and putted its way to 433,000 total interactions across Facebook and Twitter.

First 2017 Open Championship Question And Poll: Should Royal Birkdale Host More Regularly?

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As I write here for Golfweek, Royal Birkdale is a course for horses. It regular produces great finishes and stellar champions.

The players love the place.  Several, including hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood,  suggested that once ever 9-10 years is not enough.

 

 

The crowds broke records. They were passionate but respectful and incredibly welcoming.

Having seen Hoylake, Lytham and Birkdale in recent years, I wouldn't mind seeing Birkdale permanently replace Lytham in the Merseyside rota-within-the-rota.

What do you think?

Should Royal Birkdale host The Open more regularly?
 
pollcode.com free polls

ShackHouse 43: 2017 Open Championship Wrap

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House and I convened immediately after a thrilling, wacky, weird Open Championship at Royal Birkdale to kick around the final day's action.

As always, you can subscribe on iTunes and or just refresh your device's podcast subscription page.

Here is The Ringer's show page.

Same deal with Soundcloud for the show, and Episode 42 is here to listen to right now. Or this new platform or wherever podcasts are streamed.

ShackHouse is brought to you by Callaway, and of course, the new Steelhead fairway woods along with Odyssey as well.

Check out those Callaway Lives referenced here in the show.

2017 Open Championship Final Round This And That

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Another stellar day at Royal Birkdale gave us some history, mostly incredible play and a few setbacks for stars. Mostly though it was another impressive display by Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar who head into the finale well separate of the field.

Here is the roundup on Branden Grace's historic 62 from yesterday.

Two last points on that, apparently the members are handling it well. (Bamberger/Golf.com)

A week ago, the firmness of the fairways, as measured by something called the Clegg Hammer Test, measured about 130. (Drop a golf ball from shoulder height on a 130 CHT fairway and you will hear a dull thud and see the ball bounce.) By Thursday, the Royal Birkdale fairways were Clegging around 115. Not mushy—let us stand in praise of sandy soil!—but not exactly linoleum, either.

John Huggan wonders if the R&A made the setup too reasonable will welcome discussion of the low scoring (GolfDigest.com).

In order to achieve all of the above, they have deliberately allowed the game’s best almost free rein. They have collectively gritted their teeth and actively encouraged low scoring the like of which we haven’t seen before at Royal Birkdale. And, in doing so, they hope to encourage growing and widespread calls for change in the long-established debate over distance.

No easy task, of course. But it can safely be assumed that the R&A and their American counterparts at the USGA would welcome such discussions.

Johnny Miller's assessment of the setup hasn't gone over well with the younger set (Kerr-Dineen/For The Win).

On to the leaders...

Birkdale and Spieth are a match and we may be watching a "quintessential performance" in Spieth's career. (Van Valkenburg/ESPN.com)

It wasn't long ago Jordan Spieth's game was adrift. (Hoggard/GolfChannel.com)

Doug Ferguson with this piece from a few weeks ago where Jordan Spieth spoke of being uncomfortable in the leading role and hoping to change that.

Jaime Diaz wonders if Spieth will put some final round Masters demons behind him and suggests by that deep stare Spieth gave upon birdieing the 18th yesterday if we'll be on career Grand Slam watch next month.

Some Spieth facts and notes worth keeping in mind. (G.C. Digital/GolfChannel.com)

Kuchar is looking to avoid the unavoidable: match play with Spieth. (Coffin/GolfChannel.com)

More McIlroy disappointment. (Harig/ESPN.com)

Beef Johnston is in a Twitter war with a local presenter who called him a clown. (Kerr-Dineen/For The Win)

Hole, shot and quote of the day. (Ahern/Golfweek.com)

More top quotes from Saturday. (G.C. Digital/GolfChannel.com)

Final round tee and TV Times (Casey/Golfweek).

They employed a marker today and will again tomorrow. Both work in the Royal Birkdale shop. (Myers/GolfDigest.com)

Martin Slumbers' shot at the BBC may come back to haunt him. (Murray/Guardian)

The weather forecast suggests the most wind will be late in the day.

Peter Kostis shot back at Dan Jenkins to defend his CBS colleague Ian Baker Finch.

A GolfDigest.com contributor used The Open to air his grievances with golf and even the modern golf professional ("entitled products of a selfish, insular and elitist culture of wealth"). (Ryan/New York Times)

TheOpen.com for all of your basic needs.

Tee times.

The traditional leaderboard at TheOpen.com.

I'm not sure if it works in the States, but Open radio is a fun way to enjoy the action if you have other tasks to tend to. Inexplicably, the R&A no longer sells radios to spectators.

Golfweek's Live Blog will keep you up to date.

The Guardian's Live Blog will give you the UK perspective.

Final round hole locations:

 

 

Roundup: Branden Grace Becomes First To Shoot 62 In A Major

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He made it look pretty easy on a day that was admittedly asking for a 62 at Royal Birkdale. Bones Mackay even predicted it, with apologies, to Johnny Miller.

I stepped out to the course to watch the last part of the historic round and filed this for Golfweek.com on the round, Grace not having a clue where he stood to par or even the historic nature.

Here is the hole-by-hole info on clubs used, provided by caddie Zack Rasego to R&A media liason Dave Seanor and posted here at Golfweek.com. Note that he did not hit more than a 7-iron into a par-4.

Here is a picture of the official scorecard for history buffs.

Johnny Miller's reaction from the NBC telecast on the accomplishment.  

Steve DiMeglio calls Royal Birkdale defenseless in his USA Today assessment.

Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail: "A significant milestone in the history of the game was shattered on Saturday by a South African who had no idea of the enormity of his achievement."

Jason Sobel equates it to breaking golf's version of the 4-minute mile.

Jaime Diaz considers all of the reasons the round happened and concluded this:

And maybe the most important factor, considering how many times the golf gods have kept the 62nd stroke out of the hole in a major – it was about damn time.

Josh Berhow at Golf.com captures some of the majestic home hole scene as Grace finished the historic round.

The social media congratulations are pouring in, starting with Jack Nicklaus. GolfChannel.com with the roundup.

Grace's bag, reported on by David Dusek.

Certainly the scores were good, though as the day has progressed we'll see what the final tally is...

2017 Open Championship Round Three This And That

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Jordan Spieth is the man to beat, holding a two-stroke lead heading into weekend play at The Open. He was pleased the conditions turned out to not be quite as awful as expected. (Tait/Golfweek)

Matt Kuchar was a pleasure to watch and was taking pleasure in the idea of watching the afternoon round. (Shackelford/Golfweek)

Ian Poulter has nothing to lose, as he sees it. (Coffin/GolfChannel.com)

“I’m in a bonus week,” he said Friday after shooting even-par 70 to remain in contention at his beloved Open Championship. “I qualified for The Open. I’m loving it. I really am. This is a massive bonus for me to be in this position. I haven’t played in a major for a little while, and I can’t wait. I’m excited. I’m pumped up.”

Zach Johnson fired an anger-driven 66 in terrible weather. (Herrington/GolfDigest.com)

Rory McIlroy worked himself back into contention with a 68 and restored some strut to his repertoire too. (Wacker/GolfDigest.com)

Sergio Garcia hurt his shoulder taking a swing at gorse. He still shot 69. (Romine/Golfweek)

The HOF GIF from Ryan Lavner:

Kent Bulle appeared on the leaderboard for a while and is enjoying his time away from the Web.com Tour. (Babineau/Golfweek)

The long-knocking Chan Kim is an intriguing story to watch this weekend and beyond.  (Romine/Golfweek)

Phil Mickelson missed the cut with flair, he said, and other notables going home for the weekend. (Romine/Golfweek)

Justin Thomas made a theatrical 9 en route to missing the cut. (SkySports.com)

Jon Rahm has no hard feelings toward Lee Westwood questioning a decision to alert the walking referee to a violation, but there's also some smoke here that Rahm feels will go away. (Herrington/Golf World)

There's a betting dispute over Tommy Fleetwood and William Hill is not paying up. (Cowan/ChampNews.com)

Eric Matuszewski talks to Tommy Roy about The Golf Channel/NBC approach, including the split screen breaks we've seen so far.

Some background on Bones and his successful first few days as a broadcaster. (Elling/MorningRead.com)

Henrik Stenson's rental home was burglarized and some of his clothes stolen. (Facey/The Sun)

Stenson spoke about the incident after his round and how he might have been targeted, noting several factors of concern. (Murray/Guardian)

The "Amber" weather alert that halted play for 15 minutes is explained here by the Met Office.

Friday's notes, quotes and shots of the day (Ahern/Golfweek).

They look out for their wildlife here...

Saturday's hole locations:

TheOpen.com for all of your basic needs.

Tee times.

The traditional leaderboard at TheOpen.com.

I'm not sure if it works in the States, but Open radio is a fun way to enjoy the action if you have other tasks to tend to. Inexplicably, the R&A no longer sells radios to spectators.

Golfweek's Live Blog will keep you up to date.

The Guardian's Live Blog will give you the UK perspective.

WaPo On Trump LA: "Is the presidency good for Trump’s business?"

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The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold and Rob Kuznia analyze numbers and anecdotal evidence to conclude that Trump National Los Angeles has taken a financial hit since the November election of Donald Trump.

Unlike Trump Turnberry where I visited last week and saw signs of robust business, Fahrenthold and Kuznia say it's hard to see anything but a residual effect on Trump LA.

Charity golf-tournaments, another core piece of the club’s business, have moved away: ESPN relocated its celebrity tournament. The L.A. Galaxy soccer team withdrew. The L.A. Unified School District also moved, forfeiting a $7,500 deposit it had already paid Trump’s course.

Hollywood, another source of revenue for the club, has largely stopped coming to film TV shows and movies, according to city permit records.

And the club’s wedding business seems to have been affected as well. Couples used to hold big outdoor ceremonies at a city park across the street, then return to Trump National for a reception.

2017 Open Championship Round Two This And That

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It was an above average day at Royal Birkdale in terms of scoring, storylines, shotmaking and a course in peak condition.

Day two may not be such a graceful display if the forecasters are to be believed.

Ian Poulter has kept the momentum going since his Players win and in returning to the site of his best Open finish. (Tallentire/Guardian)

Jordan Spieth added a few twists to his game and looked focused. (Shackelford/Golfweek)

Matt Kuchar opened with 67 and admitted after that he should have won more in his career. (Huggan/GolfDigest.com)

Kuchar is crediting his Scottish Open appearance to feeling comfortable here. (Hoggard/GolfChannel.com)

Rory McIlroy got a pep talk from is caddie...well, it was a bit more PG-13 than that. (Tait/Golfweek)

The Tommy Fleetwood-return-to-Southport didn't go as planned. (Mitchell/Guardian)

Brooks Koepka didn't miss a beat since taking off a month after his U.S. Open win. (Babineau/Golfweek)

Jon Rahm went from a disastrous day to a merely eventful opening 69 after he was cleared of an infraction. (Romine/Golfweek)

Aussies aren’t real thrilled with Dan Jenkins after taking a jab at Ian Baker-Finch. (Walten/AAP)

Justin Thomas gave detractors 67 reasons to stop talking about a pretty swell retro outfit. (Romine/Golfweek)

“It’s nice definitely to get people to stop talking about that,” said Thomas, who shot 3-under 67 while sporting a navy tie as part of his Polo Golf/Ralph Lauren scripting for Thursday’s opening round. “Obviously, I knew it was probably going to get a lot of publicity and be out there, but I didn’t come here to dress well.”

Jason Day's joggers and white hi-tops didn't fare well either with fashionistas. (Romine/GolfChannel.com)

Fashion got lots of overall attention. (Romine/GolfChannel.com)

Alfie Plant displayed no fear. England's least known, best hope at the moment.

First day TV hit and misses. (Kaufmann/Golfweek)

Russia has apparently infiltrated the list of Open winners. (Miceli/MorningRead.com)

Monty's bluster brought life to the Golf Channel telecast. (Elling/MorningRead.com)

To kick off round two, the R&A announced Andrew Johnston as "Beef" Johnston. Somewhere Ivor Robson just flinched.

TheOpen.com for all of your basic needs.

Tee times.

The traditional leaderboard at TheOpen.com.

I'm not sure if it works in the States, but Open radio is a fun way to enjoy the action if you have other tasks to tend to. Inexplicably, the R&A no longer sells radios to spectators.

Golfweek's Live Blog will keep you up to date.

The Guardian's Live Blog will give you the UK perspective.

About The Passing Ship That Is The Royal Birkdale Clubhouse

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Having inspired several other clubhouses and several homes in the neighborhood, the Royal Birkdale clubhouse influence is unmistakable.

Though as David Owen noted in this piece, with accompanying image, the original design vision was pretty swell and needs restoration.

The club has monkeyed with the building since it was built, by removing a number of the original Art Deco details and adding boxlike extensions, but the basic idea is intact. The building’s design influenced other architecture in the region, including this house, which is just up the road from the club:

These days, the exterior just lacks a few too many of the fun nuances that articulated the original vision and yet I still love the concept and the vision.

We at Morning Drive took the question to the people and here's what they said...

2017 Open Championship Round One This And That

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We started it out with positively hideous weather but things have improved notwithstanding a huge drop in temperature compared to the practice rounds.

TheOpen.com for all of your needs.

Tee times.

The traditional leaderboard at TheOpen.com.

I'm not sure if it works in the States, but Open radio is a fun way to enjoy the action if you have other tasks to tend to.

Justin Thomas has stuck to the expected scripting and his cardigan/tie combo is definitely classing this place up.

Golfweek's Live Blog will keep you up to date.

The Guardian's Live Blog will give you the UK perspective.

Round one hole locations at Royal Birkdale appear mostly generous.

Bifurcation: R&A Chief Opens Door To The B-Word

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After yesterday's press conference where he acknowledged movements in driving distance averages, R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers opened the door to rules bifurcation. Slumbers seems to see the wisdom in letting average golfers enjoy the benefits of technology while making changes to maintain skill in the elite game.

Alex Miceli at MorningRead.com reports:

“When we look at all the options we’ve got, it [bifurcation] will have to be one of the options we look at,” Slumbers said. “Whether that’s the right thing to do, who knows the answer. Up to date, we have had a view of one set of playing rules, one set of equipment rules, and I think that served our game extremely well, but we must make sure we get the skill and technology right, as a balance for the good of the overall game.”

Even considering another set of rules for the elite game is a milestone moment for the R&A. The organization has resisted such a concept, even when the notion was suggested to deal with anchoring.

Couple this with the USGA's Mike Davis suggesting a variable distance ball concept as a possibility and we appear to be on the road to bifurcation.

Roundup: Final Reads And Notes For The 2017 Open

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After the bleak forecast almost was proven wrong, an afternoon storm dropped some moisture on the firm fairways of Royal Birkdale. The weather forecast remains bleak unless you like to see wind and rain.

The latest odds.

Bob Harig wonders if length matters and talks to players on both sides of the aisle. Bill Haas had this to say:

"You can play as safe as you want, but then your next shot is that much tougher to the green,'' said Bill Haas, whose tie for ninth last year at Royal Troon was his best Open finish. "Can you compete by hitting short irons off tees? Yes. But I remember Louis Oosthuizen when he won at St. Andrews [in 2010]. He hit driver everywhere. Just piped it. He hit sand wedge into every hole. No wonder he won.

Brandt Snedeker has withdrawn from The Open with a rib injury. James Hahn gets in.

Brian Wacker on Paul Casey's cycling preparation and contentment with his life.

The players are noticing the bunker difficulty, namely the heavy sand and potential for awkward stances. Brentley Romine with the social media round-up.

The R&A press conference elicited a few bits of news. Drug testing is in, reviewing the anchoring ban is not.

Bradley Klein takes you hole by hole at Royal Birkdale.

David Dusek on the emergence of driving irons this week.

Driving irons used to be fairly standard on the PGA Tour, but they started to vanish in the 1980s. The popularization of hybrids in the 1990s and 2000s pretty much were the nail in the coffin for 1-irons and 2-irons. And as clubs and balls improved with technology – and lofts became stronger on iron sets – strong players were hitting their 3- and 4-irons as far as the previous generations hit 1-irons, anyway.

Maverick McNealy says his game is trending in the right direction and he's likely turning pro later this year, Ryan Lavner writes.

Rory McIlroy made anintriguing remark in his press room interview today, Jeff Babineau notes in his Golfweek story considering McIlroy's chances.

“I want to win this week. I don’t need to win,” he said. “A second Open Championship isn’t going to change my life. But I want to win. I’m still as ambitious now as I was starting off my career, if not more so now because I know what I’ve achieved and I know what I can achieve. So it only makes you want to do that even more.”

If you'd like a little history, Michael Bamberger considers the influence Arnold Palmer's 1961 win here had on The Open.

I filed this Golfweek.com piece on The Artisans and their fourth green clubhouse. Nothing like clubs within a club!

This Todd Lewis helmed live piece offered a rare look inside the Birkdale clubhouse. Really cool stuff!

And I visited the food vendors...

And one more reminder for US viewers, all of your telecast times here starting with Wednesday's Midnight Drive at 9 pm PT and leading into Open coverage that commences for 14.5 hours at 10:30 pm PT.