Greetings Golfers,

This week the British Open is at Royal Liverpool. It’s not nearly as famous as the other British Open venues such as St. Andrews, Turnberry, and Muirfield … but it has a great history. For example, Royal Liverpool is where Bobby Jones won the second leg of his historic Grand Slam in 1930.

Royal Liverpool last hosted the Open in 2006 when Tiger Woods won by 6 shots. Tiger’s back – he shot 69 yesterday. Sure, the weather’s perfect … but I didn’t think Woods would break 75.

Last year’s Open champ – Phil Mickelson – shot a wobbly 74. Phil has usually played poorly in the Open. Last year’s victory was a shocker … but Phil is definitely a wild card – ya never know with him.

Rory McIlroy lit it up with a 6 under par 66. Rory has been struggling on Fridays … if he can play well today, he’ll probably take home the Claret Jug.

The locals would probably love a Rory victory – Liverpool is hugely Irish and would enjoy an Irishman winning the Open on their turf.

Liverpool always makes me think of Paul McCartney and the Beatles. It’s a port city that brought music and guitars in from America. So they combined American Blues and Buddy Holly Beat music with Irish folk music … thus the start of the “British Invasion.” John Lennon named the Beatles as a take off from Buddy Holly’s “Crickets.”

An Englishman hasn’t won an Open since Nick Faldo in 1992 … and an Englishman hasn’t won an Open on English soil since Tony Jacklin in 1969. But Justin Rose could change that.

This should be a fantastic Open – looks like the city of Liverpool is back on the map.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com