Sideline Story

What makes the Open such an eagerly anticipated tournament?

The season's last major golf tournament is underway in Scotland. We discuss this year's Open Championship that gathers golf's elite players including one from China. We also look into how Chinese golfers have fared so far this season, and who we think has the potential to become a leader in the sport.

Duration:: 24m
Broadcast on:: 19 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

[Music] Hello and thank you for joining us on Sideline's Story, your destination for sports news, analysis, and discussions. I'm Brandon Yates and today we'll be chatting about the Open Golf Championship. We'll examine the history of the tournament, the top performers of 2024, future stars of the game, as well as China's golfing prospects. I'll be diving into these topics with my two fantastic co-hosts for you and Tianyu. And guys, once again, we're talking about a sport that I enjoy watching, but terrible at. Every time I've hit it out to a golf course, whether it be in South Africa or wherever in the world, I always find it like a very relaxing, calming environment, but as soon as I pick up a golf club, there's no talent there, there's no relaxing there, just a full of frustration swinging the golf club and frustration. But I think that's what, for me, is appealing about golf, is that I've never really found it a particularly consistently exciting sport compared to other sports that I enjoy watching like rugby, football, et cetera. But there is something about it that is quite calming, I don't know what it is. And I enjoy the generally well-spirited competition, the different venues and the scenery that it provides. So it's just something, I think, that is visually enjoyable for me. But it's not something that it never really gets me on the edge of my seat very often. But the Open Championship for you is definitely one of the highlights of the golfing calendar. That's for sure, it's the oldest golf tournament in the world, it's the final major of the year. I think I have so many big names. It really does. And it's also one of those tournaments that's also just seenically really beautiful. And I think that the weather and terrain often creates really exciting action and sometimes surprised results. And as a South African, we also have a great history in this tournament. We've had Louis Eustace and winning it, Ernie Els. And of course, Gary Player, one of the greatest golfers of all time. I believe has won the Open Championship three times, if I'm not mistaken. So there's definitely some South African pride with the Open Championship. But from your side of things for you, what makes the Open Championship such a historic and eagerly anticipated tournament? We have to look at the history. Like you just said, it's the oldest major golf tournament in the world, dating back to 1860. And because of its long history, it attracts the best golf players. And take this year's tournament, for example, you can find all the big stars there. All the top guns are there. Current stars, former stars, future stars, they are all there. Yeah, the names like Scotty Scheffler, John Romme, Rory McElroy, they're the top three in the world right now. And then you've got some former stars like John Daly and Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. Yeah, Jordan Spieth, Ricky Fowler, and so many American players. That's one of my observations. Yeah, well, they tend to dominate the sport generally on Americans. Yeah, and for good reason. They do produce some very exciting tee shots. They do, they do. Yeah. And because there are so many big names, the tournament dishes out big prize money. And this year, the purse is reportedly US$70 million with US$3.1 million going to the winner alone. That increases the appeal of this tournament. But you know, it's funny, for some of those big golfing stars who make ridiculous amounts of money from endorsements, that kind of prize money is like petty cash to them. For someone like Tiger Woods or Rory McElroy, it's nothing but I agree with you. For some of the amateurs taking part or just regular players on the PGA Tour or any of the other golfing tours around the world, I think that is a huge drawing factor. Besides the history and the prestige of the tournament, that is a very big prize to play for. And apart from all that, I think one other reason why everyone wants to compete at the Open Championship, it's because the threshold is really high. So being there is some proof that you are qualified. You are among the top of the field. Like to qualify for the Open, you have to go through several qualifying series and you have to perform at your absolute best. There are some very good Chinese players who fail to qualify this year. I'll get into some of them later. But that just is one aspect which tells you about how hard it is to be at the Open. You also mentioned that there's so many Americans taking part and there's so many American stars that are competing at the Open Championship, and they just seem to dominate the sport and they have done so for so many years. Not only at the Open. But the thing is, the Open Championship is the one major that's outside of the United States. That's one interesting factor. And I think that's also something that makes it a little bit more interesting for golfing fans of course, but also non-golfing fans like you mentioned. Because I think there's a lot less predictability about this tournament compared to other majors. And from what I believe it's held at different venues, it's unlike the Masters. It's not at a one set venue. Even if you're a returning champion, you've won five, six titles in the past. There's no guarantee that anyone will successfully defend their title. Absolutely. And Tiana, from your side, we've already mentioned a couple of factors that make the Open Championship such a draw for golf fans and just for general sporting fans. But what do you think is the biggest draw card for this tournament? What makes it so special? You guys mentioned it's history, and the Open is the oldest golf tournament in the world. It was first held in 1860, so 164 years of history. That's quite long. And also what's special about this tournament is that it is held on links and golf courses. And that adds to the excitement, the unpredictability. So for those of you who don't really understand the rules of golf, please hold on to us. Links is like the oldest style of golf course. It's first developed in Scotland. And what's special about them is that they are generally built on sandy coastland that offers a firmer playing service than other courses like parkland and heatland courses. And they are shaped by nature and built on coastal exposed landscape. So that presents a unique experience. Because they're exposed to the elements. Unpredictable wind and weather shifts. So a lot of drama and ex-factors are part of this tournament because of this course. And also the Open has its own set of traditions. And one that sets this tournament apart from the other is that every year, the Open winner is given the title of Champion Gopher of the Year. So that's a very big title worth pursuing for. And it attracts a large and diverse field of Gopher global competitors every year. And so the continued history, the style of courses, the unpredictable weather. There's so many factors that makes it exciting. The location, the crowning of the Champion Gopher of the Year are the factors elements that makes this tournament so special. A lot of them have to really showcase their talent and their adaptability to play at some of these courses. And like for you mentioned, it changes every year. So they can't really prepare for these Open Championship tournaments very well. Or get used to any of the courses because it changes every year. So I think we, besides the unpredictability factor and the fact that basically anybody that's qualified for this tournament has a pretty good chance of winning. Because I think what the Open Championship does and all of the traditions that the styles of the courses, et cetera, what it does is that it kind of creates a more level playing field that we used to seeing at other golf tournaments. So we will see the best of the best having to adapt their game more so than they used to. And sometimes that creates a more level playing field that can be very, very exciting to watch. And it makes the Open open. Yes, exactly, exactly the Open Championship. It's very, very open indeed. For you mentioned that there aren't many Chinese golfers taking part unfortunately. But can you tell me about the Chinese golfer that is taking part? And generally looking over the course of 2024, I'll have male and female Chinese golfers being fairing this year. At the Open Championship this year, there's only one Chinese golfer, C.T. Penn, or Penn John Thong from Chinese Taipei is competing. He qualified after finishing tight for a second at the John Deere Classic. So that's one of the qualifying series that we just talked about. And Penn was also a bronze medalist at Tokyo 2020. All right. I didn't know that. That's amazing. Yeah, I didn't know this before. So he's already an established golf player. Yeah, an Olympic medalist. Yes, so it's nice to see some Chinese element, a Chinese golfer being among the field. And I'm surprised actually that this year there's not more Chinese golfers because we've really got some very good players. Lihao Thong, Wu Ashuan, Lihao Thong in particular. He finished solo third at the Open in 2017. That was the best finish of any Chinese golfer. Disappointing not to see him near this year. Yeah, he almost qualified. I think it went to the last qualifying tournament. Just a bit of bad luck. Yeah, but speaking of his season, he spins through some ups and downs. Yeah, and like he improved, he's game toward the end of the qualifying series, but was still a little bit short of reaching that threshold. So yeah, missing Lihao Thong is a shame at this year's tournament. But the good thing is that he is finding his form. Although maybe it's too late for the Open, but still the season's not over. Yeah, they're still a long way to go in the season. Obviously it is a bit of a disappointment to see a lack of Chinese golfers at the Open Championship. But we do have a CT pun who has, you know, quite an impressive CV. But looking over the course of the season, there's been some top performing male and female Chinese golfers, right? Yeah, yeah. Like you mentioned, the best results Chinese golfers ever achieved was in 2017 when Lihao Thong shot a final round of 63 and finished third place alone. That was the best records set by any Chinese golfers ever. That's why it's so disappointing to not have in there. This really is a loss for Chinese golf, but just for the tournament I think as well. He's a top-top competitor. Yeah, also after that tournament, Lee was kind of silent and was suffering from poor forms. Apart from him, I don't think we have seen any quite impressive male golfers over these years. But however, on the women's side, Inguan Ning has been playing very well in recent years. Last year, at the age of 20, she just won the 2023 Women's PGA Championship, becoming the second Women's Major Championship winner from China. Also, Feng Shansan, she's also a Chinese female golfer, and she just won the LPGA Championship in 2012. She was the first Chinese female golfer ever to do that. Speaking back to Ying, she rose to World #1 in the World Golf Rankings in last September. She just got selected to the national team and will be playing for Team China on Paris 2024. There's going to be a lot to expect from this top-level Chinese female player. Yeah, I want to quickly jump in here. Speaking of Paris, it's a shame that Lee Houten also missed the Olympics. Looks like he still has some catch-up to do during throughout the rest of the season. Maybe 2025 will be his season allowed to wait and see. But I think what's exciting about Chinese golf at the moment is the emergence of talent, male and female, but particularly on the female side. And I don't think some of these female golfers that you've just mentioned are actually getting enough attention. But I think that once we get to the Paris Olympics, I think eyes will definitely be from outside at least. And I think that they're going to make a name for themselves, besides us as Chinese athletes interested journalists from watching them. I think they'll generate their own interests because I think those are one of the teams from China that I don't think people are expecting too much from. But I have a sneaky suspicion that the Chinese ladies golf team is going to do really, really well at the Olympics. And I think going forward, it's definitely an exciting time for female golf in particular in China. And I think that having a couple of the names that you mentioned doing so incredibly well, the future definitely does look very bright. But of course, looking over the course of the 2024 season, I would say quite a large number of golfing stars that have been very consistent and very dominant this year for you. From your side of things, who would you say has been the most dominant and most consistent male golfer of 2024 so far? I know it's a difficult question because there's quite a few. But if you can just single out one or two, that would be great. Although, like I said, not an easy task. It's not such a difficult question for me, actually. I think I'll have to say that Scotty Scheffler is world number one for a reason. I've checked his stats this season. He's won six titles on tour. That does not happen in a calendar year. Very rarely get these top level or even world number one golfers that win that many titles. They normally perform consistently well and finish in the top ten, top five, et cetera. But it's very rare to see an individual get so many titles in one year. His highlight is the master's title. He displayed composure and confidence. That worked along with his experience because he's been the master's champion in 2022. That makes him a standout performer. Of course, he's world number one. What else do we expect from him? But the only disappointment for him is the U.S. Open, where he was largely considered a favorite. But finished, I think, eight over, which is totally under par pun intended here. Under par performance from him. Yeah, disastrous. I would even call it. But apart from that, he's maintained his consistency. So there was just one bump in the road for him to see so far. I don't know if it had to do with his arrest. I'm not still 100% sure what happened there. I know he had an interaction with the police and it had something to do with him trying to get into the course. And I don't think it was any major violation or anything like that. But I think he was frustrated and under pressure. And I think there was some sort of interaction with the police that led to his arrest. I don't think he did anything seriously wrong. I think he was released quite really like that. But I'm sure that incident would have affected him mentally going into the tournament. Yeah, I think what happened was that he was trying to bypass a crime scene and had some altercations with the police. And he himself said it was a big misunderstanding. And he was released just in time for one of the tournaments. This is another thing with athletes and sports stars is that regardless of your talent or regardless of your confidence, sometimes a small change in your plan for the day or your schedule or your routine can really throw you off. So you probably find that, I mean, that wasn't a small incident. That was a very big incident and it made headlines all over the world, including Ye and Beijing. But you probably find that something like that could have just thrown him off. And that incident and the ensuing slip up at the golf tournament also shows that he is not only the world number one, but also human. So that makes it a lot more relatable to us. But I think also he's shown resilience, I think, because it doesn't seem like it's going to at least at this point in time throw off his entire season. But then again, we'll have to wait and see how he performs throughout the rest of the tournament. Yes, he skipped the Scottish Open to better prepare for the Open Championship. Probably a smart move. Yeah, we'll find out if that helped. Yes, of course, of course. And Tiana, from your side, we've already mentioned the Scotty Scheffler world number one, probably the most consistent performance this year. Would you agree or are there any other names that jump out for you? Yeah, I also agree with you guys. My pick is also Scotty Scheffler. Yeah, he's currently world number one. He's been keeping that ranking for over 90 weeks. I think that says a lot about his consistency. Which we haven't really seen in the men's game for quite some time, I'd say. You know, long-term consistency. It's been a little bit up and down the last couple of years. Yeah, that's pretty hard to achieve that. And yeah, like you said, he just won the players' championship to become the first back-to-back winner in this event's history. And also, the month after that, he continued his red-hot forms and went on to win the Masters tournament for a second time in three years. And these incredible achievements have allowed him to join Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to have multiple victories at both the players' championship and the Masters. And just to be included in that conversation of those two legends, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as well. Especially at his age, I think he's only 29, 28. Yeah, so I mean, he's reaching his peak and he's still really young and he seems to be relatively injury-free as well. So I think the potential dominance of Scotty Shiffler going into the future looks pretty certain. Yeah, and so far this year, like you guys said, he has already won six tournaments in total. And these wings have pushed his earnings to over 24 million US dollars for 2020 wins. Yeah, so that's probably nothing compared to his endorsements. I mean, that's still a lot of money, but trust me, he's probably making four or five times more than that from his endorsements. But if I were him, I would probably play for half of the year and then spend the money on it. I was about to retire already. I would have taken that money into the bank and just bought the cards and watched the rest of the average display. Yeah, I would spend the money from winning these tournaments and enjoy the rest of the year. But we also have to hope that it's not all about money for them. I don't think it is because I think if it was just about money for some of these guys, the top 50 could have retired by now. I think that money, I'm sure, is a huge drawcard for some of these athletes to play in certain tournaments and keep going with the endorsements, et cetera. But I do think that, particularly with majors like the Open, I think that's where money actually is at the back of the year. Yeah, the honors, the titles, absolutely. I'm more important. I have to agree with you guys. I think Scotty Scheffler has been the most dominant and most consistent throughout 2024 with some shots from the likes of John Rahm and Rory McElroy, although McElroy has been very unlucky in terms of wins. He's been very consistent, but he often falls at the final hurdle. So he's been a consistently top performer, but not a consistent winner. But going beyond 2024 for you, the future of the game looks very bright because I think in both the men's and women's game, the top performers right now are all still relatively young, and they've been performing consistently for a very long time now. So I think the future of both sports looks pretty set in stone right now. But if you had to look into the next five, ten years on both the men's and women's side, who's going to dominate? First of all, I think some of the big names that we just mentioned will be around for a while, because golf is a sport where its players tend to have a longer career. Yeah, not much running. But they still have to cover long distance. And it's also tough on the joints and it can be challenging. If you look at how big golf courses, it really involves a lot of walking. Well, they've also got, you know, they've got their golf carts. So they don't do too much walking. Apart from the big names, I think there is one Swedish player, Ludwig Oberg, that's according to himself. And I think he is known as Ludwig Aberg in the United States. I think he is someone who has a lot of potential of dominating the game sometime in the very near future. He is already part of the Ryder Cup winning squad with the European team, of course. And one of the star performers too, he wasn't just on the back seat, he was like in the middle of the action. Yeah, and he was a rookie on the European team. So he has a lot of potential going forward. And already I think he's won both on the European and the PGA Tour. So he's got titles there. And what really impressed me about this player is that he seems very determined and knows clearly what his goals are. And we've just talked about, money is not the only reason why they're here. And that's exactly what he said. He repeatedly turned down offers from Live Golf and said that there... Not an easy thing to do because the money in that league is ridiculous. Especially for such a young, I believe he's only 23, 24 for such a young player. And he said that there are too many red flags and money is not what he's going after. He will never chase money and only wants to play among the very best. At this point in time, they definitely does seem to be the draw of money from Live Golf with a lot of the players that are staying in the PGA. The reason they're doing that is because, like you said, they want to compete with the best and money. It's not the only determining factor for them. Even if players like a lot with Abraham change their mind in the future about money, even if they end up going after that money, I think it's fine. Because the best players, the players who work the hardest deserve to be rewarded. And money will... But they don't get rewarded. They're all doing just fine. They're all super rich. And money will motivate them to make them work even harder. I'm sure. Tian you, of course, you've already mentioned some of those legends. Well, I've mentioned South Africa's Gary player. Absolutely legend. But there's Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods. I mean, for anybody to potentially match those legends, I personally don't think it's possible. But looking at this current crop of stars, do you think it's possible for any of them to get even close to those levels? I think Shavler has the potential to reach the level of Tiger Woods. Like we said, he's got top level bow striking ability and very impressive consistency. I think he's young. He's got more than 60% of finishing in the top 10 in every tournament. That's which is quite remarkable. But Tiger Woods became a household name for a reason. He has been keeping the world number on ranking for over 280 weeks. I would go as far as saying that he even made golf in a household name. He actually made that sport a lot more wide watch than it was before. He's synonymous with golf. Absolutely. It's like Michael Jordan. Yeah. A basket bro, yeah. For someone who doesn't even watch this board, who doesn't even know anything about the rules. Yeah, everyone will know the names like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan. Yeah. He's total time and world number one was more than 13 years. And not to mention the numerous titles, players really have to show up every week and work really hard and continue to perform consistently. Which is also not an easy feat if they want to compete with Tiger. Yeah, but I think the future definitely does look very exciting for men's and women's golf. So I think there is potential there to see maybe someone getting at least close to the levels of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, but it's not going to be easy. But looking into 2024 at least, there's still plenty of excitement to come. We're going to see the rest of the Open Championship. We're going to see the Paris Olympics. There's still plenty of excitement to come. But that's all we have time for on this week's episode of Sideline's Story. Thank you so much for joining us. And of course, we will be back next week with our latest topic and we'll see you then. [MUSIC]