Open golf Royal Birkdale

The Enclosure · Post by **The Enclosure** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 10:45 pm

Does anyone know any local tour operators running transport to this years open golf at Royal Birkdale ?.I do not fancy driving with all the hastle of parking the car.

The Enclosure · Post by **The Enclosure** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 12:38 pm

Leisure??

Marney&Mee · Post by **Marney&Mee** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:07 pm

Can't help there, but the Regional Open Qualifier is on today at Fairhaven GC (Lytham). Glorious day and anyone can go and watch (even Saxoman)

The Enclosure · Post by **The Enclosure** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:23 pm

Played Fairhaven a few times.there is a longish par 3 at the far end of the course with a wicked green.(could be the 10th hole) it is like an upturned saucer.Difficult to get the ball to stay on the green when the wind is blowing lol .

dogwith3legs · Post by **dogwith3legs** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:52 pm

(couldn't see another thread)

Here’s my take on some of the field at Birkdale… I know Happyclaret was there for practice day and has interesting first hand things to say about the course and wind… I’m excepting the course to be tough – checking the forecast wind will be a factor but perhaps will not be extreme. Accuracy will be key. Also i like experience in this event to go contend. Birkdale played under par only once in Open history. After tipping him for the US Open I have taken Fleetwood again too at 28/1 – there are so many related positives with him

From the big name players apart from him I like Rahm and Fowler but have not taken a price with them (yet)

The other ‘lower’ price I have taken (less than 100/1) is Justin Thomas at 75/1

I’m mulling over Brooks Koepka at 48/1. Was very impressive in winning the US Open and an accurate driver of the ball but he hasn’t appeared out since then. He sounded confident in an interview of his ability to play links golf. I know he can play in the wind from PGA tour this season - question mark is he may be rusty (or positively he may be fresh)

So apart from those I look at outsider value for e/w, place, or trading bets. Some have been backed over the past couple of months.

Rather than pick out big names I really like the idea that the previous tour events Irish Open and Scottish Open provide comparable form and suitability for Birkdale - noted from this and have backed - Ryan Fox – Irish Open T4 then followed up with T4 in Scottish Open 260/1
Callum Shinkwin – I backed him at The Irish but missed him in The Scottish he made the play off and has an excellent links golf record 340/1

Others with very long odds and recent Irish or Scottish Open form – Pavon 850/1, Drysdale 1000/1, Ramsey 520/1, Dodt 650/1, Southgate 450/1. (Top 20 bet options)

Some at longer odds (that I think are bargain priced) with decent US PGA form or the driving accuracy (DA) needed Horschel 420/1, Lovemark 450/1, Munoz 1000/1, Steele 500/1, Laird 500/1, Schaufelle 410/1, Anirban Lahiri 440/1 (DA may be a Q with Anirban)

Also I like at 100+ odds Daniel Berger 130/1 (backed), Soren Kjeldson 160/1, Chris Wood (decent Open record finished 5th here in 2008 as an amateur and says he is over a wrist injury) backed at 150/1, Dufner 220/1 (backed), Kisner 220/1, Harman (2nd in US Open) 150/1 (backed), Peter Uihlein 220/1, Weisberger 140/1 (backed)

happyclaret17 · Post by **happyclaret17** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:55 pm

I drove yesterday and the park and ride was spot on....£10 to park then hop on bus for a mile or so...my mate is taking the train from Colne which could be a good option.
prices once in ...fish n chips £10....lager £5....2017 open baseball cap £25.....bag searched twice...make sure you take the sunglasses and sun lotion.

wind very changeable in next few days....I have backed FLEETWOOD @ 27 and BERGER @ 100.....practice round yesterday the wind was coming from the land out to sea ( east to west )....will be from west and south mainly during the open so local lad FLEETWOOD could have a big advantage having played course so many times in all conditions.
BERGER is in form and has the perfect low ball flight and left to right shape for the course....I can see RORY and DJ struggling....Rorys putting yesterday looked poor and DJ is still not fully fit.

The Enclosure · Post by **The Enclosure** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:59 pm

Went to practice day on monday.The course is in fantastic condition but will be a real test when the wi d gets up as it surely will. Not a course for the long hitters but those players who can keep it on the fairway and out of the many bunkers will ha e the best chances.Some of the pot bunkers are awesome.
If I was a betting man then my money would be on Garcia, Ooosthuizen or Fleetwood.

Dazzler · Post by **Dazzler** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:29 pm

The Enclosure wrote:Does anyone know any local tour operators running transport to this years open golf at Royal Birkdale ?.I do not fancy driving with all the hastle of parking the car.

How about looking at parking around Hesketh park and getting the bus from Park road?
Just round the corner from the park towards the north prom Albany road,Saunders street and Knowsley road are quiet side streets with ample parking.

Or maybe a taxi..All White Taxi's will charge about £7.

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:50 pm

I went today.

I've backed Fleetwood at 40s a couple of months ago.
Also backed Sergio, Rose and Reed.
Reed is 66s - longest he's been in a major for a long time.

I've had small bets on a few long shots - Kjeldson, Charlie Hoffman and Levy.

I think Stricker could finish in top 10 also (SkyBet paying first 10 places for each way bets)

I followed Rham and Garcia for a few holes this morning. Garcia played solid.....Rham was all over the place. Still think he has got a good chance but this is not a course where hitting 350 yard drives matters - as all you will end up doing is finishing in a pot bunker and dropping a shot - they are strategically placed on many of the holes.

Plus the fairways are narrow and the rough is wicked.....accuracy and course and club management is key. For most of the holes I saw today I reckon a good 75% of players were hitting irons from the teas.

Munoz has been mentioned above - I don't know much about him but he was in the Rham / Garcia group today and he was hitting the ball lovely.

Saw a bit of Patrick Reed and he was playing very nicely. Brandon Grace was playing well and he is good in the wind.

It's absolutely wide open from a betting point of view - the most wide open major since pre Tiger Wood times. Weather and luck of the draw tee off times could play a massive part again which just adds to the lottery this year.

Can't wait for it to start now - I'm back there on Saturday

claretdom · Post by **claretdom** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 10:24 am

Few bets

£10 e/w
Lieshman 45s
Fleetwood 22s
Rose18s

£5 e/w
Koepka 35s

£2.50 e/w
Z Johnson 70s

None of these will be winning so apologies to anyone else backing these

KateR · Post by **KateR** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:51 am

Played here a few years ago, enjoyed it but prefer Portrush for this type of course.

I fancy Poulter, to win that is

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:01 pm

I love all the preamble - 'Tommy Fleetwood should do well, the local boy knows every bump and hollow on the course'

But at +6 geography is useless if you are not in control the ball.

Oh well, that's my bet down the pan!

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:09 pm

Fleetwood has had a bad day but he wasn't being tipped up by lots of people purely because of his local knowledge.

He's been one of the best players in the world this year.

Nobody would be saying he was going to do well if he'd been missing cuts all year.

Speaking of missing cuts Mclroy having another stinker - he does not want to be here. He's ready to finish his season - going through the motions to fulfil commercial duties.

tiger76 · Post by **tiger76** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:40 pm

Spieth is looking awesome to coin an American term.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 6:11 pm

No live coverage of the Open on the BBC again this year...[highlights programme tonight on BBC2 at 8.00pm]

Re the BBC television licence fee thread, there is a direct connection between that ]the licence fee] and the absence on the BBC of top class sport...you don't need me to spell out which live sports have largely gone missing from the BBC in recent years...I'll give you three though - Cricket, Boxing and Football...there are plenty of others.

- 'free' on the BBC for decades [for Buggger all money annually] or pay through the nose to global monopoly suppliers, whose output is then viewed by 10% of the population. Brilliant.

Some people on the other thread were actually complaining about the BBC's inability to compete for sport's broadcasting rights...it's not complicated, think about it.

***Protect and defend the BBC, or it will disappear for good and we'll look for our quality programming to the other 936 excellent channels.

Remember we have been here before...both the railways[in the past] and the NHS [ongoing] have been slowly, steadily purposely run down by cutting funding and support in real terms/per head so that both their performance and their standing deteriorates with the public. This government, and others like it previously, do not like/respect the public sector and try to diminish it at every opportunity..['salami slicing'].

The public quite rightly complain about this state of affairs, and this gets whipped up and amplified by the usual media with the usual depressing outcome....

'Yes you're right...the NHS..the BBC [delete as appropriate] are shytte and it is time we PRIVATISED them for you'....and so on ad nauseum.

There are slow, small signs that we are waking up to this nonsense.

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:03 pm

BBC have plenty of revenue - remember the license fee comes from many more people than subscribe to Sky.

The issue for me is much more about the people running the BBC and how they choose to spend their budgets.

Look at the amount of money they throw at Wimbledon - it's a minority sport played by few and watched by few. I don't mind watching tennis - but not at the expense of live football or golf or cricket.

The decision by the BBC to waste money on F1 a couple of years ago was another example of their incompetence when it comes to sport.

They never seem to get the right balance on sport. During a World Cup they spend a fortune - far too many reporters and pundits, millions setting up overseas studios and they then make cut backs in other sports for the next 4 years.

The recent salary reveals are not surprising. Why would you pay someone like Lineker so much ? Would one less person tune into MOTD if they employed someone to host it on a tenth of the salary ? Why do we even need a host ? Fans just want to watch the games.

BBC also spend a fortune on Sports Personality of the Year. Every year it gets bigger and bigger....and so does the budget. Yet ratings every year fall - because most people do not give a sh-ite or want to see Andy Murray or Lewis Hamilton pick up their trophy poolside in some training camp in Miami or Switzerland.

BBC in recent years have been great at making dramas - some brilliant stuff like Peaky Blinders and lots more.

At the same time they have been equally bad at covering sport.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:53 pm

16..Well that's all fair enough in terms of your opinions TVC15..

Have you got any facts or stats or sources to back up any of these comments?

- for example Formula 1 , Wimbledon...your World Cup comments - no surprises that they spend a lot because with the Olympics these are the biggest events in world sport...the clue is in the name...how much do you think it takes to cover a football World Cup in a country as big as Brazil, 32 countries, over 4 weeks?

In your last line you say - 'At the same time they have been equally bad at covering sport'.

Really?

Take the last two Olympics and the last 2 World Cups - name me a television company, anywhere in the world, who covered these events better than the BBC did?

joey13 · Post by **joey13** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:57 pm

TVC15 wrote:Fleetwood has had a bad day but he wasn't being tipped up by lots of people purely because of his local knowledge.

He's been one of the best players in the world this year.

Nobody would be saying he was going to do well if he'd been missing cuts all year.

Speaking of missing cuts Mclroy having another stinker - he does not want to be here. He's ready to finish his season - going through the motions to fulfil commercial duties.

What was you saying about Rory ?

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:13 pm

joey13 wrote:What was you saying about Rory ?

Aye - 32 for back 9 ! To be fair he had the best of the conditions - as he does tomorrow morning looking at the forecast.

He has been really struggling by his standards though - missing the cuts in Irish and Scottish Open.

joey13 · Post by **joey13** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:21 pm

TVC15 wrote:Aye - 32 for back 9 ! To be fair he had the best of the conditions - as he does tomorrow morning looking at the forecast.

He has been really struggling by his standards though - missing the cuts in Irish and Scottish Open.

He has been poor , that back nine could just change his season

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:24 pm

hampsteadclaret wrote:16..Well that's all fair enough in terms of your opinions TVC15..

Have you got any facts or stats or sources to back up any of these comments?

- for example Formula 1 , Wimbledon...your World Cup comments - no surprises that they spend a lot because with the Olympics these are the biggest events in world sport...the clue is in the name...how much do you think it takes to cover a football World Cup in a country as big as Brazil, 32 countries, over 4 weeks?

In your last line you say - 'At the same time they have been equally bad at covering sport'.

Really?

Take the last two Olympics and the last 2 World Cups - name me a television company, anywhere in the world, who covered these events better than the BBC did?

Of course it's my opinion - just like it's yours that BBC cover the Olympics and World Cup better than any other country - exactly what facts would that be based on ?

My reference to the World Cup (I did not mention the Olympics) was that they have (in my view) an unnecessary number of pundits employed and they don't look like pundits who come cheap.

As for F1 - no I don't have the numbers but it's pretty logical to assume that paying for F1 TV rights is going to be one of the most expensive sports you could choose.

At the same time they have lost the rights to things like the golf and also the Cheltenham festival.

In my opinion sport is no longer a priority for the BBC bosses and has not been for a few years. This is a shame because many people cannot afford Sky - and sports like golf, cricket and football are hugely popular with those parts of the population like pensioners who can just about afford the license fee.

South West Claret. · Post by **South West Claret.** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:52 pm

Rory boy still in it then

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 10:04 pm

21...'Take the last two Olympics and the last 2 World Cups - name me a television company, anywhere in the world, who covered these events better than the BBC did? [this is you quoting my final sentence]

I was asking for your opinion here [not facts] - do you have an opinion?

The World Cup - football is our national sport, so we cover this tournament properly, not on the cheap..just as it should be [big viewing figures as well]

Finally...you say..'At the same time they have lost the rights to things like the golf and also the Cheltenham festival.

In my opinion sport is no longer a priority for the BBC bosses and has not been for a few years'

They can't afford them because BBC funding [in real terms] HAS BEEN CUT for about 6 years running!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televisio ... ed_Kingdom" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

** the relevant paragraph is this..'Under the current licence fee settlement, the fee will remain at £145.50 in
2011/12 and 2012/13. This level will then be maintained in a new four-year settlement to 2016/2017.

- and then - 'The current Royal Charter for the BBC expires on 31 December 2027 and the TV licence fee itself was fixed at £145.50 until March 2017. After this time the fee will increase in line with inflation for five years until 2022; the price was raised to £147.

In summary then..from 2011 the licence fee was cut every year and from March 2017 it would be raised in line with inflation for 5 years which means no real increase.

Whatever the BBC critics say..the Corporation has been denied appropriate funding since 2011 and therefore it's ability to compete with other suppliers...no wonder it has lost niche sports events.

Taking Sky as my example..have they frozen their charges since 2011?

No I didn't think so.

The BBC has been purposely run down, as I suggested above - see railways and NHS.

FCBurnley · Post by **FCBurnley** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 10:32 pm

JohnMac wrote:I love all the preamble - 'Tommy Fleetwood should do well, the local boy knows every bump and hollow on the course'

But at +6 geography is useless if you are not in control the ball.

Oh well, that's my bet down the pan!

Mine too. Had him at 66/1

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:00 pm

Hampstead - you do realise you come across as slightly mental in a number of your posts ?

You take things too far - I am sure I would actually agree with many of your views. I certainly agree that there is a not so subtle political agenda from the government.

When you are asking me in quite an aggressive tone for my opinion (or whether I have an opinion) on who in the world covers the Olympics or World Cup better than the BBC you sound like a bit of a nutter !

How the hell am I or most of the British public going to have a clue how well other countries cover these events and whether they are better or worse than the BBC ?

I realise that budgets are limited and the BBC has to make choices with how it spends its money. What I am saying is that specifically in relation to the coverage of sport in recent years I think they have made some bad decisions.

Of course I want them to cover the World Cup and The Olympics but like many other people I don't think they should spend as much on it as they do. I also would rather them cut budgets on things like pundits and divert this to covering more sport.

Even when they were covering the British Open Golf in recent years they had also joined the bandwagon of far too many unnecessary pundits - they had the likes of Chris Evans out on the course covering live golf.

I'm surprised that you think it's ok to be employing so many multi millionaire ex tennis players to cover Wimbledon at a time when you yourself admit overall budgets are being cut.

Do you really think it's necessary to pay the likes of Adevayor tens of thousands of pounds a week to cover the World Cup when nobody could understand a word he was saying ?

Just because it costs the British public a few quid a week does not mean that we are happy to see them sp-unk it up the wall on things that do not add anything to the sporting coverage. The public would respect the BBC even more if they had a transparent and deliberate approach of not going down the road of Sky and other commercial channels.

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:15 pm

So any views on the actual game of golf being played there...like who you think might win etc..there's some snarling dogs on here!

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:16 pm

tim_noone wrote:So any views on the actual game of golf being played there...like who you think might win etc..there's some snarling dogs on here!

Tony Jacklin for me - get on

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:24 pm

TVC15 wrote:Tony Jacklin for me - get on

TJ for you JT for me hopefully ..good luck with yours!

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 12:43 am

25...'I'm surprised that you think it's ok to be employing so many multi millionaire ex tennis players to cover Wimbledon at a time when you yourself admit overall budgets are being cut..'

Errr..show me clearly where I said that..be very clear now.

Another one making stuff up.

Adevayor - who the f--- is this person?

'How the hell am I or most of the British public going to have a clue how well other countries cover these events and whether they are better or worse than the BBC ?'

OK so you don't have a clue you say...the BBC does have [in my experience] a world-wide reputation for innovative and top quality coverage and broadcasting of sport [just look online].. just one example..the supe-slo-mo - where was that developed? Had they been able to outbid Sky for Open Golf coverage, we would have seen this quality I think.

claretdom · Post by **claretdom** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:09 am

Hampstead there's already a topic discussing the BBC couldn't you post your flag waving defence of it on there and leave this free of moaning about how hard done too the company is.

It was started as a discussion about the tournament currently going on and as usual has been taken over with comments nothing to do with the actual open I am sure if you started one of your many topics and people took it over with something totally pointless you would ask for it to stop.

Inchy · Post by **Inchy** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:53 am

Would love to see Casey or Paulter up there at the end but I think Speith will win this. He has the rain to contend with but with his quality it won't be a real issue.

He has the advantage of going out late and know what score he needs

South West Claret. · Post by **South West Claret.** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:21 am

Come on Rory boy keep it going, the weather sounds interesting for today.

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:55 am

hampsteadclaret wrote:25...'I'm surprised that you think it's ok to be employing so many multi millionaire ex tennis players to cover Wimbledon at a time when you yourself admit overall budgets are being cut..'

Errr..show me clearly where I said that..be very clear now.

Another one making stuff up.

Adevayor - who the f--- is this person?

'How the hell am I or most of the British public going to have a clue how well other countries cover these events and whether they are better or worse than the BBC ?'

OK so you don't have a clue you say...the BBC does have [in my experience] a world-wide reputation for innovative and top quality coverage and broadcasting of sport [just look online].. just one example..the supe-slo-mo - where was that developed? Had they been able to outbid Sky for Open Golf coverage, we would have seen this quality I think.

Yes definitely a nutter.....and a pedantic one at that. You know I meant Adebayor.

As for BBC being the best at covering sport in the world - they aren't even the best at covering sport in this country.

Sky are 10 times better at covering golf, football, cricket, rugby and many other sports than BBC. And yes that's because they can throw loads of money at it. Even for horse racing Channel 4 and more recently ITV are a long distance ahead of BBC.

That said I would still rather have BBC covering some sporting events poorly than only have access through subscription TV.

Eh but you crack on fighting the revolution - only 5 months to go to the big one - 2017 Sports Personality of the Year.

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 11:33 am

Inchy wrote:Would love to see Casey or Paulter up there at the end but I think Speith will win this. He has the rain to contend with but with his quality it won't be a real issue.

He has the advantage of going out late and know what score he needs

Any views on Justin Thomas? Had a wager on him to win it on a whim really.

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 11:55 am

Thomas has got a great chance.

Played really well yesterday - he has a late tee off time today which could be unfortunate as the looks awful for this afternoon - strong winds and rain. Compare that to this morning and the conditions Mclroy is playing in and you are talking a 5 or 6 shot difference purely because of the weather.

If he shoots par or 1 or 2 over and goes into the weekend under par Thomas has a big chance. Forecast for tomorrow is ok so back to a level playing field.

Mala591 · Post by **Mala591** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 12:32 pm

Narrow fairways with semi-rough and deep bunkers on each side.

Driver or Five wood or Three iron

What would be your choice?

tim_noone · Post by **tim_noone** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 12:35 pm

Thanks tvc 15.

claretdom · Post by **claretdom** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:14 pm

tim_noone wrote:Any views on Justin Thomas? Had a wager on him to win it on a whim really.

Started really well -2 for today after first 2 holes he is t4 on -3 now

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:21 pm

claretdom wrote:Started really well -2 for today after first 2 holes he is t4 on -3 now

Think you are looking at wrong golfer - Justin Thomas has just started with a double bogey on the first hole

claretdom · Post by **claretdom** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:24 pm

TVC15 wrote:Think you are looking at wrong golfer - Justin Thomas has just started with a double bogey on the first hole

I am, that is the trouble watching golf, horse racing and an in play market on football.....

Justin Thomas does sound like Thomas Pieters though ha.

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:48 pm

Jordan Speith is doing his level best to replicate Greg Norman at the moment. A staggering loss of form and nerves given how well he has played all week.

Edit
It is going to be interesting down the stretch now, Matt Kuchar is one of those 'grinders' who always appears to be in contention without doing anything spectacular. I think Speith will have one hole that will give him the edge so I'm going for him to win by a shot.

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:16 pm

OR you can continue to implode Jordan!

BennyD · Post by **BennyD** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:30 pm

Speith is looking like a clowns car when all the wheels fall off at the same time.

BennyD · Post by **BennyD** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:40 pm

Wow! I've never seen all the wheels go back on at the same time, until that Tee shot!

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:43 pm

Kuchar should have nutted him when he came onto the green on the 13th

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 6:25 pm

Brilliant 4 holes from Speith and bonus footage of Michael Keane with his new (and old) team mates.

JohnMac · Post by **JohnMac** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 6:42 pm

If you were to come home and just look at the scores you would have no idea how exciting that final round was for the final flight. A truly ballsy fightback by Speith when he all but looked like he had forgotten how to hit a ball from the tee.

ablueclaret · Post by **ablueclaret** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 6:51 pm

Deserved

willsclarets · Post by **willsclarets** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 7:19 pm

He did brilliantly, with his putter especially, but my god he's a lucky sod too.

If there's not thousands lining the fairways today, two drives on the back nine are reloads. First no one's finding that ball he ended up getting a nice drop on the range from, and on the 17th he hits a spectator where you or I would've had to watch our ball skip into bushes and oblivion.

Goalposts · Post by **Goalposts** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:04 pm

Great picture of Michael Keane at the open in a Burnley cap on twitter. Will try to post link