What a low handicap would shoot at 2024 Open Championship, according to pros
Tyrrell Hatton on Friday on the 11th hole at Royal Troon.
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To start our story, we scroll down.
Past Shane Lowry. He’s at the top of the Open Championship leaderboard after two rounds. Past Justin Rose and Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. They’ll be among those fighting this weekend for the Claret Jug.
Keep going.
Eventually, you’ll see Cam Smith, the 2022 Open champion. Over 36 holes, he shot rounds of nine-over 80 and three-over 74. You also see Tiger Woods, the 15-time major winner, who went 79-77. You also see Wyndham Clark, last year’s U.S. Open champ, who went 78-80.
Ugly, right? But that’s what Royal Troon does. It’s pretty to look at, but it packs a punch behind its humps and bumps, its fescue and gorse, its ever-changing wind and its rain.
And you wonder:
What would you, the non-pro, shoot at Troon under Open conditions? If the world’s finest are making a mess, how the heck would you fare?
Maybe we can answer that.
To begin, let’s check in with Ewen Ferguson, who’s playing this week in his home country of Scotland. He said he hasn’t played Troon since he was 18 — when he said “it was not really that difficult.”
“You can hit driver and bomb it into places where there’s no rough really and still you’re hitting wedge,” he said.
So what changed?
“But you can’t now,” Ferguson said, “because you hit driver in there, it will make you lose your ball.”
“It’s really difficult. Also they put a lot of new tees in that are a lot farther back, which makes things tougher. I never played from there before. And really smartly placed bunkers, like on 1, where you can probably sneak driver down there and have a 60-degree in your hand — now you’re like, can’t really do that. So you have it in with a 6-iron. It was really difficult.”
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A few other pros agreed.
On Thursday, the DP World Tour social-media team helped our endeavor by asking some players this:
What would a scratch player have shot at Troon during Thursday’s first round?
A lot, they said.
Said Jason Day: “Probably in — let’s do the average. I reckon probably somewhere in the 80s. Low 80s, probably.”
Said Gary Woodland: “95. I played with Ernie [Els] today. You know, Ernie’s probably a plus-six, so yeah, I’d say 95. It’s tough out there. You miss one shot and you’re going to have a big number. Especially you throw the crowds out there, maybe 100.”
Said Rasmus Hojgaard: “Hmm. A scratch golfer would probably shoot — I’m struggling to see them break 80 around here. Eighty to 85, on a good day.”
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