What. A. Fucking. Ride. Start to finish, this had to be one of the best tournaments I have ever watched. The history of the course, the intense golf play, the stacked leaderboard and of course the MASSIVE winners, all combined for the dream weekend. To put it lightly, Three Putt Bogeys has taken over the world. I promised you all that TPB would step up and make a play for the final major and yours truly did so. The board has now picked the winner of three straight winners and if we’re being honest, the only reason we lost at The Masters was because we didn’t pick the favorite. We have grinded each and every pick out and found some high value in each pick. This is also our sixth outright winner pick and I would also like to note we each only take one guy under +7500 so all of these pages throwing up 8-10 guys and claiming more is kinda bs. If we count that we took certain guys to break top 20 and more we would be over 10 outright winners but that’s not my game. If you’re not tailing our picks and putting this page in every group chat to follow and get rich with you, I just don’t understand anymore. Let’s take TPB to the moon and why not all get rich on the way. Now that my rant is over, let’s go through a quick breakdown of the first couple days:
Round 1
On Thursday, those of us on the east coast woke up to the wrong Cam absolutely dominating St. Andrews. He came out firing and didn’t slow down all day shooting a 64 and taking a clear first day lead. Rory came out hot as well shooting a 66, leaving everybody thinking the same thing we did at Southern Hills, has the promised one returned? After Thursday, we knew that the course was going to be very gettable so it was time to see who could secure the most birdies and putt the lights out. Below are the highlights:
Round 2
Friday was when we saw our guy Cam shine. His putting proved to be everything we had expected and it was as if he was putting at a basketball hoop. The guy couldn’t miss and he came out red hot finishing with a 64 that easily could have even been a 61. It was incredible to watch and we finished the day with a 3 hole lead. Highlights of round 2:
Before I move on, I do need to touch upon one of the greatest moments in my golf life. Tiger walking up the 18th hole and walking across the Swilcan Bridge was a moment we will all remember. Personally, I was sitting at my shitty desk job holding back tears as Tiger balled his eyes out walking up to the final green but what mattered most was he did not stop at that bridge. No sir, you all don’t get off that easy, the cat said he’s not finished yet and we all know he still has some majors to win. Vid below if you wanna get emotional:
Round 3
Moving day had me rock hard for about 6 straight hours. I don’t really know how else to explain it, the action never stopped. The reputation of this page (and a lot of my money) was on the line and somehow, someway, I was captivated by Rory and started rooting for him. I don’t even know who I was when he drained that bunker shot on 10 to take the lead. It was one of the coolest shots I’ve ever seen and the crowd absolutely erupted when it dropped. In that moment, it seemed that the Rory win was inevitable. The pride of the PGA was feeling himself and we all thought that in one of the most important tournaments in history, the one name we would remember was Rory McIlroy. Bunker shot:
Meanwhile throughout the Rory show, Hovland was keeping pace putting on a show himself. His putter turned red hot as he was sinking 30-40 footers like it was nothing and he finished with the only bogey free round of the day. In the Cam group, it seemed that 13 took the soul of our beloved Aussie. In one of the more questionable decisions, Cam tried to baseball swing a 3 wood from a bunker over 150 yards of bushes and hit it maybe 20 yards and eventually finished off with a double bogey.
Now let’s get to Sunday….
Round 4
For the first time in eight years, Rory McIlroy held the 54 hole lead in a major championship. A year ago, I think it would be close to unanimous that every person was rooting for Rory. Today, the golf world is very much not the same. I would say it was still 80/20 or 85/15 with people rooting for Rory and those 10-15% fucking hate his guts. LIV has changed so much about golf and Rory has stepped into the role as the face of the PGA and it has come with both good and bad. Personally, I still have a very soft spot for Rory and remember when he was on top of the world. I have lost so much fucking money on Rory but I am still so addicted to chasing his next win. I have grown numb to the feeling of pain that he brings when he explodes in majors. So what did I do going in? I quadrupled my bet on Cam Smith at +1000. I wanted to feel more pain than every person that trailed me would feel. I needed to maximize the monetary pain if I was going to be emotionally okay if Rory won. So now that the stage is set, let’s get to the golf.
Cam came out ready to fuck. Off the bat, he almost holed his approach shot on 2 and we knew it was on. It took until 5 for Cam to get his second birdie and he temporarily pulled within two until Rory did what he needed to do and birdied 5 as well. Things stayed relatively flat with each guy going par until the ninth hole seemed to change everything. Cam missed an extremely good birdie chance and Rory was staring down an opportunity to take a strong lead over the entire field. If Rory finishes the birdie there, I genuinely think this could have been a different tournament since it would have given him some confidence in the putter. Instead, Rory misses and Cam begins one of the greatest back nines we have ever seen. With nine holes left, Cam Smith walked up to 10, BIRDIES, walked up to 11, one of the hardest holes of the day, BIRDIES, next up hole 12, BIRDIES, 13, the hole he doubled yesterday, BIRDIES, last up, 14, he puts himself 110 feet away for eagle and putts it to 3 inches, BIRDIE. Cam Smith birdied five holes in a row and suddenly the 150th Open Championship was in his hands. It was one of the greatest runs of golf in such a high pressured situation that we have seen in a long time and Rory was left dumbfounded. The Championship was taken right out of his hands and Rory was left scrambling for birdies, begging for a putt to drop. After gutting out a couple of difficult pars, Cam found himself in one of the worst possible positions he could have on 17. Stuck behind the pot bunker and forced to try to put around it and at best leave himself 10 feet. Cam hits the putt to 10 feet and follows it up draining the 10 footer for par and the championship was one hole away.
Cam moved onto 18 and nearly drove the green but was still staring down another painful 100 foot putt. After an incredible putt, Cam Smith left himself two feet for the final birdie to win the 150th Open Championship with a score of 20 under. The Aussie shot a closing 30 on the back nine and a 64 overall to win the Claret Cup and I think we all know he is still blacked out somewhere with beer everywhere. All highlights of Cam’s round below:
Final Words
I can’t emphasize enough that this was easily one of the best tournaments I have ever watched. The history and vibe of the Old Course is so unmatched that any random viewer could fall in love with the game. It was one of the most stacked leaderboards for a major in recent memory and we all knew how much this championship meant. The crowds were incredible, the players were unbelievable and the money that we all won is insurmountable. The 150th Open Championship delivered in every aspect and I am already counting the days until the return to St. Andrews.
Three Putt Bogeys 