Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The country. Sport Breakfast's weekly tea off golf coverage with
Crown Trade up to a new Crown forklift simply the best.
We're talking golf now on the show. We're in around
eleven hours from now. The one hundred and fifty second
Open Championship will get underway this year, being hosted out
of the Royal Troon Club in Scotland, the tenth time
(00:22):
they've hosted the oldest major in golf where the motto
at Royal Troon is as much by skill as by strength.
Joining us out of Royal Troon part of talkSPORT team
that'll be covering the final major of the year. Scott Taylor.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Morning, Scott, Hi, guys, how are you doing very well?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Thank you? I love the motto of Royal Troon as
much by skill as by strength.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, exactly that. And if you look at the course
set up, the par fours aren't actually too long, but
then you look at the par fives, there's some of
the longest in golf. There's one that's over six hundred yards,
there's one that's six twenty yards as well well, So
there's really long par fives and you've got the iconic
holes like the post is Stamp, which is a one
hundred and twenty yard par three, a very small green,
(01:08):
and then you've got something up to a two hundred
and forty yard path three as well, So the whole
size is very so it is about preceeding as much
as it is bumming it off the tee.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
The course has been described as very complex. The first
six holes apparently heaven, the second six purgatory, and the
third six hell. Would you agree with that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah. So we actually as part of our build up
for Talk Sport, we had Colin Montgomery on the show
and he's a member at Troon and he made the
statement that it's probably one of the easiest nines in
championship golf, but then followed by one of the most
difficult nines. And I was fortunate to walk the course today.
The post is Stamp is obviously an iconic hole, that's
number eight. So you get off to a really good start,
(01:51):
you can build some momentum, but then you've got holes
like the railway on the eleventh where it does what
it says on the tin of the railway track running
to the fairway, so hitting the fairway's key, and then
as you said, the holes just get more and more
difficult as you come in to the on the back nine.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
With it is always going to play a mess of
pad in an Open championship. Are we going to get
the wild winds and rain that you often get on
the Scottish coast?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, touch Wood this week has been actually un Scotland
like in terms of it's whether. It's very beautiful today
when I walk the course, we are expecting rain and
wind tomorrow though, so those guys who have went on
their practice rounds today with no winds, hitting fairways for
fun will be in for a much different test tomorrow
when it's expected to rain all day tomorrow but expected
(02:38):
to brighten up a bit on Friday as well. So
that could be the key tomorrow because even the rough,
as I said, I walk the course today, the rough
isn't playing too badly. It doesn't look too hazardous. You
can get in and out. It's obviously the bunkers that
are the problem here at Troon. But as the rough
gets more and more wet and the ball probably sinking
(02:58):
to the ground a lot more behind to get out
the rough, so cats lizing on those conditions. While the
rough isn't too bad would be the key on Day one.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Last year at Royal Liverpool, a bit of a shock
winner and Brian Harmon who ran away with it in
the end, winning by six shots. Can Harmon go back
to Beck do you think? Well?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
They were Open champions combats two thousand and eight and
since Portray won that has been a different winner of
the Open every single year. So that's what's the beauty
of the Open. You don't know who's going to win.
And Harmon was quite interesting in his press conference. He
said how most of his game is okay, apart from
(03:39):
his putting. He doesn't really feel like his putting's there,
which is ironic because we saw at Royal Liverpool last
year in those horrid conditions anything less than ten feet
he was so good around the green, so it could
be a sense of Harmon going back to back. It's
okay have him as far as City six to one,
(04:01):
so that just shows you how far out he is
in terms of a favorite. So it's very unlikely that
Harmon can go back to back, but you never know.
With the wind and the rain here in Trune.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Sorry, have you ever have you noticed any tension between
the live golfers and the PGA Tour players or is
that Do you think it's got a thing of the past.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, I think it's a it's a thing of the past,
and I think that's reflecting on sort of the the
attitude Rory mcroy's had towards it's sort of generalized how
most people are feeling. Now we've seen Rory sort of
calm down in his views towards live and be more
sort of pragmatic and practical about them. And and now
two of his European Rider Cup teammates in John Rahman
(04:42):
Tour Hatton came over to live in this year just gone.
So I think it is a thing of the past.
I mean, we spoke to Henrik Stenson today is part
of our build up, and him and Ludvig Goldberg were
chatting away like friends. So I think most of the
golfers understand that it is a busy deism going to live.
Some people might not like playing fifty four holes, that's
(05:03):
why they don't go. Some people go for the life
changing amount of money offered to them, so I think
they see it more as business than any personal vendetta.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Talking about Rory McRoy last time out of Pinehurst at
number two stateside for the US Opiad one of your
time chokes. Has Rory dusted off those demons? Do you
think and really to push for his fifth major? Or
will the US Open still be sort of fresh in
his mind.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, he took that break from golf after what happened
at Pinehurst. You can see the reaction when Bryson sunk
that winning part and Rory was in the scorers room
waiting to register and see what happened and whether that
he could go to a playoff. But he took a
break from golf, came back at the Scottish Open last
week and he did his media conference yesterday. A lot
(05:51):
of discussion was about Pinehurst and the ending, and he
looked relaxed, he looked engaged. He was having a laugh
in the press conference. So he feels like he's in
a really good place. And he made the point of
his major drought. Now it's a decade long. He last
won a major in twenty fourteen, but he made the
point that well, if he wins this week, he would
(06:11):
have win five majors and then the talk would be
when you're going to win your six? So I think
he's quite comfortable with that. Chat about his expectation, and
he's quite relaxed at the minute, which can only be
a good thing for Rory.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And it's not a major without talking about Tiger Tiger Woods.
Can he make a splash? I mean his success for
Tiger now just maybe making the cat or do you
think he can compete with the best of them still?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, As I mentioned where we had Colin Montgomery on
our show, he did a lot of media in the
build up. Colin and one of his lines that came
out of his interviews a lot of them, were that
he has urged Tiger to essentially retire and he doesn't
want to see this Tiger and remember him for what
he is now rather than what he achieved. But there's
contrasting views all over the media center here. People think, well,
(07:01):
what's the point if you're not going to win? But
Tiger yesterday in his press conference had genuine belief he
can win. So that's why he keeps turning up to
these events. And also there's a lot of talk about
growing the game in golf. So having a fifteen time
major winner that people can look up to, can go
and watch Tiger Woods, and there's a lot of golf
fans in that era where they would have seen Tiger
(07:23):
Woods at the pomp So to go to Trouone this
week and say I was there, I've seen Tiger Woods
in the flesh. That can only be a good thing
for playing the golf, growing the game of golf, because
you look apart from Rory now Scottie Shuttler's becoming more successful,
you look for those real stars and Tiger Woods is
an icon of the game. He will get eyes on
(07:44):
the Open and for that I can only see it.
The good thing of him playing this week.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Well for us keewe'z here we've got four kiwi's in
the field. Netfield hasn't been done since the on nine
Open at turnbree So this year will number sixty four.
Ryan Fox will lead the charge alongside Daniel Hilly, Kauzzuma
Kabori playing his first one, and Michael Henry. Can you
see any of the four making any noise?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Perhaps I would. Unfortunately, if for you Q he's out there,
I'd say it's unlikely. You know, the best chance you
would have had is Foxy. But you know he'd a
really good twenty twenty three Ryan Fox. He made the
cut at every major he won it went Worth in
the BMWPGA, but since then his form sort of tailed
off a little bit. He's I think he's only had
(08:26):
two top tens in the whole of twenty twenty four,
so it would be a shock if he were to
do well. But you've seen with Ryan and we've seen
with Dan they've both picked up titles on British soil.
So never say never, but very unlikely they'd make a
splash unfortunately in local hope.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Robert Robert McIntyre, fresh off winning the Scottish Open last week,
can he bring some joy to the Scottish fans.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
He's definitely brought some joy to the Scottish fans, and
I think ahead of the Open, the fact that Spain
beat England in the Euros final, there's already a lot
of joy in Scotland that England didn't win the Euros anyway,
so it doesn't take a lot for the Scottish fans
to be happy. But I think with Bob, he had
his Open Championships last week, he was talking a lot
about how much he wants to win his own national Open,
(09:14):
and it means so much to him to win the
Scottish Open. The problem is with Bob though. When he
won the RBC Heritage, he went back to Scotland partied
like crazy this week, he said. He said his celebrations
were that someone asked him, can you rank out of
ten how much he celebrated, and he said ten. I
don't normally drink, but so it's just a case of
(09:35):
I think he turned up yesterday. He played nine yesterday,
he played nine today, so he's completed eighteen holes over
two days. That sort of gives you an idea of
how Bob is. And we saw a clip on social
media of Bryson Deshambo actually coming up and congratulating him,
and they overheard it and was like, oh, how are
you feeling? And Bob's like, I'm slowly getting there. Okay,
(09:57):
I'm slowly getting this. So he is nursing a bit
of a hangout. So I just wonder how much last
week's win took out of him, because it's a shame,
you know, playing and open in front of your local
fans must be must be great. But on the flip side,
he now has that genuine belief because he's one on
the PGA this year, he's won his Scottish Open. He
(10:17):
now has that belief that he can do it and
can go toe to toe with the best.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well's got dad gazing into the Claric Jag. Who's going
to be hosting that Claire Jag in the final or
the Claire Drag in the final round on Monday morning?
Do you think?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah? So hard to call, isn't it? As I mentioned,
if we've had a different winner every year since two
thousand and eight, there's in terms of the favorites. You
look at Rory, you look at Scotti, Scheffler, but Scheffler,
how does he get on with links compared to parking courses.
That's the big question. I quite like Colin marra Kaa.
I think he's been playing really well this week. His
ball striking has been excellent. There's a lot of talk
(10:53):
of people who have been inside the ropes that Rory's
been playing as well as he ever has done this week.
So hopefully my heart wants Rory to win. But then
you can even look at I tipped a very large
outsider in Adam Scott. Adam Scott's playing very well as well, so,
but I think Colin Marakawer, he's played well on the
PGA Tour this year. So if I were to pick
(11:17):
a winner itself, I would say Colin Mara Coward, but
don't rule out the likes of Adam Scott, Rory McRoy
and even a very very outside pun in Ark shape Tea,
the young American left hander. He's been playing well on
the PGA Tour this year as well.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Scott, appreciate your time. Thank you for chatting with us
this morning. And if you see Nick Faldo out there today,
he's recired of course. Now to sixty seventh birthday, wish
him a heavy birthday.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I will do. I don't think i'll bring Kate though, unfortunately,
but I wish him a happy birthday.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Thanks, Scott, have a good one mate.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
No raise guys anytime. Take care, Scott.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Taylor, that Royal troon in the four keys all actually
win around and just in a practice round and seeing
too many results of that one. So Mark, you're a
big fan of the of the golf. All first one
is away quite early, really early in the morning over there,
aren't they?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, coverage over here this is the best major for
Kiwi golf fans to watch it. We get coverage from
first tea box to the very last golfer. So five thirty.
Coverage starts on Sky Sports six and pretty good timing
for US at five forty six. Michael Hendry he leads
the first Kiwi of four off at five forty six,
Daniel Hilly Are at eight minutes past six, Fox Is
(12:31):
at twenty past eleven and Kazuma Kabori he is brightened
early in the morning at five past three, so yeah,
really early. First tea times at six thirty local time
in the morning, and then the last one finishes is
around four o'clock, so lots of sunlight summer over there.
But you cannot wait. We'll keep you up to date
throughout tomorrow morning and all through Monday as well.