The (British) Open Championship 2018 (DBR Fantasy Contest!)

[Mal]

An awful lot of folks jumping on the Molinari bandwagon. I'm gonna need to see him do something better than go on a run in second tier tournaments before using my hard-won fake points in a DBR pool I'm destined to finish back of the pack in, to pick him. One top 10 in a British to date for a 35 year old has me skeptical.

All that said, I have absolutely no feel going into this one. So much randomness and treachery at Carnoustie, so much depends on the weather, too many players with a legit chance - there are probably 30 names that wouldn't surprise me at all if they were at the top of the board Sunday. Maybe that'll help me get into the top half of the standings for once, like when my wife, who knows nothing of college hoops, wins an NCAA tournament pool.

So I'll go random and take arguably the top 5 most accomplished/talented players without a major (only 3 others besides them [Noren, Molinari, Matsuyama] in the top 20 right now without a major), and Louis, 'cause he seems like a nice dude and he's a former Open Champ:

- Rahm (7)
- Fowler (6)
- Fleetwood (5)
- Casey (5)
- Leishman (4)
- Oosthuizen (3)

Winning score -10.

[elvis14]

My first attempt at this:

6 - Fowler
6 - Rory
5 - Fleetwood
5 - F.Molanari
4 - DeChambeau
2 - Tiger
2 - Zach Johnson

-9 Final score

I tend to pick players I like: Ricky, Rory, Zach, etc. (don't like Tiger but at 2 points...).
The final score is my wife's favorite number (her birthday is 9/9/69)

[Rogue]

Koepka 8
Fowler 6
Fleetwood 5
Noren 5
DeChambeau 4
Woods 2

7 under

[Tripping William]

Like Mal, I have absolutely no feel for what's going to happen at Carnoustie, so (with heavy input from a 14-year-old), we pick the following "no rhyme or reason" slate of nine (!) players:

R. Fowler (6)
T. Fleetwood (5)
M. Leishman (4)
H. Stenson (4)
M. Kuchar (3)
Z. Johnson (2)
T. Woods (2)
T. Olesen (2)
K. Chappell (2)

Tiebreaker: -3

[mr. synellinden]

The deadline is tonight at midnight ET. And the tournament technically starts today on the west coast where you can start watching tonight at around 11pm I believe.

[mkirsh]

I don't know what the Golf Engine is (and googling it takes me to Volkswagen's website), but whatever it is predicts the top 25:

http://www.golfwrx.com/522872/the-go...-championship/

It likes DJ, Rose, Koepka, Spieth, Fowler; doesn't like Rory (relative to his odds), Molinari, Poulter, Koucher, Knox; likes Webb Simpson as a dark horse

[cato]

DJ - 9
Rose - 8
Fowler - 6
Phil - 4
Finau - 3

3 under

[HereBeforeCoachK]

New strategy:

Zach Johnson 2
Siwoo Kim 2
Charles Schwarzel 2
Adam Scott 2
Webb Simpson 4
Jason Day 6
Rory 6
Fowler 6

-7

[dball]

Let's go with:

Rahm...7
Fowler..6
Fleetwood.. 5
Leishman...4
Reed...5
Schauffele..3

5 under as tie breaker

[tbyers11]

Who knows what will happen at The Open. Weather can change at the drop of a hat

Rickie Fowler - 6
Alex Noren - 5
Tommy Fleetwood - 5
Marc Leishman - 4
Louis Oosthuizen - 3
Branden Grace - 3
Russell Knox - 2
Brandt Snedeker -2

Final score (-6)

[JasonEvans]

Rose 8
Fleetwood 5
Molinari 5
Garcia 4
Poulter 3
Grace 3
Woods 2

Winning score: 9-under

Over at https://www.theopen.com/Leaderboard you can set up a custom leaderboard so you can track your own players. My guys aren't doing much so far. Rose is 2-over and the rest are all even through their first few holes or waiting to tee off later.

[mr. synellinden]

Over at https://www.theopen.com/Leaderboard you can set up a custom leaderboard so you can track your own players. My guys aren't doing much so far. Rose is 2-over and the rest are all even through their first few holes or waiting to tee off later.

I recommend the open app too - which allows you to do the same thing.

[Tripping William]

I was about to say that the only nobility within 100 miles of the golf course would be hereditary dukes, as our main men, Kevin Streelman and Ryan Blaum, did not qualify. BUT NO!!! Julian Suri, who plays on the Euro tour, is in the field:

Not the best start for Suri, as he shot a 74 (+3) today. Waaaaay early to project accurately where the cut-line will actually end up, but the British Open rule is simple: Top 70 and ties make the cut.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I think my winning score of 7 under is going to be way off.

[JasonEvans]

I have not checked the leaderboard since he teed off a few minutes ago, but I am going to predict right now that Tiger will be in the top 10 after today... he's shooting 3-under or better. I just have a feeling.

[CDu]

I have not checked the leaderboard since he teed off a few minutes ago, but I am going to predict right now that Tiger will be in the top 10 after today... he's shooting 3-under or better. I just have a feeling.

Woods' putter seems to be working for him so far. If that sticks, he'll be interesting. 2-under through 5, and just an inch from 3-under after putting from off the green at 5.

He's been avoiding hitting driver so far, but will use driver at 6.

[JasonEvans]

Brooks Koepka was in one of those deeeeeep bunkers moments ago at #8. His ball was up against the side of the bunker so Brooks had to get on his knees from outside the bunker to hit his shot.

Needless to say, the ball went out of the bunker... and then right back into it. So, at least this time he had room to get into the bunker to hit his shot. He swung... and the ball went nowhere. He just put up a 6 on a par 3 hole. Ouch!

Meanwhile, Tiger is 2-under through 6 even though he has missed some very makeable putts.

[CDu]

The fairways are playing extremely firm. So firm that Justin Thomas hit a 408 yard tee shot... with a 3-wood. Guys are regularly getting 75-80 yards of run off the tee. Sergio hit one 400+ dead center off the tee... into the berm. Really odd conditions. Consistent, but odd.

[Tripping William]

The fairways are playing extremely firm. So firm that Justin Thomas hit a 408 yard tee shot... with a 3-wood. Guys are regularly getting 75-80 yards of run off the tee. Sergio hit one 400+ dead center off the tee... into the berm. Really odd conditions. Consistent, but odd.

I haven't watched any live action today, but I imagine that this could be part of why Dustin Johnson shot 76 today?

Meanwhile, South Africans account for 3 of the top 7 places so far today (T2, T2 and T5). And none of them is surnamed Oosthuizen or Grace.

Looks like cooler temperatures with some chance of rain tomorrow. That might soften those fairways a bit.

[CDu]

Up and down putting today from Woods. He's holed some really impressive ones and given himself some great lags. And then at other times he's missed some "easier" ones. Just bogeyed a par 3 after a solid tee shot but a missed lag and lipping out on a 5-footer. Sitting at 1-under through 13.