Sam Torrance’s 2023 Open preview: Cream should rise to top at classy Royal Liverpool
Narrow fairways, thick rough and small greens should favour good iron play at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool this week, writes Sam Torrance.
When you consider how well he has played in much of that time, it really is unbelievable that Rory McIlroy hasn’t won a major for nine years.
Since 2014 he has won the Race to Dubai and FedEx Cup twice each as well as 19 other tournaments around the world, but his wait for a fifth major has gone on.
I would love to see that change this week at the Open Championship. Rory is a great ambassador for golf, a lovely guy and played well enough to win last year at St Andrews but couldn’t get a putt to drop on the final day.
For many reasons, McIlroy will be the man to beat at Royal Liverpool, not least that he arrives fresh from beating Bob MacIntyre to the Scottish Open last weekend.
MacIntyre set what looked like an insurmountable score with a brilliant last round at the Renaissance Club that also boosted his Ryder Cup hopes.
But McIlroy overtook him with a phenomenal birdie-birdie finish. Not many could have played the tee shot that he did into 17, while both his and MacIntyre’s efforts into the last were shot of the year contenders.
McIlroy’s look up to the sky after holing the winning putt said everything about what that win – his first in Scotland and on the eve of the Open – meant to him.
It moved him closer to one of his goals this season – winning the Race to Dubai as part of another double with the FedEx Cup.
Can he do it two weeks in a row and win the Open again? I certainly don’t see why not. He will feel great about going back to Royal Liverpool, where he lifted the Claret Jug in 2014.
Why Royal Liverpool could out sting in Open tail
This a really classy golf course, one of the best on the major circuit, but a very different test to the one McIlroy passed last week in Scotland.
It’s beautiful and lush but the fairways are much tighter, with some heavy rough that will only get tougher to play with more rain. It’s a great challenge.
The new 17th hole is bound to create some stories. The green is flanked by really tough bunkers, while anything short could roll back into thick rough.
Like at St Andrews, you could be three up with just the last two holes to play and still not be safe. It won’t be over until it’s over.
It will be more about iron play than driving this week as the greens are so small, and I think the winner will come from one of the biggest names.
World No1 Scottie Scheffler is on an incredible run of form that has seen him finish in the top five in his last seven tournaments and top 12 in his last 19.
If his putting had been better he would probably have won more than two of those but he is by no means putting badly, just missing by a fraction.
Rickie Fowler is having no such problems on the green, boring them into the middle of the hole time after time.
Having recently won for the first time in four years and challenged at the US Open last month, Fowler could be a contender.
Royal Liverpool could be ideal for Jon Rahm. If there is lots of laying up short of bunkers, the Spaniard’s great iron game could come into play.
Rahm may not have been at his very best lately but the Masters champion is good at peaking for the bigger events.
Smith is back as the defending champion, having seen off McIlroy in that memorable Sunday duel last year.
I haven’t seen as much of the Australian but he is a beautiful golfer and seemed to have a tear in his eye handing back the Claret Jug this week.
Local boy Tommy Fleetwood is getting back to his best and must have a chance, while fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton is too good to discount.
Of the Americans on the LIV Golf circuit, Brooks Koepka is a very good iron player. Dustin Johnson gave Darren Clarke a run for his money when he won the Open at Royal St George’s in 2011 and his short game has got much better since, so he is certainly a contender.
Sam Torrance OBE is a former Ryder Cup-winning captain and one of Europe’s most successful golfers. Follow him @torrancesam