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What an Open. They’re all great, but Sunday feels like it’s going to be an absolute sweepstakes to the finish, which we haven’t had in a while at this tournament (2022 and 2018 stand out as great sweepstakes weeks).
This week and this tournament to me are just the best version of the game in the world. All of it. The golf course, the narratives, the shots, the weather, the mental fortitude you have to display to win it, the walk up 18 and on and on we could go.
I’m already sad that it’s going to be over after one more round because of how wonderful the entire thing is. Even from afar, this golf tournament is about as comprehensive of a sporting experience as you can possibly have in a given week.
Championship Sunday awaits.
Name drops today: The Lad, Ryan Fox, Nick Faldo and Kevin Kisner.
Today’s newsletter is presented by Turtlebox.
Turtlebox now has four products so of course I am going to assign them each their major comp.
The Ranger — ready for anywhere, built for anything: The U.S. Open. Honestly kinda sounds like a slogan the U.S. Open would have.
The Cub (new!) — Packs light, hits heavy: The PGA Championship. Obviously the least of the four, but low-key has slapped over the last 10 years.
Original (Gen 3) — The standard in outdoor audio: The Masters. The standard against which everything else is measured. Easy choice.
Grande — For the biggest spaces and loudest moments: Gotta be the Open Championship. Definitely the biggest spaces and sometimes the loudest moments. Especially if The Lad goes out in 30 on Sunday.
That is your premium outdoor audio-men’s professional major championship golf minute. Thank you for stopping by.
And now, onto the news.
Birkdale Biscuits Round 3
1. Slammin’ Sammy Burns. What a day. What a 36 holes.
Besides the whole “my wife had a baby two weeks ago, and I haven’t done much so yeah sure I’ll go contend to win The Open” routine, what impresses me is how much he’s grinded to get to this position even as one of his close friends was becoming one of the 20 best golfers of all time.
What I mean by that is that I think if you were close friends with someone who suddenly skyrocketed into superstardom across 3-4 years, it would be extremely difficult not to become jealous or jaded or feel down on yourself.
Sure, part of you would be happy for your boy, but another part of you would feel angry that you weren’t getting to taste some of that success. Maybe I’m alone in that, but I think we all would feel at least a version of that.
Instead, Burns has doubled down on his own talent and will likely touch off his fourth top seven in the last six majors (if not win his first major championship). That’s big time.
2. One of my favorite narrative templates is “guy who nearly won the most recent major but then heartbreakingly loses goes on to light up the very next one that’s played.” Think Rory in 2011 going from 80 at the Masters to his 22-shot win at Congressional. Things of that nature.
Burns got his heart broken in two at Shinnecock, which had to feel devastating because — as has been pointed out many times this week — he didn’t think he was going to be able to play The Open. He was quite emotional after that near miss and so to bounce back here with possibly the week of his golf life is a microcosm of what I noted above about his doggedness in the face of professional struggle.
In short: I’ve become a monstrous Sam Burns fan over the last year or so. Gives a crap. Hits the shots. Nasty competitor. Enjoys the arena. Seems like a delightful hang outside of golf. Absolutely has multiple Turtleboxes.
I was thinking during the PGA this year about how he has to be the best player in the world that nobody ever picks to win a major championship. No matter what happens on Sunday, that will no longer be the case.
3. During the broadcast on Saturday morning, Dan Hicks set up the Bryson rules situation from Round 2 and threw an alley oop to Kisner, asking him for his take on the entire thing. Kiz made a joke about Bryson stomping around like a WWE wrestler and then proceeded to spend most of his time wondering where the rules official was during the entire situation.
This is fine. It’s a fine thing to consider. It should not be the central thesis to your analysis on THE story of this week. It should not be the thing you spend the majority of your (tiny amount of) time talking about.
I tweeted about this in a poorly-worded way (I should not have used the word “blaming”), and Kisner eventually responded to NLU (and maybe me?).
This is … exactly my point.
Kiz has been in the arena. Certainly he has been in or seen a situation like that. Tell me what you’re trying to accomplish as a player. Tell me why a player would be so mad at the R&A. Have a real take on it, not a joke and a side quest about the walking official.
I thought it was such an opportunity for really great analysis from someone who has a ton of experience (and a ton of major experience) that was completely whiffed. Honestly (and coincidentally), it reminded me a bit of Nick Faldo.
4. The part that I found to be the most odd, though, as a media member and viewer is that it felt like he was just thinking about this situation for the first time. Or at least just thinking about what he was going to say for the first time. Surely that’s not true, but it felt like he hadn’t obsessed over it like the rest of us had for the last 18 hours.
I, somewhat ironically, don’t have a super strong opinion about Kiz as an analyst yet, and I sympathize with a current player needing to have takes about his peers and colleagues. It’s extremely difficult to thread that needle.
My commentary is simply about this particular situation — which is the story of the tournament — that was such an opportunity to hit a home run with great analysis and how it felt like he took a backwards K on three consecutive pitches.
Also, I was thinking about how it would be cool if networks posted tweets or clips from other reputable media people with ideas or criticism and let broadcasters like Kiz respond on air. It would have been cool to see him respond to my critique in real time. This is unconventional and should not happen all the time and maybe not at majors, but would be pretty awesome to have a bit of tension out there and would give some juice to the broadcast.
Illustration intermission
[Jason here] I walked the full 18’s with Rory, Xander and Matty Fitz (R2) and Tommy and Rahmbo (R3). I didn't expect to, but Rory & Tommy playing well in front of home crowds? You gotta. Win, lose, or refuse to play, Tommy's 2026 Open will go down as an all-timer.
There were a few moments when I caught myself celebrating putts more than the guys were. I talked about my normal/non-normal experience of watching golf in today's Seed Thought video (not recommended if you struggle with motion sickness).
I won't bore you with “you just had to be there's”. Instead, here are some quick hits to add color to my sketchbook pages from Rounds 2 & 3.
Rory's bodyguard's backpack is gigantic. Like comically horizontally extruded. Like the kid in middle school who doesn't believe in using his locker. I asked him what's in it, and he said enough for 12 hours and a jacket. Mystery unsolved.
Marshall (on the drivable par 5th): Only one guy hit it in that bunker today.
Me: Who was it?
Marshall: Some guy who hits golf balls.
Funniest heckle: Someone keeps yelling Caaammmeraa Maaan, and it cracks me up every time.
Favorite Open Radio phrase (so far): He is rolling his egg!
I watched Ryan Fox on the range late Thursday night, here are my observations
His body is 85% forearms. They are some how bigger in person than they appear on TV.
I don't know how he hits it so far or so well with his swing, but I love it. Might be the forearms.
If you told someone who didn't know golf that the spitting image of Popeye blasting bullets at the 300 yard marker was the best player on the planet, they wouldn't be surprised. But he is not and golf remains insane. (After a 62 on Saturday this note feels prescient)
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,056 of them) and includes thoughts on The Lad getting it done, Rory’s Bryson take, Bryson himself, why Scottie should be winning and Tommy’s daydreams.
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Kyle is a perfect curator of the necessary moments of levity that accent a sport that will drive most of us insane.
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