Nightshift Sports: The Open, 22 July 2018

Context
The Open (sometimes known in the United States as The British Open) is the oldest of the four Golf Majors (Masters, Open, U.S. Open, PGA) and was first played in 1860. The Open is often considered the most prestigious because it is played in the country which is the home of golf, although many golf fans and historians would argue that the Masters, a U.S. tournament founded by the legendary golfer Bobby Jones is the most prestigious. The tournament rotates from golf club to club throughout the U.K. and has been in England, Ireland, and, of course, Scotland. This year the tournament is being staged in Angus, Scotland, at Carnoustie, a links style course that has many difficult challenges, so much so that players often call it Carnasty. The challenges in 2018 have been  made more difficult by the weather–the lack of rain in the area (a rarity) has made the links fairways as hard as the top of a pool table, so shots off the tee and long iron shots can hit and bounce and run for very long distances–often into trouble. Carnoustie was the scene of the famous Jean van de Velde meltdown on the 18th in 1999, when the French golfer–literally on the verge of winning the tournament–needing only a 6 on a par 4 hole to win–made a triple bogey 7, and ended up in a four hole playoff with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie for the championship . Lawrie won the playoff by three strokes over the four holes. Notably, van de Velde handled the entire incident with a level of class and sense of humor seldom seen in any sport. The Open is always one of the most dramatic tournaments of the year and this year’s will be no exception; also–expect bad weather, because invariably there is at least one (and often more) day of bad weather. Use the Nightshift Resource links (below) to get the most from following this year’s tournament. You can see the tournament on the Golf Channel (early) and NBC (late). Streaming is available via TheOpen.com . See the resources below for details.
Results to Date
Jordan Spieth (recovering from a very difficult Thursday and a not too bad Friday), is one of the leaders at 9 under, joined by Kevin Kisner (who’s been at the top of the leaderboard for all three days of the tournament) so far and Xander Schuaffele. All three are from the U.S. Also in the mix are American Kevin Chappell at 7 under par, Francesco Molinari (Italy), at 6 under and Tiger Woods–making a great major showing–at 5 under. Also at 6 under are six other golfers including Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy, crowd favorite Matt Kucher, who almost won the tournament last year, Tommy Fleetwood and Zach Johnson.
What to Expect
Difficult weather is expected for Sunday’s final round. That could mean high winds, rain, or both in that unique combination that you only seem to get at The Open. Plus–lots of media attention on Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy. Kevin Kisner has remained the most consistent throughout the tournament thus far..perhaps tomorrow will be his day. We’ve added a link to The Open’s Instagram feed (below)
Resources
Direct Link to the Official Site of The Open
The Leaderboard 
The Course 
Direct Link to Official Site of Carnoustie Golf Links
How to Qualify for the British Open
Carnoustie, Hole by Hole
How to Watch The Open
Instagram Feed: #theopen
 
The Fine Print: Embeds courtesy of GettyImages.com, who have the photographic history of the 20th and  21st century on file. Images have not been altered in any way. We thank for sharing. Video embeds courtesy of The Open, YouTube, and NBC. Again, these have not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing. Nightshift Sports is a production of Perception Engineering and The Media Bunker. All rights not expressly reserved by others, are reserved by donald pierce. Text and other elements (c) donald pierce. Thanks for watching. Enjoy The Open. 

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