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With headliners like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson teeing off
at the Old Course along with a supporting cast that includes
most of golf's top ranked players this year's Open was set up to
be the sport's biggest party basking in a century and a half of
growth and progress.
But golf's past and future will collide on this picturesque
stretch of Scottish coastline with PGA and DP Tour loyalists and
LIV Series rebels expressing very different views over the
sport's direction.
The buildup to Thursday's first round is almost certain to be
dominated by questions about events unfolding off course and not
who might hoist the Claret Jug.
Major winners Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and
Bryson Dechambeau have already heard the questions about 'sportswashing'
and blood money after signing on with a venture bank-rolled to
the tune of $250 million by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment
Fund (PIF).
LIV CEO and former-golf great Greg Norman has trumpeted the
series as an exciting new era for golf while critics say it is
blatant 'sportswashing' by a nation trying to improve its
reputation in light of human rights concerns.
The PGA and DP Tours have issued blanket bans on any golfer
jumping to the big money breakaway circuit.
The LIV Series has countered with the threat of court action
saying it is willing to back the rebels with lawyers, and with
boat loads of Saudi cash, probably the best money can buy.
This messy squabbling is the unpleasant backdrop in which The
Open will be played. It is the type of potential ugliness that
can spoil a good party.
POSSIBLE TRUCE
Rory McIlroy, the bookies favourite to grab a second Claret Jug,
suggested a truce was in order.
A vocal supporter of the PGA Tour, the Northern Irishman had
taken great delight last month sticking it to Norman after a
successful defence of his Canadian Open crown, noting that his
21st career title was one more than the LIV CEO.
The four-time major winner remains opposed to the LIV Series but
struck a more conciliatory tone in the run up to the Open.
"I wish it hadn't got that messy," McIlroy told BBC Sport. "In
hindsight there were probably steps that were missed that
wouldn't have made it as messy.
"It's splitting the game instead of everyone coming together."
With two wins this season and top 10 finishes at the three
majors, including a runner-up result at the Masters, McIlroy is
seen as the man to beat at St. Andrews.
Masters champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler, PGA
Championship winner Justin Thomas, defending champion Collin
Morikawa and 2021 U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, all PGA Tour
members, line up behind the world number two.
If any golfer is capable of steering the conversation away from
the bickering it is Woods and even that may be beyond his
command of the spotlight.
A three-time winner of The Open, including two (2000, 2005) at
the Old Course, Woods will take the next step in his comeback
from a February 2021 car crash that nearly resulted in the loss
his right leg in Scotland.
Woods return to competitive golf at the Masters in April
captivated the sporting world and at the finish immediately
confirmed he would be in St. Andrews.
But it has not been all smooth sailing for the 46-year-old.
Woods played in May's PGA Championship then withdrew in pain
after posting a nine-over-par 79 in the third round prompting
him to skip the U.S. Open.
"This is a pretty historic Open that we are going to be
playing," Woods told reporters at the JP McManus Pro-Am. "I
don't know when they are ever going to go back while I'm still
able to play at a high level, and I want to be able to give it
at least one more run at a high level."
(Reporting by Steve Keating in St. Andrews. Editing by Christian
Radnedge)
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