Open Championship Preview: Royal Birkdale Picks, Scottie’s Missed Cut and Golf Live Mailbag

Open Championship Preview: Royal Birkdale, Final Picks, Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda and Mailbag Go to https://kachava.com and use code WINGO for 15% off your first order. Subscribe to support the channel:    / @treywingogolf   Golf Live is back for Open Championship week. Trey Wingo is in California after surviving the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe. Justin Ray is in Liverpool getting ready for the Open at Royal Birkdale. Naturally, the show starts with a missing rental car key fob, European ice issues, Bucky’s, and why the Open Championship has become the favorite major for both of them. Then it gets to the real point: Royal Birkdale, firm and fast conditions, and the final men’s major of the year. The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Trey and Justin break down why this Open feels especially wide open. Royal Birkdale is already firm, brown and running fast. Justin says he has never been to an Open on a Tuesday where the fairways looked this brown. Trey compares it to Muirfield in 2013, when Tiger Woods hit a five-iron from 290 yards and watched it run over the green. That kind of setup changes everything. Bombers do not have the same advantage. Accurate drivers and elite ball-strikers come back into the mix. The rub of the green matters. Bad bounces are coming. And whoever wins will need the patience to survive the chaos. Final Picks for the Open Justin is looking past the obvious Rory and Scottie answers and lands on Matt Fitzpatrick as his winner. Fitzpatrick has completely rebuilt his approach play, going from 127th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach a few years ago to first this season. Justin also likes Russell Henley for a top-five finish and Min Woo Lee for a top-ten finish. Trey also picks Matt Fitzpatrick, largely because of how cerebral and mentally strong he is. If Royal Birkdale gets unpredictable, Trey trusts Fitzpatrick’s ability to stay disciplined and think his way around the golf course. Trey also likes Collin Morikawa, who has already won an Open on a quirky links setup, and Justin Rose, whose Open Championship story began at Royal Birkdale in 1998 when he holed out on 18 as a 17-year-old amateur. Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda Miss the Cut The show also gets into a wild week across golf: Scottie Scheffler missed the cut at the Scottish Open and Nelly Korda missed the cut at the Evian Championship. Justin notes that it is the first time the reigning men’s world No. 1 and women’s world No. 1 both missed the cut in the same week. Evian still delivered its usual chaos, with Brooke Henderson making six eagles for the week and three on Sunday alone. For Scottie, Trey and Justin are not worried. Statistically, he is still elite across the board. But the missed cut did bring up another reminder of how absurd Tiger Woods’ 142-cut streak really was. Tom Kim Gets Back in the Winner’s Circle Tom Kim winning the Scottish Open was another major topic. Trey and Justin talk about how quickly Kim arrived, how hard the game pushed back, and why this win could matter going forward. He was the youngest two-time and three-time PGA Tour winner since Tiger Woods, then hit a difficult stretch. Now, after contending at the US Open and winning in Scotland, his game looks like it is trending again. For a player with that much talent and personality, that is good news for golf. Mailbag The episode wraps with your questions. Trey and Justin answer who benefits most from Royal Birkdale’s firm conditions, whether the major setups have been good this year, whether Scottie’s season would be a failure without another major, and which non-mainstream Open winner would create the best story. They also get into Tom Kim’s ceiling, the future of the DP World Tour, and whether it has become more entertaining than the PGA Tour in certain weeks. Plus, Trey shares what it was actually like playing competitive golf at the American Century Championship, why Steve Young wanted to leave after one tee shot, and why a six-foot par putt in a celebrity event can suddenly feel like the biggest putt in the world. Watch More Golf Player Interviews:    • Player Interviews   Watch More Golf Expert Interviews:    • Expert Interviews