I am thrilled that the Open Championship is heading back to the picturesque Royal Portrush, six years on from Shane Lowry’s emphatic win in 2019.
At Golf Monthly HQ, we have been busy selecting our picks to win the Open Championship – pulling out all the stops with Bazza’s best bets and our columnist Wayne Riley’s predictions to help you get prepared for the final men’s Major of the season.
Looking at the scoring data and trends is a great place to start, because it’s a crucial part of the blueprint for how to win an Open Championship, so I decided to do a little digging.
In my search I stumbled across some interesting data from iGolf, which used its rigorous calculation system to work out the approximate handicap index of the top-10 players at the 2019 Open Championship… and I was taken aback by the figures!
Top-10 Player’s Handicap Index At The 2019 Open Championship
It’s important to point out the process for formulating this data, which iGolf have set out very clearly.
iGolf said, “We’ve taken the top 10 finishers and run their four rounds through the Handicap Index® calculation to see what handicap they were effectively playing to during the 2019 Open”.
They also noted that, “These figures are estimated based on the Blue tee set Course Rating™ of 76.2 and a Slope Rating™ of 140. It’s likely the championship setup played even tougher, so the actual numbers may be even more impressive.”
So, with that cleared up, there is only one place to start – with the Champion Golfer of the Year for 2019, Shane Lowry.
On his way to lifting the Claret Jug, Lowry posted an incredible third round 63 to catapult himself into a four shot lead.
Shane Lowry was a very popular winner at Royal Portrush in 2019
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He would then go on to shoot 72 on Sunday, which would see him romp to victory with a six-shot margin to Tommy Fleetwood in second place.
That impressive performance, based on iGolf’s calculations, meant Lowry’s estimated handicap index for the week at Portrush was +9.0.
That figure shines a light on the level of excellence needed to secure a Major title of this magnitude, and perhaps showcases the standard players will need to meet if they want to challenge in Northern Ireland this week.
Tommy Fleetwood went close to breaking his Major…
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