The Open returns to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951. This will be only the second time the championship has been contested at a venue outside Great Britain.

Local resident and Northern Irelander Darren Clarke has the honor of hitting the major's first shot.

The championship is being contested on the Dunluce Links course but two new holes from the Valley Links course will be part of the 18 hole layout.

Read more about the changes and the architect (and how RPGC got The Open to come back) here:

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...royal-portrush

Koepka's caddie, who is from Portrush, gives you a guided tour of some of the holes here:



Read about the complicated history of Northern Ireland and Rory McIlroy's tightrope walk during his career on this subject here:

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...pen-homecoming

Finally, as a 16-year-old, McIlroy set the course record of 61. Read about that story here:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...royal-portrush

Now let's look at the favorites:

This guy lost 15 pounds by drinking water and coffee for a week. But who are we kidding... he has no chance at his current form.



This gentleman has had some recent success in the majors:



This golfer will have a ton of pressure on him, but he knows the course and holds the course record:



What would a favorites list be without the GOAT?:



Might the fiery Spaniard claim his first major?



And lets throw in a couple of English lads for ****s and giggles (because who are we kidding, as it has been 27 long years since an Englishman claimed the Claret Jug):



Oh and in before BOIDS claims that Lee Westwood will win this thing. I'll let you in on a secret -- he won't.

In all seriousness, one of Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Joaquin Niemann and Abraham Ancer will become the 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year.

We talkin bout practice.

https://twitter.com/golf_com/status/...748970496?s=21

nice OP

Phil lookin' good. im going on the coffee/water diet

Brooks is full o sh*t

i anticipate that lee westwood will claim victory in this tournament of golf

I've bet Keopka, Rory, Adam Scott and Matt Kucher. This means they have no shot lol.

Why is everyone so hot on Cantley?

Go the England lads. I’ll drop coin on the , Fitz and Wallace

Adam Scott is really popping up hard on my dfs model

One minute I like Koepka the next minute I don't. The whole I don't practice line is complete bull****. Not texting back the GOAT? Game on mother****er.

here's the entire list when I reformat my model's projections into a tiered system for this website for all the majors

mind you this is a pretty awful system because so many of these guys don't play in the US PGA and are not on the stats radar but usually my rankings are fairly accurate, I'm one of the more prominent dfs golf guys so there's some substance behind these

Had the golf channel on as background noise last night. Phil straight up said that he's not a serious contender this week, he's working on getting his game back to where he wants it.

There are going to be some incredibly difficult shots when you miss in the wrong place.

Should be an epic event. I wonder what kind of price I could get on Dongkyu Jang being the first round leader.

my dfs model is strongly suggesting that lee westwood will win this tournament of golf

i was actually surprised how highly he finished in my rankings, higher than the barnrat who at first look in our syndicate proposal was my favorite option

Model must not put enough emphasis on fatness, otherwise those blokes and the Hefty Lefty would be in your top tier.

Just saw the current weather on Golf Channel's coverage. It's raining sideways.

Fade Rory for all the $$ this weekend.

Adam Scott surely has to be able to put 4 rounds together here? His work off the green should give him a distinct advantage in these usually windy conditions.

Edit: looking at the weather forecast that the wind looks to be particularly on Thurs and Sun with it falling back between these days. Rain for all days so that should make any advantage for Scott in those windy conditions all but evaporated which means it really opens up the field.

He's so inconsistent. When he's not busy shanking tee shots or yakking four-footers he looks like a top 5 golfer itw. Unfortunately, he's VERY capable of shooting 78 out there.

The Wind and Rain could make it ugly this weekend.

If Brooks Kopeka hates playing golf when it's nice out, imagine how much he's gonna hate it when it's 55 degrees, raining, and 25mph winds.

Need to correct the thread title. Its called the UK British Open - Presented By Her Majesty The Queen.

This is gonna be a crapshoot with the weather but Van Rooyen and Wallace are my picks

Wait, if the course isn’t in Great Britain, where is it? And how is it the Open, then?

It’s in the UK, close enough

The Open Championship is often called "The British Open" but it would be more accurately called "The UK Open", as it is held anywhere in the UK (which includes NI), not just in Britain (which does not include NI). Basically Britain and UK are often used interchangeably but they're technically not the same thing (the full name of the UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland").

Phil mc? Guy loses all that weight and talking about finding himself and his swing. See you at winged foot ̶h̶e̶f̶t̶y̶ slim.

guys were having to hit driver to reach the par 3 16th hole today due to the wind (235 yds). I, for one, look forward to +10 winning this tourney.

The golfing world is waiting for this group to deliver:
3:47 a.m. est -- Mikko Korhonen, Oliver Wilson, Curtis Knipes