Brandon Stone came to the British Open off the round of his life. He shot a 60 on Sunday at the Scottish Open en route to a win that rocketed him up the world rankings and into the Open at Carnoustie. He’s feeling it, on a heater, and was looking to back that up to get in position at a major championship.
The good bounce remains one of the best parts of The Open. Here are two of the luckiest.
The Open and links golf always result in some weird, unpredictable and lucky bounces. This is as nice as it gets.
Stone played well in the opener, posting three birdies and going out in 33 to move up the leaderboard. The back nine was more of a struggle and then he came to the 18th, where he looked like he’d throw an entire day’s work away in a Jean van de Velde mess. Stone’s drive went left into the rough with trouble, serious trouble in the form of a water hazard and out-of-bounds, lurking all around the green.
The South African threw caution to the wind with this manageable rough and tried to take a big rip to put one up on the green. The only problem is he tugged it bad left and miles over the out-of-bounds line.
We got the rare golf surrender cobra as it headed for certain doom. But when things are going well, you tend to catch breaks like this.
For the uninitiated, that is not just a lucky bounce. We see lucky bounces off grandstands. But it’s important to clarify that everything over that little fence left of the green is out-of-bounds. Hitting it OB is one of the worst penalties in golf. You get a stroke and distance, meaning you hit all the way back from your original spot. It’s a brutal mistake and during normal play when there’s not a grandstand there, Stone is screwed.
Instead, he got one of the best breaks you will ever see off a temporary structure and made a nice little par to finish a 3-under round of 68. There are no pictures on the scorecard and he’s right near the top of the leaderboard.
Not to be outdone was Ian Poulter, who came through the 18th several hours after Stone and caught his own form of luck. Poulter didn’t get a bounce from a structure out-of-bounds, but his ball from a similar spot as Stone’s shot did have eyes on it as it hopped the Barry Burn and then skirted through a pot bunker.
This is part of the Open. This is part of links golf. There are unpredictable bounces and breaks at all golf courses. There are just more of them here with less thick junk stopping the ball and the ground always playing so firm and fast. Sometimes the ball kicks a way that’s not totally fair or right, and sometimes you get the good bounce. These were two of the best. It’s also what makes this major such a fun watch.
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