FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 17th, 2018

GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE OPEN (MONDAY, PRIMETIME)

Carnoustie Golf Links, Carnoustie, Scotland

Monday, July 16

 

VIDEO: Carnoustie – the essence of links golf

VIDEO: Revisiting Spieth’s victory at Royal Birkdale last July

VIDEO: Players in the field describe conditions at Carnoustie

VIDEO: Nobilo, Chamblee break down Hogan’s Alley at Carnoustie

VIDEO: Chamblee, Nobilo weigh in on Woods’ chances at The Open

VIDEO: Nobilo – ‘links golf, you either love it or you hate it’

VIDEO: Carnoustie’s bunkers present an element of unpredictability

VIDEO: Recapping list of Open champions at Carnoustie

VIDEO: Breaking down the state of Spieth’s game one year removed from victory at The Open

 

On Carnoustie Golf Links
Brandel Chamblee – “It may be the driest golf course that we’ve ever seen, but I doubt it’s the driest golf course that they’ve ever seen going back to when these golf courses originated. There really is no scenario that could present itself that hadn’t been rectified at some point in the past. These places have been here a long time. Unprecedented – that word is hardly in the vocabulary for the Scots.”
Chamblee – “There a lot of things that they say and write about Carnoustie. When the wind is blowing, they’ll say it’s the hardest links golf course in Great Britain. When the wind isn’t blowing, it’s the hardest links golf course in Great Britain. It is without question the hardest golf course.”
Chamblee – “It might be the most wide open major championship. If you’re short, it’s going to make you long. If you’re old, it’s going to make you young. If you’re crooked, you can play around that and it won’t penalize you… Typically you go into a major and really 10 people you look at and say the winner is going to come from that group. You could multiple that by five this week.”

On Jordan Spieth’s game one year removed from 2017 Open win
Frank Nobilo – “The biggest [difference] is [mid-range putting]. Psychologically you know that as a player. You feel it. You hit four or five shots in a row to 15-25 feet in a major championship and you try to make at least one of those. If you miss them all, you start to feel the pressure. You internalize it. And you realize then you’re not a machine, you’re very much a man.”
Chamblee – “There is the obvious question mark that everybody has with his putting… If there’s one major that you look at and you consider players that maybe are not putting particularly well… Because of the lack of great undulation and the lack of great speed, you can look at an Open Championship and think absolutely you can get around that.”

On Tiger Woods’ chances at Carnoustie
Nobilo – “Four of the last seven winners have been in their 40s unbelievably at The Open Championship. If you want to throw in Zach Johnson who was 39, that’s five of seven. So this is certainly the older man’s championship.”
Chamblee – “This golf course is going to allow Tiger Woods to get away from his poor club so-to-speak. But I don’t know that it’s going to be entirely necessary. There’s a glaring difference between the way Tiger plays dogleg-rights and dogleg-lefts… Think back to Quicken Loans the last hole he missed all four shots – it’s a dogleg left – all four were in the right rough. Put him in a dogleg right, and he looks like Ben Hogan. You can’t find a dogleg left on this golf course. 14 and 15 hint to the left, but otherwise every single hole either bends to the right or is dead straight. So you start to think about that the weakness he has will not come into play this week. If he’s able to get it down there in the fairway which I fully expect him to do with this stinger, you’re hard pressed to find anybody who hits their irons better than him.”

-NBC Sports Group-