Golf’s final major of 2023 begins this Thursday as the Open Championship will be played for the 151st time. The British Open (as most Americans call it) will be held at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club for the 13th time. The first time this prestigious event was played there was in 1897 and most recently in 2014. Historical golf icons have won here such as Walter Hagen (1924), Bobby Jones (1930), Tiger Woods (2006) and Rory McIlroy (2014). A former Georgia Bulldog has never won the Open Championship. This year six former Dawgs (I do not count Patrick Reed) will battle for a chance to win the Claret Jug.
Only two former Georgia golfers have finished in the top ten in this major including one last year. Here are the best finishes all-time by the Bulldogs.
Here is a deeper look at all six Dawgs.
Harris English - Official World Golf Ranking (37th)
2023 Majors
Masters (T-43rd)
PGA Championship (MC)
U.S. Open (T-8th)
English has played in 25 official events this season and has made the cut 17 times. He finished in the top ten in four of those including a tied-for-eighth performance at the U.S. Open last month. It was his third top ten finish at that major. However he has not had that luck in this major. This will be his eighth British Open and his second time playing at Royal Liverpool. He missed the cut in 2014 by two strokes. He shot even par in the first round and had three birdies and three bogeys. He only had one birdie in the second round and had five bogeys including one on each of the final two holes.
He has a runner-up this season at the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in March as well as a third place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship back in May.
Brian Harman - Official World Golf Ranking (26th)
2023 Majors
Masters (Missed Cut)
PGA Championship (Missed Cut)
U.S. Open (T-43rd)
Harman has 23 official events this season and has made the cut 15 times. He's been hot as of late. He has made the cut in four straight events, including finishing in the top 12 in each of his last three. He also shot under par in 11 of his last 12 rounds. He has three runner-up finishes this season (World Wide Tech Championship, The RSM Classic and The Travelers Championship. He used to struggle at the Open Championship, but has done quite well as of late, including a sixth place finish last season. It was his second career top ten finish at a major (runner-up in 2017 U.S. Open). His first ever British Open was at Royal Liverpool back in 2014. He shot even par in the first round before shooting one over in the second round. The final two rounds of the week were his best. He shot a combined five under (68, 71) in that stretch. He eagled twice on the par five tenth hole and added another on the fifth.
Russell Henley - Official World Golf Ranking (31st)
2023 Majors
Masters (T-4th)
PGA Championship (Missed Cut)
U.S. Open (T-14th)
Henley has played 19 official events this season and has made the cut 14 times. His most impressive made cut was his win at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba last November. It was his fourth career PGA Tour win and his first since the 2017 Shell Houston Open. He finished 35th at the John Deere Championship earlier this month. That was his last event. Prior to that he had four straight finishes in the top twenty. He has shot under par in each of his last ten rounds. He had his best major finish ever earlier this year at Augusta, when he finished fourth at The Masters. He has made the cut in half of his eight British Opens with one of his missed cuts happening here at Royal Liverpool. In 2014, He shot 75, 80 in the two rounds and had a snowman on the 18th in the first round of play.
Chris Kirk - Official World Golf Ranking (40th)
2023 Majors
Masters (T-23rd)
PGA Championship (T-29th)
U.S. Open (Missed Cut)
Kirk has made the cut in 16 of 23 official events this season and back in February won his fifth career PGA Tour event at the Honda Classic. He last won an event in 2015 during the Crowne Plaza Invitational. He also posted back-to-back third place finishes back in January. He started to struggle after the PGA Championship as he missed the cut three straight times. However, he has rebounded nicely with a 14th and 21st finish respectively. He has seven sub-par rounds and an even par in his last eight rounds of play. He made the cut at the British Open last year. It was his first made cut at this major since his first appearance which happened to be at this course back in 2014. He shot an impressive six under par by breaking par in three of the four rounds. He had 14 birdies that year and only six bogeys and a double (fourth hole in round two).
Sepp Straka - Official World Golf Ranking (37th)
2023 Majors
Masters (T-43rd)
PGA Championship (MC)
U.S. Open (T-8th)
Straka has made the cut 16 times out of 23 official events this season, including an impressive victory at the John Deere Classic less than two weeks ago. He started the final round tied for 14th place, but shot an incredible 62 in the final round to help claim his second career PGA Tour victory. On the final round, he had nine birdies and an eagle and also had a double-bogey on the final hole of the day. Earlier this season, he had a tied-for-seventh finish at the PGA Championship out at Oak Hill. It was his best career major finish. Last season, he had his only British Open appearance. He missed the cut by shooting an 81, 72. After shooting seven bogeys and a double in the first round, he fared much better in the second round. He had just three bogeys in that round and also had three birdies as well, at holes 12, 14 and 18.
Brendon Todd - Official World Golf Ranking (63rd
2023 Majors
Masters (Did Not Play)
PGA Championship (Missed Cut)
U.S. Open (Did Not Play)
Todd has appeared in 24 official events this season and has made the cut 16 times, missed it seven times, and also withdrawn once. He has a pair of runner-ups this season. He did it first out in Pebble Beach last January, and then earlier this month at the John Deere Classic. He has three career PGA Tour wins, but those runner-ups were his only two runner-ups of his career. Despite playing in only three British Opens, he has one of the best finishes in this major ever by a Bulldog. His 12th place finish in 2015 was one year after playing this course and finishing in 39th place. He shot four over through his first three rounds (73, 73, 74), but shot an impressive 67 in the final round. He only had one bogey in that round and had four birdies in that round and also an eagle on the 16th hole.
As you can see, five of the six Bulldogs mentioned above played at this event at this same course in 2014. A few other Dawgs played that year, but missed the cut (Bubba Watson, Erik Compton and Bryden MacPherson).
Here are the tee times for the first round and the groupings that the Georgia greats will be playing with (pay attention to the 3:47 am tee time)
All Times Eastern
