Best seats in the house
MILLION DOLLAR LISTING: ROYAL TROON
Hitting the market this week—conveniently—is "Blackrock House" aka "the best house in golf." Though that championship house from John Deere last week may be making a run of its own.
The private home is situated directly in the middle of Royal Troon golf course, the site of this year's The Open Championship.
What are the views? You ask.
Apparently, between standing on the lawn, the concrete walls, or the bedrooms, you have views of 2, 3, 16, 17 and 18. Guaranteeing you prime viewing of the tournament down the stretch.
“I was standing on that wall,” Andrew Kelly said, pointing to the concrete wall that separates one side of the property from the par-5 16th green, where, {in 2016} Mickelson’s putt for eagle stopped tantalizingly short and the crowd sighed. [AP]
It's one of two semi-detached homes on the property. The other was purchased for $915K in 2007 with the most British description possible for the sunroom. "A sunroom for ogling the world’s best players as they slosh past in the rain.”
The asking price for Blackrock? A cool $1.9 million. Membership to Troon not included...
Bobby Mac: The Hometown Hero
"ABSOLUTELY WILD"
For the first time in 25 years, a Scot won the Scottish Open.
Robert aka Bob MacIntyre took home the trophy in his native land last week after draining a 25 footer on the 18th to seal it. Electric.
As one might expect, the party commenced and rumors are he went WILD this week.
The image above is him and his father drinking whiskey out of the trophy afterwards... and by the looks of it, not a small amount of whiskey either. The rosy faces say it all. Maybe it was one of those sneaky sunburn days where the rays hit ya through the clouds.... or maybe the fellas are really enjoying themselves.
When asked this week during The Open pressers on a scale from 1-10 for how heavy the celebrations were, Bob smirked and responded 10. Following up with this:
"Look, I'm not a big drinker, but when you get moments like that that's a childhood dream and a lifetime goal and you've got family and friends there that have backed you since you were a young kid, I think it was quite right to go absolutely wild... I think we done a good job of that."
Indeed.
And if you're into numerology at all, then how about this train of thought?
25 footer on 18 to win
25 years since the last Scottish winner at the Scottish Open
25 years since the last Scottish winner at The Open...
I'll also add at this point that I am not entirely sure what numerology is. Lucky sevens? Rule of threes?
Speaking of father-son duos
ADD TO CART
Disclaimer: we could probably stop with the "your sign to" posts at this point. There's this woman on TikTok who I now can't find her account to save my life, but she makes these "Straight to Jail" videos detailing essentially every single cringe-y cliche in posts. The "your sign to" sparkle sign are near the top of my list for some reason.
Just say "look at this cool thing I bought, aren't you jealous?"
And yes, I am jealous.
Jack's really getting into riding this Spiderman ATV thing around. Though my guy has inherited his father's disproportionately sized round head so images of him wearing a helmet are... alarming...
That said, he loves it and who cares.
And after seeing this video, all I want is to strap his little Shorties clubs in and watch him take off for the park in a golf cart.
The devastating news is that the Amazon link this IG user shared in the comments is no longer available.
Which is maybe your sign that you shouldn't buy it anyways.
Silly face emoji. Sparkle emoji. Silly face emoji.
The man who invented an iconic quote
DRIVE FOR SHOW, PUTT FOR DOUGH
Meet Bobby Locke aka Bobby "Pop, Locke, Drop It". (A song that had a roughly 92% chance of being played in any given car ride I took with my buddies the summer of '07.)
I came across Bobby in a BBC golf article this week and he had a crazy impressive career for someone I never heard of prior.
What drew me in was the fact that he literally coined the phrase "Drive for show, putt for dough" back in the 40s and 50s—and somehow it's never been more relevant. See also: Scottie Scheffler, 2023.
Though the more I read, the better this guy became.
- For 20 years, Locke was never beaten over 72 holes in his native land, South Africa.
- He finished in the top four in 34 of 59 tournaments.
- He won four Open Championships in nine years.
- And he was actually banned from the Tour on a reported "trumped-up charge" with Claude Harmon saying "Locke was simply too good. They had to ban him."
The article was packed with a bunch of great quotes and anecdotes like:
Bobby won The Open at Troon in 1950. That same year was when hapless Herman Tissies, the German amateur, got licked by the Postage Stamp, taking 15 shots to complete the devilish par-three.
Bobby won The Open at Troon in 1950. That same year was when hapless Herman Tissies, the German amateur, got licked by the Postage Stamp, taking 15 shots to complete the devilish par-three.
What a sentence.
The story doesn't have the happiest of endings so I'll stop there—but truly an iconic line from what seemed to be an iconic and dominant golfer in his day.
Inspired by Wimbledon
UPGRADING AUGUSTA?
Two of the most dialed fan experiences in sports are Wimbledon and The Masters.
Much of it is predicated on this idea of accessible exclusivity as we all dream of walking the hallowed grounds, enjoying "high society", and watching elite athletes compete.
But Sean Zak wrote a piece for Golf.com last week where he threw out an incredible idea to upgrade the Augusta experience.
Apparently, at Wimbledon, you can actually sleep outside in a queue the night before the event begins to earn one of the general admission wrist bands. You can bring a small tent for up to two people and leave the line for up to 30 minutes at a time for food/bathroom.
This is one of the images Sean dropped in the article—and it all reminds of me of the days I'd spend camping outside of the Carrier Dome for Syracuse basketball games. Purely for the love of the sport... and I may or may not have made it on local news broadcast with an interview given inside a sleeping bag inside my tent...
Sean's suggestion was why not offer it at Augusta as well. Be on the grounds/nearby with other insanely dedicated golfing fans. Put some rules and restrictions in place to keep it from becoming Lord of the Flies or Burning Man.
I love it.
Would I do it? Absolutely not. The last time I slept in a tent was maybe 6 years ago and my back wasn't right for days. Projecting that experience into today where I can essentially crack every individual joint and bone in my body is not something I want to imagine.
But if I were perhaps a man in my 20s still? 100% I would fly out to Augusta. And the message it delivers of opening it up for the common fan is priceless.
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