I am thrilled that the Open Championship is heading back to the picturesque Royal Portrush, six years on from Shane Lowry's emphatic win in 2019.
At Golf Monthly HQ, we have been busy selecting our picks to win the Open Championship - pulling out all the stops with Bazza's best bets and our columnist Wayne Riley's predictions to help you get prepared for the final men's Major of the season.
Looking at the scoring data and trends is a great place to start, because it's a crucial part of the blueprint for how to win an Open Championship, so I decided to do a little digging.
In my search I stumbled across some interesting data from iGolf, which used its rigorous calculation system to work out the approximate handicap index of the top-10 players at the 2019 Open Championship... and I was taken aback by the figures!
Top-10 Player's Handicap Index At The 2019 Open Championship
It's important to point out the process for formulating this data, which iGolf have set out very clearly.
iGolf said, "We’ve taken the top 10 finishers and run their four rounds through the Handicap Index® calculation to see what handicap they were effectively playing to during the 2019 Open".
They also noted that, "These figures are estimated based on the Blue tee set Course Rating™ of 76.2 and a Slope Rating™ of 140. It’s likely the championship setup played even tougher, so the actual numbers may be even more impressive."
So, with that cleared up, there is only one place to start - with the Champion Golfer of the Year for 2019, Shane Lowry.
On his way to lifting the Claret Jug, Lowry posted an incredible third round 63 to catapult himself into a four shot lead.
Shane Lowry was a very popular winner at Royal Portrush in 2019
He would then go on to shoot 72 on Sunday, which would see him romp to victory with a six-shot margin to Tommy Fleetwood in second place.
That impressive performance, based on iGolf's calculations, meant Lowry's estimated handicap index for the week at Portrush was +9.0.
That figure shines a light on the level of excellence needed to secure a Major title of this magnitude, and perhaps showcases the standard players will need to meet if they want to challenge in Northern Ireland this week.
Tommy Fleetwood went close to breaking his Major duck again, but had to settle for second place at Royal Portrush
Tommy Fleetwood once again had to settle for second, at an event where he certainly possessed the tools to win, but his performance wasn't exactly second rate.
His estimated handicap index for the week was +7.8, just 1.2 shots worse off than the eventual winner.
Bronze medalist Tony Finau wasn't far behind the leaders, with a handicap for the week of +6.6, but in reality those fine margins can be significant in the hunt for Major Championships.
The remainder of the top-10 were calculated to have the following handicap index for their performance at Royal Portrush in 2019:
- Shane Lowry: +9.0
- Tommy Fleetwood: +7.8
- Tony Finau: +6.6
- Brooks Koepka: +7.0
- Lee Westwood: +7.0
- Rickie Fowler: +7.0
- Tyrrell Hatton: +6.2
- Robert MacIntyre: +6.6
- Danny Willett: +8.2
- Patrick Reed: +4.2
How Is A Handicap Index Calcualted?
Understanding how a handicap index is calculated is quite a complex process, but I've provided a simple breakdown.
The World Handicap System calculates this by taking an average of the best eight of a player’s 20 most recent scores to give a handicap index.
The handicap index, in conjunction with the course difficulty, produces something called a course handicap - which tells a player how many shots they are awarded on any particular track.
When a player submits a new score, the handicap index is automatically recalculated and updated at the end of the day’s play, ready for use the following day.
The calculation uses measures such as course rating, bogey rating, slope rating and playing conditions calculator (PCC) to generate the final figure.
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