Open Diary: Homage to Liverpool seen on players equipment and footwear

The colour of TaylorMade’s staff bags, a bright yellow, is in itself a tribute to the distinctive tones of the championship’s iconic scoreboards and hole flags while the numbers 270 and 271 on them reference the winning scores at the Hoylake course posted by 2014 winner McIlroy and 2006 champion Tiger Woods.

Sat, 22 Jul, 2023 - 07:08

Simon Lewis

It may seem a little odd that Manchester United supporter Rory McIlroy has “Merseyside Derby” stitched into his TaylorMade staff bag this week but his is not the only equipment that is taking Liverpool as its theme at The Open.

References to both the city’s football and music scenes are, ahem, Here, There and Everywhere.

McIlroy and his cohorts have also been wearing stylised Nike shoes with the words “Play To Live” in 1960s typeface emblazoned across the manufacturer’s famous swoosh, a nod to Liverpool’s Beatles-led status as a musical hotbed in that decade.

Both Callaway and Cobra have also tapped into the Fab Four’s hometown and its proximity to the Wirral Peninsula links. The former’s staff bags feature bass and lead guitars and iconic Beatle-like heads and shoulders complete with moptop haircuts as their graphics as well as the famous Liver bird that features atop the Merseyside Liver Building and also on Liverpool FC’s crest.

Cobra, meanwhile, have modified the Penny Lane street sign their own logo carrying the LS19 postcode. It’s all kind of neat, though doubtless some wish the manufacturers had just Let It Be.

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The big white ball has also been on the agenda for Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas this week following the news both had taken a small share each in 49ers Enterprises’ buyout of Leeds United.

Fellow American PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler had also expressed an interest in backing the purchase of the Elland Road club but got cold feet once relegation from the Premier League was confirmed.

Spieth, it turns out, is made of sterner stuff, befitting the gritty outlook of the majority of supporters of the Yorkshire club. He and Thomas had been tracking Leeds’s fortunes for much of last season and the 29-year-old from Dallas said: “When they were relegated, I was going to see kind of what the new restructured deal was. It was going to take a lot for me not to get involved. I had already gotten emotionally involved.

“I'm excited. Myself and J.T., we've been kind of texting each other for six months now every game and even the other games we needed teams to lose and stuff like that. It'll be fun to keep track, hopefully get back into the Premier League.”

Both golfers have reported extra support from the Leeds contingent in the Hoylake galleries this week with Thomas saying “It's cool. It's probably the most cheers I've gotten over here.

“I definitely need to learn some songs and some chants because I heard quite a few the last five days, practice rounds included.

“Hopefully my knowledge will be a little bit higher next time I come here because I'm not going to be that guy that acts like I know a lot because I do not, so I'm just trying to get there.”

It has served as a welcome distraction for the out of form Thomas, whose first-round 82 was the twice PGA champion’s worst return from 18 holes at a major. Asked if he planned on getting a closer look at his new favourite team, he replied: “I'd like to, but I've got to figure this sport out first.”

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Australia’s Travis Smyth made a bit of Royal Liverpool history yesterday with his second round hole in one, the first to be recorded on the controversial new par-three 17th. Playing to 136 yards, Smyth’s “chippy nine-iron” took two hops before it dropped into the cup and the sizeable greenside crowd erupted in delight.

Smyth admitted to mixed emotions given he had taken a five at the same hole the previous day while the one on his card could not prevent his exit from the championship at the halfway stage, his rounds of 78 and 72 leaving him on eight over par.

Nevertheless, Smyth has made his mark on this 151st Open.

“It was amazing,” he said. “Bittersweet actually. I had a shock of the day before, made double bogey, and I was just really happy I hit a good shot because I was just so disappointed from the day before. Yeah, huge surprise that it went in the hole.

“It was just the perfect distance, perfect wind and the club. Everything just kind of came together, and it was a moment I'll never forget.”