The Open Diary: Bryson bringing the bling
GOLDEN BOY: USA's Bryson DeChambeau after a press conference ahead of The Open at Royal Troon. Pic: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.
“There's a lot of money floating around in golf at the minute,” Rory McIlroy said on Tuesday. The man wasn’t wrong.
Exhibit 9,548 in the case against golf’s crazed excesses is now presented to one and all by the custom-made, solid-gold smartphone delivered to Bryson DeChambeau at the LIV tournament (of course) in Andalucia last weekend.
The promo spiel that came with this news described a “first-ever 24k gold Samsung produced by iDesign Gold (IDG), a company that produces bespoke phones for sports stars around the world”.
Lionel Messi, Anthony Joshua, Kylian Mbappe and … Paris Hilton were all listed as satisfied customers. DeChambeau commissioned his on the back of his US Open win earlier this summer. Nicknamed ‘The Scientist’, do we now call him ‘Goldfingers’?
Admit it, you’re dying to know how much the phone is worth. It’s close to €9,000. It’s engraved to mark the Pinehurst victory, which will only heighten the sense of panic should he leave it inadvertently behind at a coffee shop or drop it down the toilet.
The screensaver? DeChambeau lifting the US Open, naturally.
IDG, by the by, is an Irish company and headquartered in Dubai.
The Open is a grand old tournament with a heritage and tradition stretching back to 1860, but change is inevitable even here in the fusty surrounds of some of the world’s most eminent links courses.
This is the last men’s Open for outgoing R&A CEO Martin Slumbers and chief referee David Rickman is on duty for the final time having been with the organisation “since it seems Bobby Jones was in his prime” according to Slumbers.
Or, 37 years to be exact.
“I’m happiest when no one knows I’m even here,” Rickman told “That is success. If I go out on the golf course, I am inevitably in the wrong place. So I tend to stay in headquarters. I’ve got television screens in front of me. I’ve got a computer. I’ve got radio in my ear.”
If Rickman and Slumbers have been crucial to The Open behind the scenes then Ivor Robson was front of house for 41 years, from Carnoustie in 1975 to St Andrews in 2015, during which time he didn’t miss a single tee-time let alone a championship.
estimated he had announced just short of 19,000 players over his time.
Robson passed away last October at the age of 83, meaning this will be the first Open to be played since he departed for the great golf course in the sky. No doubt, many will still hear that distinctive Scottish brogue when the players step up to the 1st tee this week.
Yes, the 2024 version wasn’t even up and running earlier this week when the convoluted ticket ballot for next year’s 153rd Open Championship got up and running so don’t dawdle if you fancy a day out, or more, up on the amazing Antrim coastline this time next year.
Portrush’s hosting back in 2019 was the first time the event put down pegs in Northern Ireland in 68 years and, as we all know, it proved to be a runaway success with a then record attendance and a memorable win for Offaly’s Shane Lowry.
The charge of spectators down the 18th green that Sunday was the culmination of a ridiculously successful change of course by the R&A and the demand for 2025 is likely to be even greater given those scenes and the tournament’s spiralling appeal.
“I mean, Portrush was amazing,” said Slumbers on Wednesday morning this week. “But what Portrush did — it's a very interesting piece of the equation — is that the vast majority of the people who came to Portrush had never been to an Open Championship before.
“So it wasn't all the people that are coming here saying we're going to travel across and go to it. It was a different audience. There were more Americans but it wasn't dominated by Americans. It was about 20% from the United States. So it opened up a new market and that's good for business and good for golf.”
The ballot closes on July 31st. Best of luck.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
