Zach Johnson and Louis De Jager positive

Even before starting the 149th edition of The Open, the fourth and last male Major of 2021 scheduled from Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 July in Sandwich (England), Kent, it continues to lose pieces. After Hideki Matsuyama and Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson will also miss the Grand Slam tournament because he is positive at Covid. Winner of the Open Championship in 2015, he will not be in the match.

Zach Johnson is not the only

But the absences don't end there. For the same reasons, the South African Louis De Jager will also be missing.

If not bitter, the record that Lee Westwood is about to break is at least sad. On Thursday on the Royal St. George's course, the professional will play the 2021 Open Championship, which is his 88th Major. And, as in the previous 87, he will be on the hunt for his first Grand Slam victory. Like him, with a dry mouth in a Grand Slam, no one ever.

In 25 years of an amazing career, the 48-year-old has won everything and everywhere but not a Grand Slam competition in golf. On the showcase the beauty of 44 titles between European Tour and tournaments in Asia, two successes on the PGA Tour, 22 weeks from number one in the world ranking and 23 total points won in ten editions of Ryder Cup played (seven won). Yet he misses that sharp between the Open Championship, Augusta Masters, US Open and PGA Championship. That icing on a perfect career seems further and further away.

From Thursday he will be the involuntary leader of the sad ranking of the Majors played without ever having raised the trophy. At the 2021 Open Championship Lee will oust Jay Haas from the top (87 slams between the 1970s and 2008). And to say that the English often almost touched that trophy. 18 times out of 87 he finished in the top ten. Of these three are second places, six third places.

Fans will remember Augusta losing to Mickelson on the last lap in 2010 or six years after witnessing Jordan Spieth crash before giving up himself to Danny Willett. At the 2008 Us Open he was leading on the last lap but dropped three times in four holes, giving way to Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. At the 2013 Open Championship he was beaten by Mickelson at his best yet.

Winning a Major, you know, is a feat. The stars of golf must arrange themselves in the right way in a few days: a great game on the field must correspond to a large dose of luck and very strong nerves.

Westwood has made a comeback in recent months, winning and convincing on more than one circuit. With his wife as permanent caddy and son Sam as caddy from time to time he is experiencing a second golfing youth. But the question remains as to what the memory of player Lee Westwood will be like one day.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3yUZDM1