Carnoustie, Scotland • In plumbing the bottomless mystery of how one person can win four out of the 15 golf majors played in one stretch of time, then zero out of the ensuing 14, that person, Rory McIlroy, proposed an explanation earlier this week: The world keeps churning out highbrow talent.
“Even this week, there’s 156 guys in the field, and there’s probably over half of them that have a realistic chance of winning this golf tournament,” he said. “Like, I didn’t play in the previous eras, but I don’t think there were that many.”
The 147th British Open leader board reflects precisely this.