The Golf Insiders July 13, 2016

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Holly G along with co host Kevin Sternett, assistant pro at Golden Bear Club at Keene's Point and Will Perry, creative director at EVVUS and social media ace for The Golf Insiders, are in the studio on the eve of the 145th Open Championship in Royal Troon, Scotland.

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Holly talks with the guys about the U.S. Women's Open Championship that ended once again in a rules infraction. With Anna Nordqvist being penalized for unknowingly moving a grain of sand in the bunker on the second hole of a 3-hole aggregate playoff.

Holly G talks with Kevin and Will about the 20 professional golfers who have opted out of playing golf in the 2016 Rio Olympics with the latest American being Jordan Spieth. The sport is only slated to play in this Olympics and the 2020 Olympics after not being part of the games for more than 100 years.

Another headline was that Rory McIlroy speaking out about drug testing for golfers in the Olympics being basically a joke. 

Holly welcomes Jeff Babineau, Golfweek, from Scotland to the show to talk about the Open Championship and Rory's comments. Justin Rose is that golf is skipping Rio and not the Olympics. Jeff said that you really can't blame any of the participants since you can't guarantee someone's health in Rio you can't blame them for not participating. Jeff stressed that it's not just the Zika virus, but the Tour schedule as well as security concerns that have all factored into the player's decisions.  Plus for Tour players this might only be the 5th or 6th most important event this season with the Major Championships. Those don't exist in other sports so golfers don't grow up dreaming of playing in the Olympics as they might in the other sports where no major trophy or goal exists.

Jeff had a chance to walk the course with Matt Kuchar today who now is the fourth member of the U.S. Olympic team. Matt, a 38-year-old is excited about the Olympics and a possibility of a gold medal.

Holly talks with Jeff about the course at Royal Troon and how it sets up for the golfers competing in the Open Championship that starts tomorrow. The wind and the weather will be factors as it is always at Royal Troon as well as the creativity coming from the pot bunkers.

Jeff feels the course that solid ball strikers should be favored on this course and golfers who like to fight and hang in there for 4 days. Luck and the player's draw also factor into who will win. Adam Scott is Jeff's pick.

Todd Lewis, the Golf Channel, the course is green and looks good. Probably low scores on Thursday but maybe not Friday with the poor weather that's on the forecast. Holly talks with Todd about the course's pot bunkers and the creativity that may come from the players as they try to escape with an up and down over the next four days, especially at the postage stamp 8th hole. Todd says that it's a wedge shot of about 120-130 yards. Todd says there may be some train wrecks on the hole and will be a fun hole to watch.

Holly asks Todd about Rory's comments about the Olympics ... Todd agrees with Brandel Chamblee's comments that Rory could have said it a little more eloquently instead of how he said it which seemed like a slap in the face to those who worked tirelessly to get golf back into the Olympics. Also Rory's comments about it not being his responsibility to grow the game of golf.  It seemed odd since Rory is totally the opposite when it comes to helping children get into golf and his charities that help others. Todd thinks that it might be a difficult for Rory with all this extra stuff in the media.

Todd says that it's just the ninth time that Royal Troon has hosted the Open Championship and the last time was 2004 so a lot of the players aren't familiar with it. Guys who have good form now and those who like links golf courses. Like Dustin Johnson and Zach Johnson, Scott Piercy or even Patrick Reed who finished second at the Scottish Open last week. Another player who may do well this week is Danny Lee who was a former European Tour member. This is the Golf Channel's first time covering a major. Jason Day is Todd's pick to win.

Steve Eubanks, The Global Golf Post, calls in the final segment of the show to talk about the U.S. Women's Open Championship and the USGA's handling of the ruling on Anna Nordqvist. He said it clearly was a penalty but it's how they handled the penalty. As far as the Open Championship, Steve's pick is Jordan Spieth. Kevin picks Justin Rose and Gary Woodland, Will takes DJ and Holly takes Sergio and Jason Day. Holly's dark horse is Danny Willett.