NC Golfers Simpson and ‘The Postman’ Hoping to Deliver at the Open Championship

There can be no doubt how deeply entrenched golf is in the North Carolinian way of life. Pinehurst has hosted multiple major tournaments, while Quail Hollow (Charlotte), Sedgefield (Greensboro), and Eagle Point (Wilmington) have all hosted PGA TOUR events.

And then you have players like Raymond Floyd, Mark O’Meara, and Davis Love III, who have all reached the pinnacle of the sport by winning majors.

In 2023, two more NC natives will be hoping to add their names to the list of major champions from the Tar Heel State.

Tangled Webb

Having won the U.S. Open in 2012, Raleigh’s Webb Simpson has already secured his legacy in golf. But professional golfers are generally greedy types – evidenced by the number of multiple-time major champions out there, so Simpson will be hoping for another day in the sun soon.

At 300/1 in the latest golf odds for the Open Championship, you get a sense of where the seven-time PGA TOUR winner’s game is at right now – more prolific champions such as Rory McIlroy (8/1), Jon Rahm (9/1) and Scottie Scheffler (9/1) are much more heavily favored by the market.

You won’t find many free golf betting tips talking up Simpson’s chances, but the 37-year-old does have a trick up his sleeve that makes him such a good player on Links courses in the UK where the Open Championship is held annually: he is one of the most accurate players in world golf.

During the 2021/22 season, he ranked 34th for Driving Accuracy on the PGA TOUR having ranked 21st for Greens in Regulation a year prior to that. Both of those stats confirm just how well Simpson is able to control his ball.

That’s a skill set that is a pre-requisite for success in Links golf, with the typical high winds on the coastline of the UK and Ireland matched by firm and fast conditions on the ground.

So it’s no surprise that Simpson has posted three top-20 finishes in the Open Championship, or that he’s won similarly wind-affected events in Florida, Arizona and South Carolina.

Unfortunately, a serious neck injury that required surgery in 2022 has derailed his progress since – hence those lengthy betting odds this year, but there’s no doubt that at his best Simpson can contend at the Open Championship.

But can he recapture his finest form in time?

Poston Poised

With a nickname like The Postman, there’s no shortage of quips to be made about J.T. Poston delivering the goods.

He certainly did that when winning the Wyndham Championship in 2019 – an emotional moment for the North Carolinian to win in his home state, and Poston has since followed up with victory at the John Deere Classic in 2022.

Prodigiously talented, Poston is yet to truly show his best form on the big stage with just three top-40 finishes to his name in majors, but two of those have come in 2023 at The Masters and the PGA Championship – that suggests he is starting to feel more comfortable when the spotlight is shining at its brightest.

According to the Official World Golf Rankings, some of the Hickory native’s best paydays in golf have come via high finishes in the RBC Heritage, a tournament played on a Links golf course on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.

Poston also ranks 47th on the PGA TOUR for Greens in Regulation, so like Simpson he clearly has the aptitude to play in the unique conditions that he will be faced with at the Open Championship in July.

So could he, or fellow North Carolinian Simpson, bring another major golf trophy home to NC?