Sir Nick Faldo delivers his honest verdict on Royal Troon’s set-up after Xander Schauffele wins The Open

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The final major of the year is in the bag and done with as Xander Schauffele ended up winning out at Royal Troon in The Open.

Schauffele’s quite brilliant six-under par final round ensured he staved off both Justin Rose and Billy Horschel in second to win his second major of the year.

The American now goes into the Olympics as one of the favourites to win in Paris and having won before, he’ll be keen to cap his 2024 off in style.

Of course, it’s impossible to look at Schauffele’s win at The Open without mentioning the course and conditions at Royal Troon.

All weekend, golfers commented on just how tough things were, especially on the Saturday.

Scottie Scheffler admitted it was the toughest round he’d ever played, while Shane Lowry drew the ire of golf fans for complaining as well.

Further, Dustin Johnson followed Scheffler in saying it was as tough as it gets in golf.

However, while things were hard, three-time Open winner Sir Nick Faldo felt there was nothing to complain about.

Sir Nick Faldo gives his opinion on if Royal Troon was too tough at The Open

Speaking on Sky Sports about how he’d personally seen things over the week, Faldo backed the organisers and believes the course was simply brilliant.

“I think Troon and the R&A did a brilliant job setting up the golf course. It was tough and it was fair,” Faldo said.

“I cannot believe that eighth hole, the carnage on that, a little 100 yarder. But this is a really special golf course.

“I think Troon has really come alive and I bet we look forward to coming back to this wonderful links.”

Winning majors should be hard

While the comments from the players doing the business here are valid in a way, at the end of the day, winning a major golf tournament should be hard work.

Too many times we see the PGA players cruise around courses in the USA and shoot 25 under par and beyond.

There was never going to be any of that around Royal Troon and as Faldo says, the organisers did a great job of giving a tough and fair test.

More golf like this through the season might draw more eyes to the game in general.

There’s been suggestions of a ‘Links Swing’ where a month of golf is played in the UK and to be honest, it would be an exciting addition to the tour.