The ecosystem sits 1up. Try as they may to keep attention on the 150th staging of this great championship, there is no doubt the Open has been clouded by a wider narrative. In the red corner: the PGA and DP World Tours.
In the blue corner: LIV Golf and its Saudi Arabian-backed disruption plan. With golfers from both camps jousting for the Claret Jug while trading public broadsides, it is impossible to ignore the sense of soap opera.