{"id":39498,"date":"2026-07-16T13:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:50:24","slug":"british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"British Open: Baldwin, who missed World Cup semifinals due to early start, hits &#8216;horrible&#8217; opening shot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>SOUTHPORT, England (AP) \u2014 Matthew Baldwin had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the game. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">british open<\/span> At Royal Birkdale, Brit has been a member for 23 years, having grown up in the area.<\/p>\n<p>That meant a 3:30am alarm was needed.<\/p>\n<p>It also meant missing out on the biggest soccer match in his country&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p>Baldwin said he didn&#8217;t watch the England game. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">A heartbreaking 2-1 loss<\/span> They will face Argentina in the men&#8217;s World Cup semi-final, which began Wednesday at 8 p.m. He dozed off until he woke up 55 minutes into the match and learned England were leading 1-0. He fell asleep and woke up again around midnight to be informed by his wife that England had lost.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly for Baldwin, it was a good start to his fourth British Open appearance and his first at Birkdale.<\/p>\n<p>He said his first shot with an iron splitting the middle of a dry fairway was acknowledged by a cheering crowd in the packed bleachers in the early morning sun. \u201cHorrifying\u201d and \u201coverwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But,&#8221; added Baldwin, who shot a 2-over 72, &#8220;it&#8217;s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP golf: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/golf<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/british-open-baldwin-world-cup-bd07e68665bedb1d1872ef6e706aa5a5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SOUTHPORT, England (AP) \u2014 Matthew Baldwin had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the game. british open At Royal Birkdale, Brit has been a member for 23 years, having grown up in the area. That meant a 3:30am alarm was needed. It also meant missing out on the biggest soccer match in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>British Open: Baldwin, who missed World Cup semifinals due to early start, hits &#039;horrible&#039; opening shot - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"British Open: Baldwin, who missed World Cup semifinals due to early start, hits &#039;horrible&#039; opening shot - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SOUTHPORT, England (AP) \u2014 Matthew Baldwin had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the game. british open At Royal Birkdale, Brit has been a member for 23 years, having grown up in the area. That meant a 3:30am alarm was needed. It also meant missing out on the biggest soccer match in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T13:50:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/\",\"name\":\"British Open: Baldwin, who missed World Cup semifinals due to early start, hits 'horrible' opening shot - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F5d2F3c2F46ca5e1b347d85c61887070a70de2Ffabb1cb78880486adfbcd3388404ed35.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T13:50:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F5d2F3c2F46ca5e1b347d85c61887070a70de2Ffabb1cb78880486adfbcd3388404ed35.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F5d2F3c2F46ca5e1b347d85c61887070a70de2Ffabb1cb78880486adfbcd3388404ed35.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/british-open-baldwin-who-missed-world-cup-semifinals-due-to-early-start-hits-horrible-opening-shot\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"British Open: Baldwin, who missed World Cup semifinals due to early start, hits &#8216;horrible&#8217; opening shot\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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