It has been said that 'everything is big at Newcastle'. It is true: the big mountain; the big sea; the Sleive Donard Hotel that was once the biggest in Ireland; and a big golf course, both in character and reputation. The Royal County Down Golf Club is a unique, proud and reverent club with one of the finest and most beautifully irreverent links in the world. SCOTT MACPHERSON (Golf's Royal Clubs)
I know the television times were inconvenient for anyone with a life (that, fortunately, excludes your humble blogger), but it was a spectacular week of linksy goodness at Royal County Down:
NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland (AP) -- Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark won the Irish Open
The Winner in a three-way playoff Sunday after his short winning putt on the first extra hole just barely managed to avoid lipping out.
Kjeldsen entered the final round with a two-stroke lead, but shot a 5-over 76 to finish tied with Eddie Pepperell of England (69) and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria (73). All scored a 2-under total of 282 on the wind-swept, rain-battered Royal County Down, where just five of the 156 competitors finished the tournament under par.
The 40-year-old Kjeldsen took command of the playoff by hitting a second shot that reached the sloping green of the par-5, 525-yard 18th hole - which he had bogeyed Thursday and Saturday and nearly again Sunday.
I know, not exactly household names... but the show ponies had the grace to exit Stage Left and let the golf course be the star this week. In light of the high winds forecast, the greens were not cut Sunday and a good thing that, as the wind was gusting past 40 mph at times and the temperatures never hit 50, so think golf's version of the Bataan Death March. In fact, at about the midpoint of the broadcast with the "leaders" having just made the turn, England's Danny Willet chipped on for eagle on the finishing hole to post even par, and it wasn't inconceivable that that score could have held up.
Ultimately the worst of the weather blew through and the guys found enough pars out there to post 2-under, the lowest winning score I can remember since the Massacre at Winged Foot (I exaggerate slightly). And how appropriate the the winning putt took a full 360 around the cup before dropping in, so those hearty souls on the golf course could get home for a warm cuppa...
Golf.com provides a gallery of weather photos from the Irish Open (as well as the Nelson), including this that could as well be an ISIS beheading video:
Though given the nature of out friends at ISIS, I'd expect Nike or Puma in lieu of Ping and Titelist...Or how about this one of Graeme McDowell, who called the place 'A Beast":
Did you hear about Rickie's finish on Saturday? Golf Channel video can be seen here, but the gist of it is that Rickie had no sooner chipped in for eagle on No. 16 than he launched two ball OB on No. 17 and another on the home hole. For those scoring at home, that's a 2-8-8 finish, not something we see every day... or ever.
I'll throw another household name at you, Maximilian Kieffer, a German golfer of little distinction who now holds the Royal County Down course record:
Kieffer struck a course-record round of 65, one shot lower than the previous best set in 1939 and matched Friday.
"I had the luck you need," said Kieffer, who joked with his caddie before the round about breaking the record on the 126-year-old seaside links course.
How quaint is that? I know the big boys don't get to Cty. Down but once a century, but is there another track in the world where the course record in 2015 is as high as 66? Heck, Rory shot a 61 at Royal Portrush at age 16, and he's not even a good links player...
As a professional blogger I know how to pounce on a teed-up segue, so how about the young man missing two straight cuts? Jaime Diaz was the first to the bar with this typically astute analysis:
McIlroy's particular brand of genius-level ability comes with an artistic temperament that makes him stubborn about playing the kind of golf he knows he's capable of and deeply wants to play. Which starts with hitting his favorite club -- the driver -- aggressively and often. It's statistically established that when he's hitting the driver well, it provides his most distinct advantage over the competition. And McIlroy has hit it so well -- with a gorgeous ball flight that he can bend both ways -- often enough that at 26 he is already considered a historically great driver. Most importantly for McIlroy's competitive state of mind, playing his brand of majestic golf tee to green is what most satisfies the artist within.
But on the flip side, being slightly off at the very high swing speeds that McIlroy generates means misses that go farther into trouble than shorter hitters. Psychologically, for an artist with McIlroy's talent level, it's nearly unavoidable that the mistakes grate more than they would for a less talented player with a more pragmatic view. The mega-talented and artistically bent Tom Weiskopf ruefully mused that after a couple of shots that displeased him, he began to look at his round as a painting he wanted to tear up and start over.
You guys know how highly I think of Jaime, but while the Weiskopf comparison is of interest, the results speak for themselves... Weiskopf never managed to get much out of his artistry, winning only an Open Championship in his entire career, while Rory has four having just turned 26. Back to Jaime:
Of course, golf is a game of misses even for Ben Hogan. But while he's gotten better at stemming the tide on those days when it's not going right, McIlroy is susceptible to seeing his indifferent rounds snowball into snowmen. At McIlroy's stratospheric level -- No. 1 in the world, four major championships by age 25, one of the powerfully efficient golf swings ever seen -- it's a weakness.
Compared to the two dozen or so players golf's pantheon, at this point its fair to say that McIlroy's exhibits a distaste for grinding. Whereas Tiger Woods seemed to get as much satisfaction from turning a 75 into a 70 as from posting a 65, and Jack Nicklaus was a disciplined master of not shooting himself out of tournaments with wasted strokes, McIlroy models those behaviors almost grudgingly.
Jaime kind of walks that back in his next graph, but I think the message here is something slightly different... Rory is far less consistent than Tiger was at his peak, and he does seem to have a propensity to go walkabout at times. As I read somewhere else, he's more Phil than Tiger...
Shack goes a different direction with Jaime's piece, as per this excerpt:
But there is also the fascinating issue of his recurring issues with links-style conditions given his country of origin. Whether it's a lack of patience for wind, or firm and fast conditions, or simply finding himself more comfortable on lush, tree-lined courses instead of exposed ones, McIlroy now faces three straight majors at courses potentially presenting the conditions he is unaccustomed to liking and for which he managed to like enough to win last year at a soft-ish Hoylake.
Should he devote even more of his time to figuring out how to conquer such conditions? Or look beyond 2015 and accept that not enough significant tournaments beyond the Irish,Scottish and Open Championships are played in links conditions to warrant a reconsideration of his approach?
Historically, few of the all-time greats have gone an entire career having a chilly relationship with links golf. Bobby Jones and Tom Watson famously disliked exposed golf and unpredictable conditions only to become the most eloquent of all links spokesmen. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods were on board from the start and reaped rewards.Phil Mickelson always knew he should love the creativity and artistry required in links play but it took him nearly a quarter of a century to finally conquer such conditions. The payoff, however, forever changed his place in the history of the game from elite player to one of the all-time greats.
Life is ironic, ain't it? The comparisons to Phil are quite entertaining, though it took Phil far longer to not only win an Open Championship, but to win majors in general... But Phil is from Southern California, Rory is from links-central, hence the conundrum.
One last note from Shack, this time as relates to the date of the event:
Traditionally golf's French Open kicks off a huge three-week run culminating in TheOpen Championship but is played on an inland course that will host the 2018 Ryder Cup.
But wouldn’t three weeks of links golf when the weather doesn’t make Rochester natives wonder what tundra they’ve stepped into, be a better fit?
Sure, the lads will cry foul that three weeks of links golf will undue their precious swings, but we also know about 50% of the world’s elite believe in playing the week before a major, and the other 50% like to play two weeks out and have the week off heading into one of golf’s big four. So both the Scottish and Irish Opens should be able to attract quality fields while giving two historically important events on links golf the prominent place they deserve.
Now it’s just incumbent on Rory and his friends from Dubai to learn from the success of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open to keep pushing for links venues.
OK, you can click through if you want to understand the Rochester dig? And Geoff may be over-promising a bit on the weather, as it's not like we don't see the ski caps and mittens in July...
But on his larger point, it's a spectacular idea, actually it's two great ideas. The first is that the Irish Open commit to links venues as did the Scottish to great acclaim and improved fields. The second is that it be moved to a better spot on the calendar...that, alas, would require the Euro. Tour to see the benefit, and good luck with that. But a fellow can dream...
That concludes (yanno, unless it doesn't) our coverage of Royal County Down. I hope to be back later with a return to our regularly scheduled programming.
No comments:
Post a Comment