The Linksapalooza Kick-Off

It's that greatest of all seasons of the year, when the best gofers in the world head to the terra oh-so-firma of the great links of Scotland.  It all starts with the Scottish Open on Thursday, so let's have at it...

The Scottish - It was only a very few years ago that those in charge of the Scottish Open made the decision to play it on a genuine links.  I know, what were these folks thinking all those dreary years at Lock Lomond?

A further stroke of genius was to move the championship around the country, first at Castle Stuart but then to Royal Aberdeen.  What a great showcase for the great links of Scotland not in the Open rota...This year we're going to historic Gullane, where they've been chasing the little white ball since 1650... Martin Dempster with a preview:

‘THE Challenge Awaits...’ is the slogan for this year’s £3.25 million Aberdeen Asset

Management Scottish Open. 

For the European Tour and its players, the wait for that challenge has been exactly 12 months. For Gullane Golf Club, you could say it has taken more than 350 years to come around. 

The history of the Royal & Ancient game in the picturesque East Lothian village dates back to 1650. Then, it was the weavers of Dirleton and Aberlady who played there in an annual match. Now, it’s some of the world’s best golfers trying to weave their magic in one of the European Tour’s biggest events.

Gullane is located in the East Lothian region of Scotland, and area just East of Edinburghon the mellifluous Firth of  Forth that's a must-visit for golfers.  The Gullane complex includes three courses, and forms a delightful cluster of courses for visitors that include North Berwick (home of the original Redan), Dunbar and tony Muirfield.  It also features the warmest and driest weather in Scotland, though of course the bar is set pretty damn low for those measures...

Gullane No. 1 is the best of the bunch, and this week they'll be playing a composite course that is mostly No. 1 (they're using two holes from No. 2).  It's ironic that the photo above that accompanies Dempster's piece is of such flat terrain, when the most memorable feature of Gullane No. 1 is how it starts in town then sweeps up over a massive dune ridge, and then reverses that on the finishing stretch.  When I heard that they were using two holes from No. 2 I had though it was to avoid those holes, but in his Monday a.m. visit to Morning Drive Shack made clear that they would indeed use this unusual-for-links terrain.

Here's a good flyover video from the club's websitte:

In a follow-up piece, Dempster had this about current conditions:

I’m surprised he didn’t comment on the rough because it is certainly on the juicy side. Not necessarily planned, though. It was actually quite light until a mixture of wet and warm weather in the past week or so changed its appearance. It’s almost waist-high in bits, in fact, though not in the areas where these boys will be hitting it. 

“The rough has stiffened up over the last couple of weeks, but it looks denser than it actually is,” said tournament director Mike Stewart. “You’ve got the tall fescues, and that gives the impression of it being 
really thick. Once you are in it, though, it is more wispy than dense until you get further out into the long stuff. If you miss the fairway and are in the second cut, apart from the odd pocket here and there it’s not too bad.” 

By the sounds of things, the locals will be happy that the course is going to be a tad tougher than was perhaps planned, bearing in mind that the European Tour – rightly so – don’t want players feeling as though they are being hammered into submission the week before the Open Championship.

The club is also home to a great golf museum maintained by Archie Baird and Geoff posts a slideshow of his photos here.  I like this one that gives only a sense of the substantial elevation change playing back into town.

One other quick note about Gullane.... I believe it's from their seventh tee that one gets a view of haughty next-door neighbor Muirfield, which the locals refer to as Gullane No. 4.  That'll put her in her place...

The Rors - I can't decide how I feel about Rory's ankle injury, and it's pretty rare that I'm undecided on any issues.  It seems needlessly foolish on the one hand, yet Rory's seeming normalcy, and what could be more normal than kicking around a football with his mates, is among his most endearing character traits.

Stephen Hennessey rounds up the reaction from the Twitterverse here, and it's all over the lot.  Though I think we can reject out of hand Stephen's own contribution, as an Ulsterman was quite unlikely to be motivated by Carli Lloyd....

And I just love this video captured by a twitterer with the delightful moniker @Wrong_Fairway (who knew Paul Brenner was on Twitter), in which a Fox anchor calls Rory a leprechaun and then adds for good measure that she can's stand him.  Huh, is there anybody that can't stand our Rors?  Do go watch the very short video here, if only for the great reaction shot from the other Fox anchor.

I've got more, including Old Course flyovers, but this will have to sate you for now.