Open Championship Micro-Blogging

When last we met, I neglected to consider how busy the late-week calendar is, including tomorrow's Play for P.I.N.K. fundraiser.  I've got ninety minutes right now, so let's use it productively, with early day USA coverage as my soundtrack.

Wither Tiger - Golf.com convenes its daily Tour Confidential panel to consider the Big Cat's prospects:

The 150th Open Championship begins on Thursday, and for the first time since May and the PGA Championship, we’ll see Tiger Woods. He’ll be playing his favorite course and at a place he’s won twice. But can Woods actually contend? What’s your prediction for him this week?

Sean Zak: He’s shown an impressive ability to make the cut this year, and I’d expect the same thing to happen this week. And a better finish on the weekend, too. But contention? Nah. T34.

James Colgan: Agreed, Zak. I think it’s reasonable to expect Tiger’s best performance of 2022 this weekend. As for what that looks like? Sign me up for T8, and a whole lot of watery eyes when he crosses Swilcan on Sunday.

Alan Bastable: His game can certainly contend — he’s still one of the planet’s best iron players, and with as fast and firm as Ye Olde Course is playing, Woods’ guile will put him in good stead. I do fear for his body, though. His ever-so-ginger dismount of the Swilcan Bridge the other night gave me pause. He looked sore and shaky. Still, Tiger gonna Tiger: solo 21st.

Josh Sens: The mind is still willing, which in Tiger’s case is plenty to make the cut. But I think we’d need more severe weather, and for Woods to get the good side of the draw on it, for him to come close to winning this thing. Without wild conditions, there are going to be too many big guns in the mix for Tiger to outfire them all.

Nick Piastowski: I’ll go the optimistic route and say he finishes top 10. I’ve mentioned here it before, but I think that if Tiger is signing himself up to play, he’s believing that he can contend. And I like that confidence.

Josh Berhow: Given his play since his return, I just don’t see him having a great week here. I know he’s got great history, it’s an easier, flat (relatively speaking) walk for him, and that he’s been working up to this all year, but I just don’t see it — at least given all the evidence we have to look at. He won’t be in contention, and I’m not sure he makes the cut. I think he’ll miss it, barely.

Luke Kerr-Dineen: The funny thing about Tiger Woods, both this week and frankly every major he’s playing in, is that he’s facing the opposite problem to everyone else. Put him down the stretch with a few holes left, and that extra pressure will probably help him. He’s still Tiger Woods in the mind and heart, after all. He can still beat anyone. The problem is getting Tiger to that point, which I just can’t see happening. He’ll make the cut, then throw in one rusty round where he can’t get anything going and his body doesn’t feel great. Low end of the top 25 sounds about right.

They've pretty much covered the range of mathematical possibilities, yet I can't help but think that they're suffering from a case of tunnel vision. 

Not sure why they didn't include this guy on the panel:

Few have a better sense of how Tiger is doing than Fred Couples, a longtime friend who used to have Tiger’s caddie Joey LaCava as his own sidekick.

Speaking during his Fred Couples Radio Show on Sirius XM on Wednesday, Couples gave a window into the state of Tiger’s game and this ringing endorsement: “I talk to him every night and when he tells me things, you know, some are top secret. But when he talks about his game, he says, ‘I am driving it really, really well. I’m putting well.’ And again, at St. Andrews, if he does his deal, he’s one of the best iron players to ever play, if not the best. And if he’s not striping four irons into par fours, but he’s got nines and wedges, I honestly think he knows that he can win this thing.”

 Stop it, y'all!  The man's a cripple and you got your miracle in 2019....

And yet, it is all setting up rather perfectly for the guy, no?  Though I suspect he'd prefer those early week wind forecasts, but the firm turf is right up his alley, as are the warm temperatures.  I don't expect that he'll have a full four days of grind in him, but I've been surprised that the word "Hoylake" hasn't come up more often this week, given the obvious parallel in course conditions.  Though, per Geoff, I'm not the only one seeing that connection:

After his press conference, I asked Tiger if this is the firmest he’s ever seen the Old Course. He pondered, looked up briefly to recount his five previous appearances and said, “Yes…here. Not in the Open.”

He smiled. “Hoylake’s still the firmest.”

Tiger had a lot to say of interest at that link, but did you catch how gingerly he stepped off the Swilican Bridge during Monday's festivities.  I hadn't considered this aspect of it:

On crossing Swilcan Bridge: “I tell you what, honestly, now I've got to be a little more careful with spikes on on that bridge. I don't quite have the agility that I used to. I almost ate it today.”

There's no avoiding it, so let's hope he has to traverse it at least four more times...

LIVing The Dream - It won't go away, though Martin Slumbers certainly drew a line in the sand on behalf of the R&A.

Martin Slumbers opened the R&A media conference by making a strong statement against the

Saudi-backed LIV Golf League and doubled down under relentless and eventually, tedious, questioning.

“I firmly believe that the existing golf ecosystem has successfully provided stable pathways for golfers to enter the sport and develop and realize their full potential,” he said in prepared remarks delivered without any other committee members present.

“Professional golfers are entitled to choose where they want to play and to accept the prize money that's offered to them. I have absolutely no issue with that at all. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. I believe the model we've seen at Centurion and Pumpkin Ridge is not in the best long-term interests of the sport as a whole and is entirely driven by money. We believe it undermines the merit-based culture and the spirit of open competition that makes golf so special.”

That's actually fairly direct, and compares favorably to the wishy-washiness of Mike Whan.

 And appropriately calling BS on the infidels:

Slumbers also sounded genuinely offended by “grow the game” references and made clear—bless him—that pro golf is not the game, the 70 million or so golfers and the courses they play are.

“I would also like to say that in my opinion the continued commentary that this is about growing the game is just not credible and if anything, is harming the perception of our sport which we are working so hard to improve. I have often talked about the 99 percent who play golf for love. And I believe that the vast majority of the 70 million-plus golfers do so because of the values of golf, which to me are integrity, personal responsibility, and respect.”

Under questioning, Slumbers suggested the R&A will review qualification and that led to some spirited moments over standards and the Official World Golf Ranking.

Also calling BS on a certain shirtless Aussie:

There was plenty more but this is a newsletter about the majors and I’m getting sleepy just thinking about the First World dreariness of it all. I did enjoy this on Greg Norman’s non-invite this year out of fear the Shirtless one would

“Greg hasn't been here since 2010. He didn't come in 2015. In fact, it's many years since he's even been to The Open. So there would have been another reason for that.”

Ya think?  The funniest bit, of course, being Norman's vainglorious assertion that he should, for reasons unclear to mortal men, be allowed to play in the event.  because he's still big, it's just the shotgun tournaments have gotten small....

The Course -  It's the most analyzed real estate in golf (with the possible exception of Augusta National), yet one feels that it's hard to appreciate from a distance.  But this feature is well worth your time as you watch play:

British Open 2022: A deep-dive look at the subtle but ongoing evolution of the Old Course

Through flyover footage, one can see ways the Old Course has been altered to stay relevant in the new millenium

The flyovers are quite spectacular, as I especially like the view from the 14th tee, one where the player is almost completely dependent upon his or her caddie for line of play.  But folks who think this is some museum piece are uninformed:

Given its historic place, the perception is that the Old Course has just sat there unchanged all these centuries as golfers and their tools have gotten better. In truth, though, it has evolved, almost constantly. According to Scott Macpherson, a golf course architect who has studied the Old Course through all its changes for his book The Evolution of the Old Course, the introduction of the Haskell ball led to a lengthening of the course by roughly 200 yards. By the 1920s, a map done by Alister Mackenzie showed the yardage to be nearly 6,600 yards. By the 1940s, it was over 6,800 yards and well above 6,900 yards in the 1960s. But since 2000, and the modern ball and club era, it’s added nearly 400 yards. Throughout, tees have been lengthened or repositioned at new angles, even stretched outside the normal boundaries of the original links itself, adjustments that might seem grotesque to some while others might call it a natural evolution.

“It’s trying to find a sensitive way to do it that will protect the integrity of the course,” Macpherson said recently on his podcast Golf Design Matters.

Do scroll through it, but here's the discussion of the critical 14th hole, as good a hole to focus on this week as any:

No. 14: Par 5, 614 yards

Even the longest hole on the course, the par-5 14th, might not provide the trouble it should, despite playing 614 yards, or 50 yards longer than it did 25 years ago. The hole is famous for the collection of bunkers known as the Beardies that guard the left side and the enormous pit called Hell Bunker that thwarts all but the best or most conservative second shots. But again, the changes in tee length and location have changed the effectiveness of these hazards, the fear factor has become almost a non-factor, except when the wind blows. In the 2015 Open, when the wind was up for three of the four rounds, it was one of only five par five holes on the PGA Tour that year with a scoring average over par. “It’s such a spooky tee shot when the wind’s this way,” golf commentator Ken Brown noted at the time.

In the early days, players had to fly tee shots on the 14th over the Beardies, but too often now they are almost like a garnish on the hole, Macpherson said. It is rare that the Old Course adds a bunker these days, but he believes a fourth added to the Beardies could inject some fear back into the tee shot. Instead, players now club down to more easily navigate the out of bounds up the right, but somewhat uncharacteristically for a links, there’s rough along an out-of-bounds stone wall that further pinches the fairway, presumably to push a player’s aim more toward the Beardies.

Another 200 yards or so beyond the Beardies is Hell Bunker, but it, too, seems only a minor distraction these days. Players often can safely and easily play to the 5th fairway, although that often leaves a blind third shot. And while Jack Nicklaus famously took four whacks to get out of Hell in 1995, he only found himself in there after a poor shot with a 4-wood, not a club any current player is likely using on that hole. As Macpherson writes, “Today, this bunker is a museum piece for modern professionals with their 200 mph ball speeds and towering shots, so Hell is all but reserved for mortals and tourists.”

If The Beardies and Hell Bunker are no longer functioning hazards, then we've truly crossed the Rubicon....

Say What? -  So, fresh off Jordan Spieth's apology for going to the Deere in 2015, shall we nurse another grievance?  The unknown to me Gabrielle Herzog has this tourist guide up:

British Open 2022: 15 St. Andrews landmarks you need to know

Which oddly includes this:

Tom Morris Golf Shop

It’s not surprising that the oldest golf shop in the world rests just off the 18th fairway of the Old Course. The store was owned by Old Tom Morris, the father of golf, but the site of his original workshop is disguised as an Open Championship merchandise store this week.

Which is great, except that last I looked, they had rebranded that shop into something far more commercial:

Literally scrubbing away the history that made St Andrews such a great place to visit #shame #shame #shame pic.twitter.com/qABuUuPnfj

— DaleConcannon (@DaleConcannon) March 26, 2018

Literally.  This was Tom's actual workshop adjacent to the hole named "Tom Morris", but far more important to have more Open signage, because we know how hard that is to find.

Unless they've seen the error of their ways and changed it back, but color me highly skeptical on that front...

Enjoy the golf from the Auld Grey Toon and we'll wrap everything on Monday.

Tuesday Tastings - Open Week Edition

One must take time to know the Old Course in all its moods. One must study the subtleties of its terrain and its curiously shifting winds. One must find its hidden snares and one must approach it without preconceptions of what a golf course should be. To be down the middle may mean nothing there; that may be quite the wrong place. To be long may mean nothing in less length is shrewdly used. To be able to play a few shots perfectly is not always enough; one must at times have the full repertoire. ROBERT HUNTER

Lots to cover and never quite enough time. So, enough with the pleasantries....

Scenes From St. Andrews - Ran Morrissett attempts to put into words that which most of us intrinsically sense:

Why we love the Old Course: The world’s most celebrated links stirs the spirit at every turn

Ran has quite the lede:

Can a course be ranked No. 1 and still be underrated? In the case of the Old Course at St. Andrews, which doubles as Open host this week and top dog on GOLF’s inaugural list of the Top 100 Courses in the British Isles, yes. Ironically, no course of the Old’s pedigree on the planet during the last half of the last century was as ignored. Thank goodness we have started to come to our senses.

Another good image of the "flat" turf of the Old Course.

 Remind me of when it was ignored?

When it comes to the Old Course, past is prologue. You can see it in the way modern architects have begun, again, to take cues from her, like in places such as Tom Doak’s St. Patrick’s Links (No. 13 on our UK and Ireland list) and Ohoopee Match Club, Gil Hanse’s match-play gem in rural Georgia. What our panel deems the “best of the new” includes a commitment to short, fast grass, playing angles and hazards unsullied by overzealous shapers — the heart of St. Andrews.

Here, an hour north of Edinburgh, sits a relatively flat (though lusciously crumpled) strip of land, giving birth to golf played “on the ground.” The Old’s legendary greenkeepers throughout time have imbued its turf with a near mystical firmness. Couple that with the acreage 30 yards and in — where fescue fairways meld into fescue putting surfaces — and you have a design unmatched in its elasticity and playability. Every shot is within every golfer’s grasp, regardless of age and ability. Literally, it’s a course for the ages.

Oh, designers have always taken cues from the old girl, just look at that Mackenzie-Jones collaboration in Georgia in the 1930's.  Always, that is, except perhaps for the dreadful Trent Jones era, but we're past that now, thank God.

But, while we appreciate Ran's effort, it doesn't really threaten the heart of the matter, does it?  But it's been a mere 600 years of playing golf on this site so perhaps, as is said about the French Revolution, it's simply too early to know.

But one of it's charms is certainly the quirkiness of it all, partially captured by this:

Open Championship 2022: What's it like to play the Old Course backward? Have a look for yourself

In 2019, the St. Andrews Links flipped the Old Course for one day and allowed a select few golfers to play the famed links in reverse. We were invited to take part in the novel activity.

Truth be told, it’s not quite as novel as it might seem. The “clockwise" routing was actually the original direction the course played in the 1800s, before Old Tom Morris created the course we know now. Up until the 1970s, the St. Andrews Links used the routing for two or three weeks a year. The tradition faded over time, although there is talk of bringing it back on occasion in the future.

I actually thought they do that every April 1st. 

There's a video of their play that I've not yet watched, but this is more than a historical curiosity.  For instance, some hole scan be played from behind the green, none more so than the Road Hole, only somewhat dependent on pin position.  Makes sense when you consider that for hundreds of years that's how the green was approached.

The Auld Grey Toon is similarly far more than a museum, though it's history has quite the dark side:

No matter the direction one looks in this ancient, gray seaside town on Scotland’s east coast, which was founded in the 12th century on the legend that the bones of the Christian apostle St.

Andrew were brought here, the eyes explode with lasting reminders from centuries past.

The ruins of St. Andrews Castle, built around 1200 A.D. and rebuilt several times during the Wars of Scottish Independence, still stand proud. The remains of St. Andrews Cathedral, established in 1158, continue to successfully battle harsh elements off the North Sea. The University of St. Andrews which was founded in 1413 continues to be a force in education.

There are markings on cobblestones scattered throughout the city indicating where executions took place. On the pleasant outskirts of the city by the massive beach is where Witch Hill resided, the unpleasant local where accused witches in the 16th and 17th centuries were taken down to the water and, with their thumb tied to the opposite toe, were submerged. If they drowned, they were deemed as witches. If they survived, they were deemed as witches and dragged to Witch Hill and burned at the stake (the odds were not in their favor).

Witch Hill is now Martyrs’ Hill, where the imposing Martyrs’ Monument commemorates the Protestant martyrs who were burned at the stake for purported heresy between 1520 and 1560.

Heresy seems spot on for the current moment in our game, so perhaps the Shark did well be be among the uninvited.

The article gets less interesting as it incorporates golf, mostly because it's so familiar at this point, including the important personages in the local cemetary:

The journey into the past reveals history has a mighty ally to form the fabric of the Auld Grey

Toon – golf. Just a few stones’ throws from Martyrs’ Hill is the headquarters of the Royal & Ancient, which was established in 1754 and lays down the rules of golf for all the world except in the USA and Mexico. In a small corner of the ancient ruins of the Cathedral of St. Andrews, golf royalty Old Tom Morris and his son, Young Tom, lay side by side in rest.

 More than 30 golf shops are scattered across this town of roughly 20,000 year-round residents. There are seven public golf courses controlled by St. Andrews Links, including the New Course next to the Old Course. The New Course, incidentally, opened in 1895. Numerous pubs speak to the game with historic golf paraphernalia, vast collections which can be found at places such as The Dunvegan and Number 1 Golf Place.

A couple of points that might make this familiar ground a bit more interesting.  The Morris graves are of obvious interest to golf lovers, but Old Tom sadly buried everyone in his family, including all of his children, and that interestingly included two sons named after himself.  Not uncommon in that era, but extremely confusing....Great success and acclaim, but Old Tom lived a life that also included great tragedy and sadness.

Secondly, a grave that should be of equal interest to golf fans is just out of the photo frame above, that of Alan Robertson, the man that gave Old Tom his start making featheries (actually hired because of his playing skills, he became Robertson's partner in challenge matches) and the falling out led to Tom's move to Prestwick.  It was Robertson's death that spurred the creation of the Open Championship, a challenge to determine his successor as the greatest player of the era.

That the New Course was built in 1895 is its own crazy factoid, but people also forget that there was no "Old Course" until Old Tom built the New Course.  In the scheme of things St. Andrews, it's a relatively recent moniker, barely 127 years old.

The Showcase - It's all well and good to trot out the old timers, but your humble blogger needs to pace himself early in the week.  Not that there weren't fun photo ops:

I'll admit tyo being a tad put off by the inclusivity fetish, as we're no longer allowed to celebrate these elite players without checking off every single aggrieved minority.  And yet, for some reason they found it important to include Mark O'Meara and Ian Baker-Finch.... who won Opens, but not here.

Jack will be the recipient of an honor sparingly awarded:

Jack Nicklaus will receive the same status in St Andrews as Benjamin Franklin and Bobby Jones Tuesday, but Monday he dropped by the media center to talk. The three-time Open Champion was in good form but this answer about how the Old Course forces the greats to take risks, no matter the equipment.

Jones was Jack's golfing God, so it's perfect in that sense.  On the other hand, Jones' award in  1958 is one of the most poignant moments in the history of our game, with the locals breaking into the old Scottish ballad, "Will Ye No Come Back Again? and bringing this observer quickly to tears.

The other dilemma for Jack is how to match this bit of oratory:

“I could take out of my life everything except my experiences at St. Andrews, and I would still have had a rich and full life.”

It's a big ask.

Meanwhile, On Planet LIV -  Just when we thought it couldn't get messier.... remember back a few months ago when we were cramming on antitrust law?  Your humble blogger didn't think that LIV would get much joy from a decades long antitrust action, and I hadn't contemplated the players voluntarily resigning their PGA Tour memberships.  But one possibility that I didn't foresee was government involvement:

Word broke on Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating whether the PGA Tour is engaged in anti-competitive practices as it seeks to thwart a challenge from Saudi-backed LIV

Golf. The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was confirmed by a Tour spokesperson in an email to GOLF.com.

The investigation points toward a polarizing question at the heart of the fight over professional golf’s future: Does the PGA Tour have the legal right to sanction players who compete on a rival circuit?

The Tour has long maintained that it does and has acted accordingly.

Well, it's not as if this Justice Department has been highly politicized or anything, though it's nice to see that they can take time out from their core obligations of releasing violent rioters from 2020.

But, let me see if I have this right?  Just as Joe Biden is begging the Saudis to pump more oil his Justice Department decides to do the Saudis bidding?  Nothing to see here...

The issue are indeed interesting, but if the Tour is precluded from supporting its own sponsors and events, there simply won't be much of a Tour.  So, stay tuned.

I'll leave you here and we'll reconvene later in the week.

Weekend Wrap

It's Open Week, so we'll be flooding the zone with coverage.... But first, form the south side of the Firth of Fort....

Dateline: North Berwick - If you want to sound like you've been there before, the "w" is silent.... The week in East Lothian seems to this observer to have been a modest success.  Certainly a strong field, though the leaderboard seemed more diverse and inclusive than folks might have preferred.

Though, as these things end to work out in our game, those that slammed their trunks and headed to The Kingdom of Fife might be worth your consideration for the coming week.  But little doubt who the hottest player on the planet is:

It has been a pretty good week for Xander Schauffele.

On Tuesday, the 28-year-old captured the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland. Come Sunday, it was his

turn to hoist yet another trophy.

Schauffele played brilliantly on the back nine at The Renaissance Club to capture the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open at 7-under 273. He shot an even-par 70 during the final round to top Kurt Kitayama by one shot and J.H. Kim by two for his seventh career PGA Tour title.

“Not going to put makeup on the pig here… it was a very average day,” Schauffele said after the final round. “Probably my worst this week. (My caddie) Austin (Kaiser) kept me calm. Yesterday I told you, as boring as it is, you really can’t get ahead of yourself in links golf. I was ahead, I was behind, I was ahead, I was behind. Just kept my head down.”

Very similar to his Sunday in Hartford, for whatever that might be worth...

The Tour Confidential panel gave their takes on the co-sanctioning bit, which certainly seemed to result in a strong field:

4. The Scottish Open, won by Xander Schauffele, was the first co-sanctioned event between the PGA and DP World tours, with players from both sides also filling out the field at the Barbasol Championship, in Kentucky. Are you a fan of these co-sanctioned events, and are we likely to see more of this collaborative approach as LIV Golf continues to attract more players?

Colgan: If co-sanctioned events lead to a more consistent PGA Tour presence in the UK and Ireland, I’m ALL for it. It’s ridiculous to me that the Tour travels to TPC Deere Run every year, while courses like Muirfield, Carnoustie and Portrush go unseen for years on end. It’s time to bring links golf back to the Tour.

Ummm, when you say "Bring back links golf on Tour", I have to ask, when was it ever on Tour?   

Zak: These co-sanctioned events are going to be vital to both tours. They should co-sanction the Irish Open next. And the BMW PGA Championship after that. If the alliance is as strong as Monahan and Pelley say it is, that would help prove it.

Dethier: Co-sanctioned events are inherently valuable in and of themselves. But if they can attract strong fields in interesting locales? I’m all the way in. Elevating the Scottish Open as a pre-Open links test was absolutely perfect. Only critique: I’d love to see it travel to some great linksy tests.

Sens: Agreed. Co-sanctioning matters if it gets as many of the top players as possible together in one place. And I do think we’ll see more. It wasn’t talked about much explicitly this week, but the subtext in a lot of the conversation (14 of the world top 15 are here!) made it all feel like alliance-building against an outside attack. There will be more.

these guys seem not to understand much about golf or the tours' schedules, because the biggest surprise of the recent enhancement of the Special Relationship was the absence of additional co-sponsored events.  The reason for that is simple, there are no logical events above and beyond the Scottish...

Even the Irish Open doesn't really work, for them or for Jay Monahan.  He's already moved the Deere a week earlier to release the guys for the Scottish.  And the Irish have apparently foresworn the links for their Open, as apparently players don't want to expose themselves to links weather for three consecutive weeks.  

The place on the calendar when they could play the Co-sanction game would be the Fall, but that's now under review in order to appease his high-rollers.  Jay certainly needs to keep the Euros in the fold, but co-sanctioning isn't a freebie, he can't exactly expect a sponsor to pay full pop while he's sending his A-listers to Europe.

No, the Scottish is a one-off, it works because of The Open and the guys' desire to get on links turf a week early.

Dateline: St Andrews - Just a tease today, as I'm on the clock already.  First, did you hear about todays' celebration of those 150 years?

A star-studded field of Champion Golfers, women’s Major Champions, male and female amateur champions, and golfers with disability champions compete over the 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th holes of the famous Old Course in celebration of the historic playing of golf’s original Championship.

25 Champion Golfers are set to take part, including the likes of Tom Watson, Gary Player and Sir Nick Faldo, while last year’s winner Collin Morikawa is set to hit the first shot at 3.02pm.

Morikawa will be quickly followed by 2017 Champion Golfer Jordan Spieth in Group 2, who will tee off with fellow Champion Golfers Mark Calcavecchia and Ian Baker-Finch, as well as Juan Postigo Arce – who sits in third spot on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability.

There is an Irish flavour to Group 4, which sees Champion Golfers Darren Clarke and Shane Lowry play alongside 1986 Women’s British Open champion Dame Laura Davies and Jack Bigham, who won R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship last August.

Group 5 will attract plenty of attention, with the two oldest players in the field – 86-year-olds Gary Player and Sir Bob Charles – teeing off, alongside fellow Champion Golfer Sandy Lyle and paragolfer Monique Kalkman.

Five-time Champion Golfer Tom Watson is out at 4.31pm and will play alongside Stewart Cink, who so memorably beat him in a play-off at Turnberry in 2009, while four St Andrews Champion Golfers – Sir Nick Faldo, Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and John Daly - are out 4.43pm.

Finishing with a flourish, the last group sees Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Georgia Hall and Lee Trevino tee off.

They've checked quite a few boxes there, though just in case you missed one rather minor exclusion, the R&A has made clear that it was no mere oversight:

In response to enquiries regarding The R&A Celebration of Champions field and the Champions’ Dinner, we can confirm that we contacted Greg Norman to advise him that we decided not to invite him to attend on this occasion. The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the Championship and its heritage. Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend. We hope that when circumstances allow Greg will be able to attend again in future.

Yowzer, our elites very rarely speak so clearly, though the use of Shark's first name strikes me as oddly familiar....

Shockingly, Eamon Lynch has thoughts:

It’s a sign of how far Greg Norman has traveled on the low road to perdition that the major

championships he once elevated with his presence have come to believe that even exhibitions and dinners can only benefit from his absence.

That sentiment was apparent in April when Augusta National didn’t send Norman an invitation to attend the Masters, which it customarily extends to all living (non-imprisoned) major winners. Now the R&A has declined to invite the Great White Pilot Fish to the Celebration of Champions exhibition in St. Andrews on Monday or to Tuesday’s champions dinner (not a consideration back in Georgia). Augusta National and the R&A are not organizations prone to discourtesies. They don’t do oversights, or at least not accidentally.

Obviously no one wants him around, but this could easily feel petty to outsiders....has the feel of the R&A punching down.

But is Eamon's case actually compelling?  If only...

The “it all” to which Norman obliquely refers is relevant. While he’d like to peddle a narrative that the R&A is being picayune and ignoring his past accomplishments, what the governing body is actually doing is acknowledging his present activities. And those activities don’t involve the promotion or growth of golf but rather its wholesale whoring for the purposes of Saudi sportswashing, a difference that might not be as obvious to Norman as it is to folks who don’t conflate the good of the game with their personal enrichment and score-settling.

OK, but is it the responsibility of golf's governing bodies to adjudicate such moral ourages?

Despite Norman’s insinuation, this isn’t a case of the R&A reflexively choosing sides with the PGA and DP World tours in a commercial dispute with his Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The decision was selfish, sure, but it was made purely in the interests of the R&A, the Open and its ancillary events, not in the interests of Jay Monahan or Keith Pelley.

Really?  Give Eamon a full read and see what you think for your ownself, but I'm having trouble seeing where the USGA and R&A have much business saving Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley's feedlots.

 Mike Bamberger, now at The Fire Pit Collective, also has thoughts, noting quite the contadiction:

It would have been awkward, maybe, to have Norman at the dinner in St. Andrews, alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. But he had the right to be there. So why are Mickelson and Oosthuizen, former champions and LIV defectors, still on the invitation list? They, unlike Norman, are not the face of this upstart tour.

Excuse me, Mike, but Phil is actually the face of this upstart Tour, and far more significant to its fortunes than The Shark could ever be.

 Mike goes further than Eamon and has this view of the future:

But the bigger picture is this: The leaderships of the R&A, the USGA, the PGA of America and the European and American tours, plus Augusta National, are ultimately joined at the hip. In the end, they speak as one. They have stood as one on every major issue golf has ever faced, from the size of the ball to nondiscrimination standards for clubs that want to host events. (Though it must be noted that Augusta National was granted plenty of time to finally admit women members.) If the R&A is already saying it will have nothing to do with Norman as a person and LIV as a golfing enterprise, the other bodies will say the same.

Does that mean the major events will find a way to keep LIV players out of their fields? Yes, by way of World Golf Ranking points. (LIV events, at 54 holes, will ultimately not qualify for points, is my guess.)

Whereas a few months ago we were boning up on antitrust law, it does seem that the OWGR could be the hill on which LIV dies. 

But, while I readily acknowledge that there has never been a man worse than this one, WTF!

The LIV tour will have two events at Trump courses this year. Next year, when the schedule expands to 14 events, it could be more than two. The PGA of America, the PGA Tour and the R&A have already frozen out Trump. A road to détente, as McIlroy suggests, is already complicated by the LIV-Trump Golf relationship. And complicated is a bit of British understatement.

The statement was neat and tidy. The stormy sea beneath it is rising.

Seriously, it's completely obvious that Trump, spurned by all the major golf organizations, and Norman would find each other.  But what does Trump have to do with the larger issues?  Bloody well nothing, but they just can't help themselves...

In palate cleansing mode, the TC panel turns its gaze to the Auld Grey Toon:

1.The Open Championship, the year’s final major, is here, and there is no shortage of storylines. It’s the event’s 150th anniversary. Tiger is playing. So is Phil. And on and on. What are you most looking forward to playing out across the pond this week?

James Colgan: I think the story of the week is Tiger Woods playing in what could very well be his final Open at St. Andrews as a serious competitor. The Old Course is Tiger’s favorite in the world. It’s flat enough for him to walk without issue. It’s the sort of place in which mental advantages are generally more significant than physical ones. It feels like Tiger’s whole year — and maybe longer — has been building toward this week. It’s hard to overstate the significance of this event for the most significant player in the history of the sport.

Sean Zak: I’m most looking forward to my coworkers arriving! But on a serious note, James is correct. Secondarily, I’ll look forward to Rory McIlroy’s opening 66 Thursday afternoon, followed by a 68 Friday morning.

Dylan Dethier: This is one week where the stakes set themselves. It’s the Open at St. Andrews! That’s the story! But if we’re diving into the details of this tournament itself I’m eager to see how Xander Schauffele, arguably the best golfer without a major, fares coming off a red-hot stretch that includes wins in two consecutive PGA Tour starts.

Josh Sens: In the modern era, golfers who have done well at Augusta have tended to do the same at the Old Course. All of which is to say that it’s prolly not a bad idea to throw a few shekels on the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Cam Smith, Jordan Spieth and, yeah, probably Tiger, and see if recent history repeats.

Not much of interest there.... perhaps they can address more serious issues:

2. Jordan Spieth, in an interview during the Scottish Open, was asked if he thought St. Andrews was “too easy,” to which he replied: “But I think if it’s like it was this morning out

here, it’s just a wedge contest, really.” Spieth added as part of another answer that he didn’t think the major was in any way lessened, and that if the weather kicks up, the thought is moot. Does Spieth have a point: With modern technology, could a St. Andrews Open turn into a chipping contest?

Colgan: Absolutely. If the wind doesn’t blow, we could see a winner at-or-near 20-under. But does that lessen the scope of the event, or the golf course? Of course not. Everyone is competing in the same arena, under the same stakes, for the same prize. Is winning a ‘wedge contest’ any less valuable than winning an iron contest, like we saw at the U.S. Open? I think not.

Zak: It’s sort of what everyone doesn’t want to admit, right? Hopefully it will be windy, and then we can forget about it until the next Open. But if it’s not, we may have to just rip the band-aid off once and for all with a serious discussion of rolling back the ball. The Old Course, as a physical property, doesn’t have much more bend to it.

Dethier: We’re going to see a lot of wedges, for sure. We see quite a few every week! Low scores are all but assured; we’ve seen plenty at the Old Course during Dunhill week in recent years. This week will be a good test of how it stands up under reasonable weather conditions with major-championship preparations. I’m predicting a lot of red numbers, but a firm, fast St. Andrews will still be a delight, even if they go low.

Sens: It’s a bummer what modern equipment in the hands of the best players has done to a lot of classic courses, not just this one. Without some challenging weather, we’re not going to see the kind of demands that make the Open Championship so great when it’s at its best. In that sense, yeah. It can be too easy. But everything is relative. Someone is still going to have to go lower than everyone else, which is hard.

The bigger question is what to hope for, as we might need to see a 61 (or, dare I think it, a 59) to bring folks to their senses....

This is an interesting piece on this subject, even allowing for the fact that it doesn't really deliver on its premise:

Open Championship 2022: How the R&A aims to give the Old Course a fighting chance against modern tour pros

The Old Course is so different than any other links, and this piece mirrors a story I use to illustrate it (I think I think I used it just yesterday).  On the fifth hole, that short Par-5 on the outbound nine that the guys eat up, I hit a great drive and noticed the yardage on a sprinkler head, which are always to the front of the green, and had the following conversation with my caddie:

ME: Am I really going to be hitting a gap wedge for my second on a Par-5?

Grizzled Old Course Caddie: Not bloody likely as today's pin is 79 yards on.

Naturally, I was amused by this:

“In the last couple of Opens we have had a pin position on the fifth green that is ’85 yards on,’ ” he says with a smile. “That substantially increases the length of the hole. But it’s quite a thing to see on a hole position sheet, ‘85 on’ and, say, ‘23 from the right.’ But that is the joy of the Old Course. On another day we could have the pin only 20 yards on at the fifth, past the false front. To have the ability to vary the way the hole plays to that extent is great for us.

Moving the pin left or right at the fifth, says Moir, can have a similar influence. “Last time at the Open, we used a pin position I’m not aware has been seen before. We put the pin way left behind the bunkers which most people would see as being in play on the 13th. But that’s only a good position when the hole plays into the wind and is a three-shot hole. Downwind, everyone plays to the middle of the green and putts across. There isn’t a lot of interest or variety in that. So we need the right conditions to use certain pin positions. As much as I might want to use a certain pin position, I need the discipline to not use it when conditions are not right.”

 OK, but with a wedge in their hands, we'll see no shortage of 3's, unless she's blowing...

The controversy among purists is the use of long rough, which many feels is a crime against nature.  here's on the 16th, which used to be one of the great driving challenges in golf:

One area where the R&A might be open to criticism is the seemingly increasing amount of long

grass on a course that was never supposed to have any. Former head greenskeeper Eddie Adams, now employed by the DP World Tour, once said that ideally and with the exception of the first and 18th, where the Swilcan Burn crosses the fairways, players should be able to putt their way round. Those days are gone, perhaps most noticeably (or egregiously, depending on one’s point of view) at the 16th and 17th holes.

Where once the cluster of bunkers known as the “Principal’s Nose” occupied a spot close to the middle of the 16th fairway, they now sit only a few yards from the left rough. It is fair to speculate that most players will lay-up short of the bunkers and play to the green from there. Attempting to drive through the narrow gap between the legendary hazard and the out-of-bounds fence to the right remains an option. But it is hard to imagine many taking on such a high-risk play.

And, perhaps more importantly, to the left on No. 17:

A similar debate is easy to have when the subject is the rough left at the Road Hole. Some would like to see that long grass eliminated, the theory being that if a player wants to hit his tee shot way left he should be allowed to do so, with the understanding that the further left one goes, the worse the angle into the iconic green becomes.

Even then, of course, the world’s best players are still going to be tempted by the “hero shot” that could lead to birdie … or double bogey … or worse. That potential contrast in scenarios, so the argument goes, has to be more interesting and exciting than watching players bunt balls forward from long grass, pitching onto the putting surface and making a 4 or a 5 every time.

“If we had no rough left of the 17th, it would get pretty chaotic,” Moir says. “From an agronomic point of view, we can’t decide to take the rough away with three weeks to go. That’s how the course has played ever since I can remember. We don’t want hack-out rough. We still want people to be able to hit the shot Seve Ballesteros so memorably hit onto the green en route to winning the Open in 1984. Or at least try to.”

As Shack reports from on-site, they actually have some of these areas roped off, but he makes the larger point here as well:

This approach won’t be confused with leaving rabbits and sheep to manage roughs as in Old Tom Morris’s day, but the grasses just off key landing areas continue to be roped off. It's a strange

sight to see harvested rough where there was once fairway. Or, at least, once something akin to short grass now 2-4 inches to penalize drives.

Some of this is to keep the public from trampling the areas down when the course is in park mode. Especially since the public was seen picnicking Saturday before the course fully opened to Sunday practice round play.

Even with irrigating and the protective rope, the areas are not absurdly penal.

At the Road hole—as documented many times ad nauseum over the years by many—the left side tall stuff only stops a low-running drive from reaching an even worse position for the second shot.

It becomes a traffic issue, especially the first two days.  But far more interesting to let those bail out drives left keep running, resulting in a horrible angle to the severely-angled green.

I'm going to have to run, I'll just leave you with one of Geoff's late-day photos.  As you'll know, from low-Earth orbit the course is flat as pancake.   And yet, you'll have exactly eighteen level lies:

Is that great or what?

Gonna be an epic week, and I'll be back with more tomorrow for sure.

Your Friday Frisson

You know that feeling when you can't fully commit to your shot?  That's how I'm viewing this blog post, so here's hoping I don't skull it...

Dateline: North Berwick - To me, the irony of the co-sanctioned Scottish Open is how hard it is to find appropriate venues for the event, hence the long-term residency at The Renaissance Club.  It's not been easy to warm up to the place, although it looks better this week with some earth tones on display.

But a surprising amount of whining about the...well, wait for it, wind:

The amount of wind took center stage during the conclusion of Thursday’s first round at the Genesis Scottish Open, when the prevailing wind at Renaissance Club was stronger than tournament

officials expected. The morning wave saw gusts in the range of 15-20 mph, while afternoon groups dealt with gusts in the range of 30 mph.

Welcome to Scotland, right! That’s the refrain that plays out on social media when fans watch from the calm comforts of their living rooms. But for a few holes on this particular day, that amount of wind bordered on unfair, given the course setup.

Leading the way was the par-5 16th — an absolute monster of a golf hole — set up at 625 yards, directly into the wind. In other words, 625 playing 700. Tournament officials essentially maxed it out, using the furthest back tee box and cutting a back left pin. Playing to an average of 5.1 Thursday, it feels like a proper professional golf hole on paper. But in reality, it sounds like the setup was a touch unfair. Many players in the afternoon wave smashed driver and simply couldn’t reach the fairway.

Yesterday we had a photo of the Prestwick cairn commemorating that 1860 Open Championship, in which the opening hole was 575 yards.   That's 162 years ago, without graphite shafts and ProV1s, so I'm having trouble working up too much sympathy....

Of course, this remind smore of Bethpage 2002 than an Open Championship:

Number of players were extremely upset about the setup on par-5 16th today.

245-ish yards to reach the fairway. Wind was so strong, many pros in the afternoon wave couldn't get there. pic.twitter.com/H0Meifigas

— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) July 7, 2022

Maybe we should all just feel relief that Sergio isn't here...

Joking aside, this highlights a unique challenge this event faces.  It makes perfect sense for the Scottish Open to offer a week of links golf for acclimation purposes, but at the same time the boys don't want to get beaten up too badly the week prior to a major.  They're at the mercy of the weather gods, for sure, but the bias will have to be towards letting them play.

Not a day for show ponies, it seems:

Fourteen of the world’s top 15 players teed it up Thursday (Rory McIlroy, No. 3, is the missing name, although he did get in a round with Tiger). Sam Burns, No. 9, is the only one inside the top 10 so far.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler didn’t take advantage of the easier conditions in the morning and shot one of the worst rounds of the early wave, a 3-over 73.

Jordan Spieth, the No. 12-ranked player in the world, held the early lead at one point but came home with a 2-over 37 and finished at 2 under, T-16. Jon Rahm also shot a 68 and sits with Spieth at T-16.

Zalatoris, Fitzpatrick, and Morikawa all ended the day tied for 53rd after rounds of 1 over.

More on that Rory-Tiger round below, but your humble blogger has a penchant for nursing grievances, so we're about to settle a score from, checking notes, 2015.

As you might recall, Jordan Spieth was beneficiary of DJ's largesse, suddenly finding himself in possession of the first two legs of the calendar Grand Slam.  The Open was to be held at The Old Course, widely considered the most strategic course on the planet.  So, how did Jordan plan his preparation for this historic opportunity?  By playing the week before at...and you'll not believe this, the John F*****g Deere in Quad Cities.  How'd it work out?

Spieth four-putted the par 3 after his first putt, a 100-footer, flew off the green. The first putt was set up by a really bad tee shot. He was unable to get up and down for bogey and suddenly trailed Adam Scott and Zach Johnson by three.

 And finished one shot out of the playoff, which your humble blogger found schadenfreudelicious.

Here's an older and wise Jordan speaking from the 2022 Scottish Open:

Round one of the Genesis Scottish confirmed what we’ve been hearing for weeks: the links are dry, fast and low humidity means turf will be an even greater focus at St Andrews. As Jordan Spieth noted following his first round 68 at Renaissance, “You almost need to get over here and get on this turf.”

Yeah, wish I'd thought of that....What a stubborn idiot!

Obviously one of the undercurrents in East Lothian is the ever present LIV story, not least because four LIVsters were parachuted into the field by a judge.  This on South Africa's Justin Harding is perhaps a bit more nuanced than you'd expect.  First, this bit:

Asked if he had encountered any ill-feeling either on or off the course this week, Harding at first

proceeded with caution.

“I haven't had too many issues,” he said. “There are times when it's a little uncomfortable. The European Tour guys have been fine, but the PGA Tour guys are in a different boat. I don’t want to get into the specifics of all of that. I am trying my best just to play golf. I’m not confrontational at the best of times. But it’s an awkward situation to be in.”

But isn't that to be expected, given that full-time Euro Tour guys (and Mr. Pelley will cringe at his failure to conform to the DP World Tour style book)  are those who can only aspire to the PGA or LIV tours.  

But the bigger issue is that, while he's been in LIV, it's not clear that he's of LIV:

What is for sure is that Harding has played in both LIV events so far. A T-10 finish in the first at the Centurion Club earned him $516,666. And when he pulled up T-8 at Pumpkin Ridge last week he made another $602,500. Not bad for 108 holes of relatively stress-free, no-cut competitive golf, but money that has inevitably provoked a storm of bad feeling on both the PGA and DP World tours. Few are willing to say so publicly, but not many players gathered in East Lothian this week are happy to see Harding playing.

Harding went on to claim that he hasn’t “gone to LIV” and hasn’t “signed any contracts or deals.” All he has done is participate in a couple of events. But in the absence of a contractual relationship with LIV, how did he actually get into their events?

“I have no idea,” he said. “I have had two successful weeks at Portland and Centurion. But I wouldn’t be able to answer that question. I have no idea at this moment in time if I am in the field at Bedminster [for the third LIV event] or not. If I am, I’ll have something to think about. At the end of the day, I have played all over the world in just about every event possible and to be honest the LIV ones didn’t feel too different.”

Even more curiously, he doesn't know how he got into the Scottish, which seems a bit of a stretch....

This guy took one for the team and followed all of Ian Poulter's 78 shots, the takeaway being indifference:

The Englishman’s much-anticipated round got under way at 12.25pm. Paired with fellow LIV rebel Branden Grace, he started at the tenth where the tee is inaccessible to spectators. A cynic

might argue that it was a convenient place from which to set them off. Far from the madding crowd and so on. Not that such a mob had gathered.

“Should we boo them?” one elderly gentleman asked of his pal as Poulter and Grace headed down the fairway.

“Ach no,” came the reply. “I can’t be bothered.”

Quite.

Which leads to this startling conclusion:

Whilst large crowds congregated around three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, world No.2 Jon Rahm and reigning Open champ Collin Morikawa, Poulter and Grace were largely ignored. Considering the compelling context with which both players came into the week – both having been granted injunctions against sanctions imposed by the tour and that were supposed to keep them out, not to mention the small matter of Grace having won $4million in a LIV Golf event only six days ago – it was jarring to note the sparse crowd following them.

Who would have guessed? People, for the most part, just want to see the best players. Not the noisiest, not the most ubiquitous, not the most controversial.

The best.

Yes, and this tees up the next stage in this battle, as LIV has bought a bit of depth, at best, but still hasn't landed any whales.

But I'll beg to differ here:

“There’s Ian Poulter,” she said, adopting hushed tones. “We’re not allowed to like him anymore because he’s in favour with the Saudis.”

A peculiar reason to take a dislike to somebody but that’s precisely where we are right now.

It's an interesting time to be Ian Poulter. It just sure seems like a lot of people couldn’t care less.

That's because it's a dreary time to be Ian Poulter, mitigated by an unexpected opportunity to cash a big check.  But it also allowed us to see what's important to Poulter, and that's not something we'll soon forget.

Care for a palate cleanser?

Boys Being Boys -  We've seen a couple of these stories now, and it's always a welcome respite from the dreariness of the current news cycle.  This was the first:

Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler are living the dream this weekend in Ireland.

Ahead of competing Monday and Tuesday in the J.P. McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor in Limerick, Ireland, they did what any golf-loving guys would do: they enjoyed a buddies trip to some of Ireland’s fabled links gems.

On Saturday, they played at Lahinch Golf Club on the northwest coast of County Clare. Lahinch, which has the fingerprints of Old Tom Morris and Alister MacKenzie on it, ranks No. 12 in Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses in Great Britain and Ireland. The boys appeared to catch it on a beautiful sunny day and as Spieth teed off, a goat grazed behind him.

I hope Phil and Greg are taking notes, because this is the kind of story that might actually grow the game, or at least cast in an attractive light.  It's their day job and will be a grind much of the time, but it's always fun to see them actually enjoying the game...

These guys as well:

First, Tiger and Rory were in Adare, Ireland competing in golf’s biggest pro-am: the J.P. McManus. With crowds flocking and excitement mounting, the two golfers hit-and-giggled their way through the perfectly manicured greens and fairways of the 2027 Ryder Cup host. Tiger played in a cart, saving his legs for The Open, while McIlroy played (briefly) with Woods’ driver. But then the 36 holes at Adare Manor were over, and it was time for the real fun to begin.

On Thursday, Woods and McIlroy surfaced on social media again, this time at a different location, and under a significantly lower profile. The two men were at Ballybunion (ranked 9th in GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland), reliving McIlroy’s glory days as an ascendant junior golfer in the Irish countryside.

Quickly, videos surfaced from all corners of the Internet of Rory and Tiger trading tee shots on the brilliant seaside links.

“Back in the day,” Rory can be heard telling Tiger in one video, seconds before piping a center-cut drive. “I used to aim down the middle of the fairway, it would start down the right edge and then draw back to the middle of the fairway.”

That would be on the 11th tee, a magnificent Par-4 with, as the caddie will invariably tell you, all of Ireland to your left:

Waves crashing, wind blowing off the water, two fellas talking about ball flight. Pretty surreal scene from Rory and Tiger's buddies trip to Ballybunion today (via aidohanrahan IG) pic.twitter.com/xz7WxyMWsH

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) July 7, 2022

Quite a great golf hole, without a single bunker, as per my photo from 2007:

And this of the wonderful green complex:

Notwithstanding that I'll be in Scotland soon, these boys are rendering your humble blogger just a wee bit jealous....

Keeper Of The Green - That was Old Tom's title, though they don't seem to use it any more.  Geoff has just posted this interesting interview:

In the latest State of the Game podcast we discuss how the stewards of St Andrews face a near-impossible set of ingredients: heavy play, high expectations and producing major conditions that

also accentuate the Old Course. The greenkeepers also get to hear from traditionalists who don’t want to see a too-perfect presentation or the bunkers too manicured. As you’ll learn from Gordon Moir in a Q&A discussing his new book, the St Andrews team must balance all of this while answering to several interested parties besides the R&A.

In The Greenkeeper’s Tale, first-time author Moir opens by discussing a life-changing decision to move from fantastic Fraserburgh to St Andrews and, eventually, to become the Links Trust Director of Greenkeeping.

Moir offers his forthright assessments throughout this delightful read. His style proves accessible to anyone with an interest in St Andrews or the Old Course, but educational enough for those in the industry or considering a career in agronomy.

He charges headfirst into all of the high-profile issues from his time overseeing St Andrews: getting the courses back after some lean years, keeping the Old Course relevant, changes that went viral internationally in 2012 and most recently, the 2015 Open’s play stoppage.

Fraserburgh is a place I need to get to, but lots to enjoy in this chat:

GS: After many years of learning the Old Course and its various maintenance related idiosyncrasies, what piece of local knowledge do you share with those unfamiliar trying to learn the course?

GM: I think whenever you get out of position then you have to bite the bullet and be patient. It’s very difficult to get back into position and you just have to suck it up, find as good a place as you can get the ball to and either accept dropping a shot or getting lucky and maybe holing a decent putt to save par. Once out of position it’s very easy to run up a double bogey or worse. Sometimes in a bunker it’s a case of getting out, in whatever direction you can. If it’s a fairway bunker then and you have to go backwards it’s a double whammy as you’ve probably already lost some distance on your drive and you’re then going further away from the pin.

Jack used to speak of chain reaction holes, and no place on the planet will create them quite like the Old Course.  

Care for a deep dive on those bunkers:

GS: Perhaps on a similar line, but what in your time did you learn about the Old Course or all of the courses that you did not know when you started the job?

GM: The bunker sand is from the beach, it’s a very fine particle size and is so prone to wind

blow. In fact it’s a pain as it either blows out of the bunkers or blows to one end leaving the base really bare and firm. It also packs down a lot which I think is the reason the course gets so firm. More so the fairways as well as the greens as we don’t top dress them with beach sand these days.

On the greens, I’ve never been anywhere else where the wind affects the ball so much. Not even on the other St Andrews courses is it a severe. It’s not unusual to have to allow 6” on a ten foot putt just because of the wind. It doesn’t have to be exceptionally strong and it’s not just the holes around the loop although they are the worst. I think it just be due to their size and how the wind can pick up going across the surface.

The sand is the consistency of talcum powder, which would lead you to logically conclude that it would be easy to get a club through, but you would be misinformed.  But this does perhaps explain the turf, which is just different than anywhere else.  If the greens stimp around ten feet, I've always been convinced that the fairways would stimp at twelve.

The greens are indeed unnaturally exposed, even in comparison to other links.  But the double greens are so massive in size, that you're factoring the wind on ninety-foot putts, which is not something one can readily practice at home.

I'm not the only one that is fascinated by this special turf:

GS: The turf is magical. It seems like it can withstand anything—from heavy play to the public making it a park on Sundays. It seems like the fescues are just different and superior when you take a divot. Am I imagining things? Has it ever been studied?

GM: I’d put that down to age and maturity. It has a high tolerance to the salty air and salt water in general. It’s been studied many times, they say there are 57 varieties like Heinz beans!

They are certainly not all fescues, there’s ryegrass, bent, poa (which is very old and doesn’t seem to seed nearly as bad as most poa does) the seed heads are generally smaller. There’s also crested hair grass which is a nightmare in the spring as it sets out a runner which is very waxy and impossible to cut as it creeps along the surface. It’s worst in May and June depending on the weather. Then it sets its seed, the stalk goes soft and it disappears. You can scarify it to an extent but can’t be too severe as that hurts the fescues.

Poa?   Perhaps that's too much information, as whatever the mix, it's just perfect turf for golf.

But who knew about the heather crisis?

GS: You refer several times in the book to the loss of Heather and the prominence of gorse that Old Tom so loathed. Would you like to see more gorse removed? Perhaps sand areas or heather restored similar to what happened on the New Course? What are the difficulties of such work?

GM: In a word, Yes. Heather is just so difficult to grow in that environment as it’s so fragile. I had a small bit of success on the 6th of the Eden but it took years and we had to fence it off for a number of years. You just couldn’t do that on the Old, plus it gets so much more traffic. When you add the caddies feet as well as the golfers then you’re looking at 80k rounds per year as opposed to 40k on the Eden. Sand scrape areas would be easier but again there isn’t much room. We did some very small ones on 5 and 6 back in 2017? I guess there’s some room in places, behind 2 green, behind 3 green, right of 6 or between 6 and 12. I’m not sure what people might make of that. How about left of 17? Would the top players be happy with that? I’ll let you light the blue touch paper!

Well, is there anyone that doesn't loathe gorse?

If we get on via the daily ballot, I'll be on the lookout for heather.  There seemed no shortage of it in 2019:

 More on those bunkers, which allows Geoff to trot out an old photo:

GS: You explain the difficulty in rebuilding the bunkers for The Open while trying to have them look too perfect, and yet we see old photos where they look so magical in their more rustic state. Is this an unrealistic fantasy of purists to see the bunkers take on a less manmade appearance given the amount of play over the Old?

GM: Yes, I think it is. Between the amount of play and also trying to be clear where the bunker begins from a ruling issue. I’d imagine there would be a lot of complaints when a player finishes in a bunker where part of it has collapsed during the day from golfers playing earlier. I think the greenkeepers would be spending a lot of time repairing some of these problems and it would be difficult to make it look natural and as if it hadn’t been repaired. I think the modern golfer expects things to be a bit more manicured, too manicured on many occasions.

Thus this rather dramatic evolution of the Road bunker, probably the most famous bunker in the world (unless, of course, Hell Bunker picture above, deserves that honorific):

 

Not all progress is actually, yanno, progress.

That's a prefect tease for next week's Open, as well as for our forthcoming trip, should the daily ballot gods smile upon us.  

Have a great weekend and we'll pick up the thread on Monday.