It was a few years back, 150 to be exact, that the powers of British golf organized a one-day tournament that was contested on the links at the Prestwick Golf Club. It was October of 1860 and the leading golfing clubs of the British Isles sent their professionals to Scotland”s western coast to compete for the Challenge Belt. A total of eight professionals would compete in what would become the first Open Championship, or as we know it on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, the British Open.
Obviously it was a much different time for professional golf in 1860. Willie Park Sr. of Musselburgh won that day with a score of 174 to beat Old Tom Morris of St. Andrews by two shots. For those of you quick enough to do the math, you would be incorrect if you assumed that Park averaged 87 strokes per round that day at Prestwick. Instead, Park, Morris and the others played three rounds of 12 holes that day and Park posted scores of 55-59-60. He won the Challenge Belt and a place in golf history as the first Open champion. And that was it. There was no purse. The winner simply got bragging rights as well as a belt that had to be returned the following year.
It is now 150 years later and golf”s oldest tournament, the British Open, returns to the venerable Old Course at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf. This will be the 28th time that the Open Championship has been held at St. Andrews. If you believe the history books, the land that the Old Course sits upon has been “common land for the townfolk” since 1123. The St. Andrews Links was first established in 1552, and the Old Course was downsized from a 22-hole course to an 18-hole course in 1764. The first time that the British Open was contested on the linksland of St. Andrews was 1873. Tom Kidd won by one shot with a 36-hole total of 179. The course stretched out to 6,300 yards and the average drive at that time carried all of 170 yards.
The layout of the Old Course at St. Andrews is quite foreign to modern era golfers although it was the model for golf course design during the golden age of golf course architecture. Simply put, the first nine holes at St. Andrews are located in one strategic line one after another for nine holes, and the second nine holes return from the farthest point away and return to the clubhouse. From this design philosophy came the terms outward nine for the front side and inward nine for the back nine.
The other very unique aspect to the design at St. Andrews revolves around the greens. A total of four holes ? the first, ninth, 17th and 18th ? are single-entity greens. The other 14 holes have enormous double greens. For instance, the second green flagstick will be placed somewhere on the eastern sector of the green, and on the inward nine the 16th flagstick will be located on the western portion of the green. The end result is a unique golf experience where the golfer could hook his shot into the green with the end result being that his ball lies closer to the flagstick for the 15th hole instead of the third hole. When that happens, you”re setting yourself up for putts in the neighborhood of 200 feet. The largest of the greens is the one shared by the fifth and 13th holes and is just more than 100 yards long.
As an interesting aside, if you were to add up the numbers of the holes that share double greens, they would always equal the number 18.
The Open Championship returns to St. Andrews every five years as a testament to its status as the birthplace of golf. The remainder of the time, the Open rotates between four Scottish courses, namely Muirfield, Turnberry, Carnoustie and Troon, along with four English courses, specifically St. George”s, Birkdale, Lytham & St. Annes, and Liverpool (Hoylake).
In an effort to keep up with the players of the modern era and the game”s technology, the Old Course has been lengthened to a distance of 7,305 yards to go along with a par of 72. New tees have been added to the 13th, 14th and 17th holes. To be able to find room for the three new placements, area was cleared on the adjacent Edens Course. The most profound change is to the 17th hole, the world famous Road Hole that has been the cause of much distress to the world”s top golfers. I”m not really sure why they needed to extend the par-4 17th hole to 495 yards because the last time the Open was contested at St. Andrews, the 17th was the most difficult, playing to a stroke average of 4.6. The last time the 17th hole was altered for an Open Championship was way back in 1900.
A total of 156 golfers will tee it up in the British Open on Thursday. Approximately one-third of the field is exempt into the Open while the remainder of the contestants have advanced into the tourney through the qualifying process. There were five international qualifiers held from January through May at such disparate places as Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, England and Plano, Texas, as well as late-June final local qualifying at Fairmont, St. Andrews, Kingsbarns, Ladybank and Scotscraig.
Of course, the reality of major championship golf is that while there will be 156 golfers teeing it up next Thursday, perhaps no more than 25 to 30 of those are capable of winning the Open Championship. The nuances of links golf with its bad hops, wind, weather and unique playing conditions will put a large portion of the field in a state of uncertainty. In much the same way golfers self-destructed last month at Pebble Beach, the same thing will occur at St. Andrews, although if the wind blows and the rain shows up, it could be even more formidable.
Stewart Cink is the defending champion following his playoff win last summer over Tom Watson at Turnberry. Tiger Woods has won the last two Opens contested at the Old Course, and yet it seems like it was light years ago that Tiger shot 19-under-par in the Open Championship to win by an eight-stroke margin. During that 2000 Open, Woods avoided all of St. Andrews” bunkers and never had a three-putt over 72 holes. If someone can repeat that feat next week, then that”s who will be the next Open champ although the eventual winner can probably find a few bunkers and make a couple of three-putts during the weekend and still lift the Claret Jug come Sunday afternoon.
After all, it”s mid-summer and it”s time for golf”s most entertaining major championship, namely the Open Championship at golf”s birthplace, the Old Course at St. Andrews. You can expect entertaining and dramatic golf as this will be links golf at its finest.
