Sandwich in the Rain
Maureen and I went to the Open with a few southern pals, staying at a friend’s seaside cottage.
First impression was that the organisation was poor. Access to the course was over a level crossing, blocked by the railway's special (and unscheduled) trains, which were too long for the platform, so the train and the traffic just sat there. Security then made matters worse, creating long, slow, foot-queues.
Saturday was our first day, and the rain came in sideways, propelled by 40 mph gusts of wind.
Horrible! The players were heroes, three of them still shooting a sub-par round, including Tom Watson at 61 years young.
Royal St Georges relies on four factors to keep scores down: the wind, undulating fairways, deep and evil bunkers and firm greens. The tee shot, often hit 40 yards off-centre to allow for the wind, usually hit the fairway, but it then kicked off an undulation into short rough or, worse, a bunker. The approach had to be run in, unless your name was Mickelson, onto undulating greens, maybe 10 or so on the stint-meter. The pin positions were OK in theory, but just as your putt reached the hole, it veered left or right. Very few putts over 6 feet went down, and very few approach putts reached the hole, especially the uphillers. Never Up – Never In! All this meant birdies were ultra rare and bogies were the norm for the world’s best players..
We sat on No 9 for most of Sunday and saw three birdies, the longest a 20 footer from Jaquelin. If your putt from the front allowed for the borrow, or was a bit too hard, you risked sliding off down the right bank, leaving a 30 foot wedge back up again, with the green sloping away from you. Great fun for the spectators, not so funny for players in a 30 mph gale and rain showers.
The 17th green was our other viewing point. It had two levels, like our 18th. That’s where the similarity ended, the St Georges version was five times the rise of ours, but even so, most of the pars came from a ‘short’ approach and a super-skilful up the bank first putt.
The chips back by those who slid down the side bank were fantastic, I reckon our Juniors can chip, but these guys just slam it into the bank with backspin, so the ball stops dead right next to the pin. Wow! It was no surprise that the “oldies” all did well. Experience brings canniness, youth brings boldness, and this course can really punish a brave shot. Ask Mr Johnson, who hit his approach on the par 5 14th out of bounds to finish second!
Crowd favourites were Darren, Rory, Phil Mickelson and Tom Watson - to my mind the ultimate gentleman of golf. He chatted away to the young amateur Tom Lewis, trying to keep Tom’s head up when it all went wrong. “Golf averages out”, he told him “A great round is balanced out by a poor one over time”. On the Sunday young Tom Lewis partnered Phil, who showed him the sort of short game anyone who wants to be a Champion needs to learn. If only Phil didn’t miss those "gimmes"!
Darren’s experience of the course was a deciding factor, plus a bit of help from Heather, looking down on his final round. Twice Darren thinned it from a tricky lie, twice it skidded along the ground, and twice it jumped over a bunker and ran up to the pin. Darren just grinned, we all yelled our heads off! The wind was lethal. Dead umbrellas littered the course and the unbroken ones had to be held sideways to keep the rain off. Balls wavered as the putter head went back. Twice on 9 did we see top names run up to the green to mark a ball hovering above the drop off to the right, earning a cheer from the crowd and a wave from the player.
A great weekend, not a tree in sight, and rough not overlong, but that wind was something else. You had to be there - - - . Bob Adams
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