Open 2009: Turnberry primed to reward skilled shotmakers

Published on Wednesday 15 July 2009 22:55

THE challenge of Scotland's most picturesque links at the 138th Open championship is so transparent – the soul of the test has been toughened rather than made abstruse – that Tom Watson's verdict on the Ailsa remains valid.

"There's a lot more guesswork playing most links," he opined, "than there is at Turnberry."

George Brown, the 70-year-old course manager who stands down next week after 23 years tending the course, agrees. "The Ailsa is one of the fairest tests on the Open rota – there's nothing flukey about it," he said. " If you play a quality shot, then you'll get a good result. If you look at the winners we've had, they were all among the best golfers of their era."

The individual best equipped to inherit the mantle of Watson, Greg Norman and Nick Price, three of the game's most incisive shotmakers, as the champion golfer in south Ayrshire, is Tiger Woods. The world No 1 already knows he needs not only a dependable strategy but also the purity of ball striking required to execute that plan.

"The three winners we've had in the past were arguably the No 1 player in the world each time," observed Peter Dawson, the secretary of the R&A. "Whether that will be repeated this week remains to be seen. But he (Tiger] is the man to beat. Why some venues produce winners like that and others don't, I have no idea, because the setup of the courses and the type of player required is pretty similar in all the Open venues. I think it's happenstance myself."

The addition of 21 carefully places bunkers as well as the re-working of the closing holes and a contribution from nature of billowing rough have combined to enhance the emphasis on course management here. While the luck of the bounce always has a part to play on a seaside links, Turnberry invariably rewards the well struck shot.

According to Norman, the key to success round the Ailsa is controlled aggression. The man who posted 63, one of the most exceptional rounds in Open history when the weather in 1986 was so awful at Turnberry 141 players didn't better par, sees no merit in throttling back.

"This is the type of links where, if you start playing defensively, it's hard to become aggressive," he reflected. "If you start laying yourself back too far and go in with a 4 or 5 iron rather than a 6 or 7 then it's very hard to get at some of these greens.

"The greens are bowl shaped and that can be very much in your favour if you know how they sit. A good player will know how to sling it in.The good players also study the course very well and get to know the little nuances."

Norman was asked yesterday if the changes to the Ailsa – the new tees, added length and re-routing of the 16th hole – had maintained Turnberry's reputation as a paradise for shot- makers. "Oh, absolutely," he replied. "You call it a course for shotmakers – really, it's a player who can visualise a shot and execute what he wants every time. Right from the shot on the first tee, you've got land mines out there waiting to grab you. Right from the get-go, you have to put your thinking cap on."

Although the set-up of the links is similar in many ways, Brown remembers the fairways were far narrower here 23 years ago than they will be this morning.

"This time we've not nipped them in," he explained. "What's changed is the addition of 21 bunkers. Off the tee, that means the player who drives well and stays out of the traps will have an advantage. Our bunkers are fairly deep and the professionals won't like them. There are only 85 of them, but they're penal.

"If you were playing a parkland course with water hazards and you hit an errant shot, you'd be in the lake. That's a penalty. If you err on a links, you'll be in a fairway bunker. I'm sure there will be complaints: the sand is too soft; the sand is too hard. But it's meant to be a penalty. The links has been lengthened to 7,204 yards, but, for me, it's the player who hits it straightest, rather than furthest, who will win."

Brown's theory, of course, places a potential question mark against Woods. If he finds fairways with the consistency he showed at the Memorial last month, for example, Tiger will add his name to Turnberry's hall of fame. Should the world No 1 veer from the straight and narrow, on the other hand, then outstanding drivers of the ball such as Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia enter the equation.

In calm, soft condition, every links is vulnerable to low scoring and would bring more players into contention. That said, it's something of a myth to brand Turnberry as a pushover. The low scores post by Norman, Watson and Jack Nicklaus, for example, were the handiwork of linksland masters.

Asked if he thought someone might post 61 or 62 on the Ailsa this week, Dawson replied: "I think I'd be genuinely surprised. But these fellows seem to get better and better. And if that's the competitive scene we're working under, that's fine.

"The winner at the end of this week will be the person who's done the lowest score, simple as that. We try to set up the golf course to test the players and to produce a genuine champion. The actual scoring level has actually never been quite that important."

Hugh McIlvanney, himself a native, speaks of an inherent affinity in Ayrshire between the game of golf and the people. Watson, at least as much as Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus, became an honorary Scot because he played from the heart.

Still convinced at 59 he has a sixth Open in him over a venue where he's won twice, the Kansan has no doubt the champion on Sunday will need to feel at home here.

"Any professional golfer who doesn't feel a kindred spirit here in Scotland," he smiled, "probably doesn't have an understanding of the game."

WRITERS' TIPS

MIKE AITKEN'S 1-2-3

1 SERGIO GARCIA

2 Jim Furyk

3 Lee Westwood

Since Sergio Garcia won the Amateur at Muirfield, he's felt it was his destiny to win the Open in Scotland. Provided he holes a few putts, Turnberry is made for the best ball-striker in the game.

ALAN PATTULLO'S 1-2-3

1 RORY McILROY

2 Sergio Garcia

3 David Duval

The 20-year-old Rory McIlroy has made big steps in each major this year, and is at home on links. David Duval was runner-up at the US Open and the former world No 1 could challenge in Ayrshire.

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