Jordan Spieth fears 150th Open could be 'wedge contest' at St Andrews
Gary Player, a three-time Open champion, has said he fears the Fife venue could be shown up as “obsolete” by the likes of Bryson DeChambeau if the milestone event is played in little or no wind.
Speaking as fellow American Cameron Tringale opened with a 61 at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian to set the pace in the Genesis Scottish Open, Spieth also expressed concerns about low scoring next week.
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Hide Ad“Yeah, I think it might be,” replied the American, who opened with a 68 in East Lothian, when asked if St Andrews can ever be too easy.
Referring to the last Open at St Andrews, he added: “It’s hard for me to tell given 2015 we had so much wind that we couldn’t even play. But I think if it’s like it was this morning out here, it’s just a wedge contest, really.
“It was not necessarily built for today’s technology. But I think that even a nice 10-15mph an hour would show something to it.
“It doesn’t look like we are going to get any rain, so I think the defence could be how fast it plays.
“It could get like Muirfield was in 2013 and I think that regardless of wind conditions, that would change the golf course significantly and make it challenging to hold fairways and greens.”
Spieth finished fourth seven years ago when he was going for a grand slam after winning both The Masters and US Open before arriving at St Andrews.
“I'm somebody who believes that courses are designed to play from certain places each hole,” he added. “And it's nice when that's how you play them because that was the design of it.
“I've always been somebody who thinks of it like, we're hitting some of the shots they just couldn't do even 30 years ago, let alone 130 years ago.”
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