Martin Dempster: Scottish course shines in European Tour spotlight
"You’re not going to see better greens all year, they’re absolutely immaculate," said former world No 1 Lee Westwood in delivering the tone of what seemed to be a view shared by everyone in the field on the Fife coast. "I think they’re some of the best links greens I’ve ever seen."
Concurring, Richie Ramsay said that it "is almost unheard of for greens to be like this in the middle of October" while Aaron Rai, the Scottish Open champion, described the course bearing Sam Torrance's name as an "awesome track in great condition with stunning views around the whole place".
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Hide AdMost venues, of course, have lots of time to get themselves in tip-top condition for big events, so there should really be no excuses in terms of delivering what is expected from both players and tour bosses in those tournaments.
There was no long lead up to this one, though, for the greenkeepers at Fairmont St Andrews. The event was only announced by the European Tour around seven weeks before it took place, completing the second of two new UK Swings on this season's revamped schedule.
All part of that first leg of events, Close House, The Belfry, Celtic Manor, Forest of Arden and Hanbury Manor were tried and tested venues on the European Tour, but not Fairmont St Andrews, which, of course, was known as St Andrews Bay when it first opened.
The odd eyebrow, in fact, may have been raised when that announcement was made about the Scottish Championship heading there, especially with the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns seeming to be possible candidates after the cancellation of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this year.
Rarely, though, has a course being showcased for the first time by Sky Sports Golf earned such glowing praise, which was music to the ears of the company that now owns it, something that is probably news in itself to the vast majority of golfers in Scotland.
The people behind Great Century are based in Hong Kong, but Mark Henderson, the managing director, is a PGA Fellow Professional who hails from the west of Scotland. He was on site last week and was delighted that it had been a hugely-successful exercise.
"If Covid didn't swing around, there would have been no European Tour event at Fairmont St Andrews this year," he admitted. "We've owned the asset for less than 12 months. It wasn't the plan to try and host an event this year. We got lucky and, when you get opportunities, you've got to take them.
"I'd like to say we proved ourselves as a very solid host venue and to hear some of the remarks from the top players about the greens being the best links greens they'd ever played on has still not probably sunk in, to be honest. But, nevertheless, we will totally accept it and enjoy those comments."
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Hide AdOne of the reasons the event took place in the first place at Fairmont St Andrews, of course, was its on-site hotel, which allowed the European Tour to create the "biosecure bubble" it has used very effectively indeed since the circuit came out of lockdown in July.
Who knows how long that will remain place, but, even when the world does indeed return to some sort of normality, it would be great on the back of this success if Fairmont St Andrews becomes a regular stop on the European Tour.
"We would love to host future events, but, at this stage, there is nothing signed up," added Henderson, who has worked in the golf industry in Asia for 10 years. "I guess there's a lot going on in the background as to what 2021 could look like. I don't think there is any urgency to nail down venues and there are obviously sponsorship difficulties due to the current climate.
"It was great to get it this year and we will see what happens in the future. For us, it is all about the long game. The new owners have set up a new company that is ultimately aimed at investing in the golf industry and the UK, we feel, is a very much a target for us to look at opportunities.
"We saw Fairmont St Andrews was a fantastic resort in the home of golf, which is the power of anything in St Andrews, and we are working on some strategy plans.
“It's obviously been tough this year to really move at any speed, but we would like to try and focus on the golf facilities at the Fairmont and, after the confidence the players and the tour have given us, we would very much like to be working towards hosting future events.
“The courses need a bit of TLC and we feel that over the winter we can work on them and carry out some enhancements on the condition that would hopefully put us in a stronger position to host these types of events moving forward. We are open to anything.”
Here's hoping those UK Swings are here to stay and we might also see the LET follow that same path. "How good is it watching so much European Tour golf on UK golf courses at this time of year?" wrote English player Meghan MacLaren during the final round of the Scottish Championship. "Got so much to offer... would love for us to have more tournaments here. So good."
Hear, hear!
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