Turnberry to provide strategic Open test

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-07-15

It’s time to tee up in the third major of men’s professional golf and guess what?

There’s rain in the forecast. Remember Bethpage Black?

But if the wind blows and the rain comes down sideways for a while, it won’t seem to be nearly as big a deal at Turnberry in Ayshire, Scotland. This is, after all, the British Open and while the U.S. Open is designed to test every aspect of a player’s game, the British tests not only the game inside the ropes but all that the elements and conditions can throw at you.

And then there’s the golf course. Perhaps the most picturesque of any in the Open rota, it carries the reputation as being one of the easiest sites and there is history to back that up.

The winning total scores in both 1977 (268 by Tom Watson) and 1994 (286 by Nick Price) are among the lowest in the 137-year-old championship. Common denominator? Hard, dry and fast conditions that allowed players at the top of their games to have their way with the course that runs hard along the Scottish coast line.

When the winds blow, however, the quintessential links layout shows its teeth. In 1986, Greg Norman won the title, but he finished the four rounds at even par. And it took a final-round 63 to get to that point.

So how will things play out over the next four days? It’s not exactly the same golf course that last hosted the Open, having been lengthened 247 yards, some tee boxes have been re-located, creating new angles on tee shots and creating more difficulty on some of those shots.

The first three holes parallel each other, insuring that at least one of the holes plays into what wind is blowing that day. After that, the course begins its journey along the shore line from south to north. Once the course reaches the 12th hole, it turns back inland toward the clubhouse.

Among the changes made for this Open, 20 new bunkers have built in an effort to tighten up the Ailsa course with many of them being perched near the 280-yard mark off the tees.

The biggest changes, however, came on the final three holes.

At 16, a straightforward and somewhat short par 4, will play at 455 yards and the fairway has been moved, making for a more challenging approach shot to a green that’s protected by one of those pesky, deep Scottish berns. How much of a difference did the change make?

When the 2008 British Amateur Championship was held at Turnberry, the wind blew strongly and many times two woods were needed to reach a green on the hole, previously played with a driver and wedge.

The 17th is one of Turnberry’s two par 5s and has always been viewed as a great eagle opportunities. It might not be so great this year, however, since it’s been lengthened to 560 yards.

In one of the great examples making a hole difficult without lengthening it, the tee on the 461-yard 18th finisher was moved from the right to the left of the 17th tee. The move created a hard right-to-left dogleg that should make for the kind of drama you’d expect on the 72nd hole of a major championship.

While there’s plenty of anticipation as to how a new generations of elite golfers will play Turnberry and whether or not Tiger Woods will win his 15th major, a look back at how Turnberry got to where it is today is very interesting.

It was built as a luxury hotel and golf course development by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company in 1903, but became a landing strip for planes of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. After the war, famed golf course architect, Mackenzie Ross, was commissioned to redesign the Ailsa and it re-opened as the spectacular links it is today.

The Ailsa Course is currently ranked as Britain’s No. 1 course by two leading golf publications, and is consistently rated within the world’s best. It was closed in November to give the staff time to make last-minute tweaks on the course prior to hosting its fourth Open championship.

And again, it will be the best golfers in the world trying to master the tricky and fascinating arena known as links golf. Many times, it’s not easy for them.

"I had a mental turning point in 1979 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes," Watson said of the year he tied for 26th. "I was criticizing the golf course rather than playing the golf course. I didn't like that attitude. It was a lousy attitude to have if you're going to try and win a golf tournament. I finally had a good talk with myself, and I started playing the golf course the way it should be played. I kind of got with it after that. I didn't want to go out with a negative attitude about playing the courses."

Watson became a five-time Open champion. Greg Norman was a two-time winner who got a bit of a start on links golf by play a lot of it in his native Australia. "The ball releases," Norman said. "The fairway's got a lot of undulation. The ball bounces in different directions."

And then there are those lovely bunkers. In America, bunkers are something of an annoyance for the best players of the world. Here, they are holes carved out of the earth.

"Bunkers are like water hazards on a links golf course," said defending Open champion Padraig Harrington said. "You're chipping out. Avoid at all costs."

Let the fun begin.

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About Mike...
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf. He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com. Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August. The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1250/show?showId=insidepghgolf - Listen to Mike Here!.

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