Every week you get to spend at the Home of Golf is special, obviously even more so when it’s an Open Championship.
As many of you will have seen, the week began with the Champions Golfers’ Challenge, where a huge number of fans turned up to witness some legends of the game in action. Honestly, the atmosphere was amazing and it was an honour to play with Peter Thomson (pictured below). What a great player and a gentleman. The same could be said of Tom Watson and I consider it a privilege that Brandt and I got to play with Tom for the first two days, in his last Open (pictured above). Standing on the Swilcan Bridge in near darkness on Saturday evening, after all those rain delays, and sharing that special moment with Tom was a memory that I will certainly cherish.
With my strong record in the Open, and my love of links golf, I always go into this championship with high expectations, which weren’t fulfilled this year. I just didn’t get that momentum and, after a good start, making some bogeys stopped what I hoped would be a good scoring day. That stretch of 11, 12 and 13 played tough for me the whole week and I was 6-over par for those holes over the Championship. My game was in decent shape, though, so I am looking forward to building on that over the coming weeks.
Before we move on, I must congratulate Zach Johnson on a fantastic victory. Trust me, winning that Claret Jug is an unbelievable feeling and I can only imagine that doing it at the Home of Golf is even more special. Zach’s a really good guy, too. Also, hats off to my buddy Louis Oosthuizen – a former member of the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation – on a superb defence of the title he won at St Andrews five years ago. He nearly pulled it off again! Louis is a quiet and unassuming type of guy, but he is an unbelievable talent and has the heart of a true champion. He’s an inspiration to a generation of youngsters back home in South Africa, not least the current members of our Foundation, who Louis has kindly paid a visit to and coached in recent years (pictured below). I think it is great motivation for them to see a former member performing at the very top of the game.
Anyway, straight after finishing at St Andrews we jumped on a plane back to West Palm Beach, then we’ll leave for Ontario on Tuesday for this week’s RBC Canadian Open. I’m looking forward to teeing it up again in this historic tournament, one of golf’s oldest national opens. RBC is enthusiastic in its support of golf and there is no doubt that it is doing a wonderful job with the Canadian Open. This is the fifth different venue in five years, which is a great initiative, especially for the fans.
RBC is also a fantastic supporter of charitable causes, which is why all of the company’s golfing ambassadors are grateful for the opportunity to jump on board with the RBCGolf4Kids fundraising campaign, now in its second year. Of course, it makes perfect sense that RBC should choose this week to wrap things up. We’ve really had some fun with this year’s challenge looking back through old photo albums, which is always good for some laughs in any family, and we’ve had great support from golf fans all around the world, which is hugely appreciated. With RBC’s continued support of our designated charities we’ve been able to raise tens of thousands of dollars for many worthy causes.
Finally, wishing my old pal Bobby Lincoln the best for the Senior Open Championship this week at the beautiful Sunningdale Golf Club. He made it through Qualifying at Camberley Heath on Monday so he’ll be there. Well done to him. One of my sponsors, Maui Jim, is the Official Eyewear Supplier for this event so hopefully that proves to be a good omen and the sun shines!
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