We arrived at Royal Troon on Sunday and naturally I’m excited to be back at this historic links and looking forward to my 26th appearance in an Open.
I’ve already played three Opens on this majestic golf course, located on the rugged coastline on the west of Scotland. The first was as an amateur in 1989, the year Mark Calcavecchia beat Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in the Championship’s first ever four-hole playoff. By then I’d had a bit of experience of links golf, so even with the inevitable Open debut nerves, I felt reasonably comfortable straight away and opened with a 72. I ended up missing the cut by just a couple of shots, but what a special experience that was. My love affair with links golf had well and truly begun.
When we returned to Royal Troon for the 1997 Open I’d just won the US Open so was feeling very confident with my game. After a first round 75 I had to play catch-up all weekend, though. So despite shooting three consecutive 69s, the best I could do was finish tied-10th. It was a good solid week nonetheless.
Then in 2004 my campaign started in style when I made a hole-in-one on the famous ‘Postage Stamp’ (pictured below) on the way to shooting an opening round of 69. I repeated that number on Friday and followed that up with a 68 on Saturday to put myself into a good position on Sunday. Those are the kind of days that as a golfer you always remember in vivid detail. I remember getting a bit unlucky with a couple of my drives on 10 and 11, both very tough holes played blind off the tee and into the wind, but I managed to pull things together and closed out my round with three birdies and three pars for a 69. It was a really strong push to the line.
As it happened, it put me into another four-hole playoff, my second in the Open in three years. I got so close and to come away with nothing was bitterly disappointing. But looking back, I feel there was a lot to be proud of in my performance that week. I broke 70 all four days, shooting 10-under par on one of the game’s most challenging courses, and I’d tied for the Open. It didn’t go my way, but I gave it my best shot and hats off to Todd on his win.
Looking towards this week, the course has had some minor adjustments here and there to restore some of its original characteristics and features, but essentially it remains the same test. And as in 2004, which was one of the best set-ups I’d ever seen in an Open, the R&A and greens staff at Royal Troon have to be congratulated on the presentation of the course this week. It looks absolutely superb.
As a test of golf Royal Troon is quite different to somewhere like Muirfield, where the holes play in different directions and the wind comes at you from all angles. Here there’s more of a classic ‘out-and-back’ links configuration with a pair of nines that run pretty much parallel with one another, sandwiched between a railway line and the sea. Going out, the holes nearly always play downwind and this is where you’re looking to maybe pick up some shots (remember Greg Norman birdieing the first six holes in the final round in 1989?). As soon as you turn for home, though, you play right into the teeth of that prevailing north-westerly wind and things can get very serious.
In fact, I’d say if the wind is blowing, then the back nine at Troon is one of the toughest stretches of links golf you’ll ever play. The last four holes measure 499 yards, 554, 220 and 458…almost a perfect metric mile, or not, especially for anyone who’s not hitting the ball solid and straight! It’s a superb closing stretch of holes, which is exactly the way it should be in the world’s oldest and greatest championship.
Anyway, with a lifelong love of links golf, the Open stands above all others as my favourite tournament of the year. You have to adapt your game to suit the ever-changing conditions, you have to use your imagination, play a bunch of different shots and really work your golf ball. And of course you have to make some putts on these beautiful, pure links greens. I love it and I have a nice draw for the first couple of rounds – paired with Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood – starting at 1.26pm on Thursday and at 8.25am on Friday. Currently the forecast for those two days is dry and part-sunny with wind speeds of around 10-15mph, which is ideal links golf weather, although as we know things can change quickly in a British summer!
Finally, as promised in last week’s report, I want to make you aware of a competition that we’re running this week to celebrate the centenary year of Boeing. The company has a huge presence at this week’s Farnborough Air Show on the outskirts of London and in normal circumstances, with me being such a big aviation fan, I’d have been there myself. Sadly I can’t be in two places at once, but as a proud ambassador for such a great company I want to do whatever I can to help the Boeing team commemorate this historic landmark. So with their support we’re running a competition starting on Wednesday and running for five days straight through to Sunday.
In a nutshell, each day we’ll use video clips and anecdotes from Boeing’s extraordinary history as the basis for a simple question. All you have to do to enter is tweet your answer using the #Boeing100 hashtag. We’ll then select at random a winner each day and award prizes from the Boeing Store. We’ve also got a superb grand prize draw on Friday, which is the exact day of Boeing’s centenary. All will become clear once we’re up and running. Just keep an eye out on Wednesday via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Good luck!
Enjoy the week and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
