Random reflections from Old Course (rd 2) spectator

[Philip Gawith]

I was at the Old Course today so thought it worth chipping in.

I was very surprised when they stopped play. The wind felt like it was strong, but by no means extreme - the sort of wind you would expect to get maybe 1 in 6-8 links rounds, if i was to guess. I recall Nick Price saying once that up to 25 mph was manageable, beyond that random. Gusts aside, today was by no means unmanageable. I do not have the advantage of having seen the TV images - but it is very, very difficult to believe that the wind had calmed down when they allowed players back on the course. It is hard not to believe that they over-reacted a bit initially, and then took a firmer line later. You could see a few players looking imploringly to their match referees but they were not obliging.

That said, it is very clear that some players really ham it up and others play on. In the first category would be, inter alia, Ian Poulter, Robert Rock, Lucas Glover. As Tom Doak has pointed out elsewhere, they just look like they are dying to get off the course. Others just play on.

The other overriding impression was that the combination of tough weather at the Old Course, where there are lots of shared greens/fairways etc, and all the normal nonsense that attends professional golf, can make for some extremely tedious viewing. I accept it was not easy, but the grinding rituals, the relentless pre-shot routines, the interminable contemplations of the shot - I had forgotten how dispiriting it can be to watch the pro's at work. The Old Course remains a magical place, but at least next year at Royal St George's they ought to be able to get round a bit quicker.

Admittedly the 7th/11th is probably going to be the worst snarl up when the going gets tough. Nonetheless - I nearly lost the will to live watching Robert Rock whose caddie's pre-putt routine is insufferable a the best of times.

I was also surprised at how poor many of the pro's were at managing the wind. I watched about 20 players tee off on the 8th. Admittedly the wind was screaming across from the right - but not more than 5 players either hit the ball low and straight, or managed to finish right of the flag. Most of them were just blown off course like any old amateur. I know it was difficult, but a few them managed to hit decent shots - the others just seemed overwhelmed.

It it is trite to say the Old Course is a great piece of GCA. It is amazing how quickly though this is reaffirmed. I watched Oosthuizen/Overton/Moriarty (never heard of him but boy was he slow!) play the 16th and Overton hit driver and was probably 80-100 yards ahead of Ooosthuizen off the tee - just a completely different hole if you are prepared to take on the bunkers.

Much has been said about the new 17th tee. To me it looked just fine. If you had not heard the chat, you would think nothing of it - is the other side of the tar, but blends in just fine.

[David_Tepper]

Philip -

Glad to get a first hand report. Where were you on the course when play was stopped?

DT

[Ulrich Mayring]

I was wondering that as well, since they said the balls moving on the green was only on #7 - #11.

Ulrich

[Link Walsh]

Phillip,

Thanks for the report.  I did see Lucas Glover demonstrate numerous times throughout his round about his ball apparently moving (or oscillating) on the greens.  I can see how all of the posturing, pre-shot routines, double fairways and greens, etc. could lead to very long rounds.

I have one question for you.  Many of the players on day 1 got their rounds in with little wind at all.  Plus, I think I heard them say that the wind during the practice rounds was coming from a completely different direction.  So do you think the fact that many players had not practiced that shot on #8 in that wind might have affected where most wound up?  I know the Dunhill Cup is played there each year, so this might give more experience to some of the European players.  But I would imagine that many of the players don't played the course except for every five or six years (and many this year are of course first timers).  Given the vastness of the greens, the different wind than what they practiced inwind, and the bunkers and gorse, wouldn't this shot and many others be difficult to pull off?  Plus, you would know this better than I since you were there.  But it also appears to me that it can be difficult to judge proper distance on the course.  I would also add one more possibilty- the tee shot on hole 8 is the first time in the round that players turn around and face the wind in a different direction.  That's almost a half a round in the same wind, and now you are standing on the tee of a short but dangereous par 3 with the wind howling in a completely different direction.       

There's no way the pros would underclub on 8 with that bunker trouble up front.  The safer miss (except for a little patch of gorse) is long and left.  The helping right to left wind only seemed to exagerate these misses.  Other than the few who rolled into the gorse, how many of the players that you saw that missed the green got up and down?  It seemed like the chip was relatively easy (at least for the pros).   

But I also wonder if, now that the pros have seen how this hole plays in this wind (and assuming the wind direction is the same tomorrow), how many of the players will achieve better results with their tee shots the second time around?     

So let's see how they do on #8 tee shot tomorrow.  My guess would be that more people hit the green.  If not, then I totally agree with your observation- that they just can't handle playing in heavy winds

[Philip Gawith]

I was around 3rd - watching Ernie Els's group crawl forward!

Sean, as for your observations about the 8th - i am not sure about the direction of wind during practice - yesterday i think it was a strong west wind? I was standing on the tee so not able to tell who was getting up and down (nor for that matter by how much they were missing, though trajectory of all the shots was clear enough). We could check easily enough how many people were parring this hole. for sure very few looked to be hitting the green, and some missed it by some margin. I think i probably watched 20 people tee off and ross fisher, schwartzel and els hit good looking shots - the rest not.

[Philip Gawith]

i was watching broadly the same group of golf as this writer. the soren kjeldsen putt was very funny - he must have taken the  putter up above his waste!

http://www.golfweek.com/news/2010/jul/16/wind-wreaks-havoc-players-loop/

[Sean Walsh]

Philip,

I haven't changed my name, am reasonably happy with how it is faring.  Link is a new addition and unrelated, although obviously from a very high class of people.

For what it's worth I would not be giving the pros the excuses that my namesake does. I could understand the misses long and left with the helping wind if the course was hard and fast but not in the soft (pretty much as soft as that course is likely to get I would imagine.) condition it was yesterday

[Philip Gawith]

Thanks Sean - my mistake! I wasn't concentrating especially and simply assumed it was you owing to the name and detailed knowledge of the course as befits someone who spent a few months there!

And Link - answer still stands, even if i thought it was Sean!

[Link Walsh]

No problem Phillip.  I guess the pros have as hard a time with crosswinds as we do.  I'll still be interested to see what the scoring difference is between yesterday and today because it does look they are playing in the same wind.  I would hope that these guys could learn and improve their play, but who knows?  At least Rory Mcllroy did, and it looks like a lot of the guys on the first few pages of the leaderboard are under par on their rounds so far.