[Niall C]

George

Let me tell you, Castle Stuart wasn't soft last year. It might have been damp with pools of water here and there but it certainly wasn't soft. The course held up remarkably well and it was the landslides blocking off a couple of the holes, and the flooded car parks on farm land that mainly caused the course to close down. With regards to the scoring, that was everything to do with the nature of the course. Even with the course lengthened this year, and a few bunkers thrown in, I suspect that the scoring will still be fairly low which is of course what they wanted.

David

I'm not suggesting Paul Lawrie is telling an outright lie but I am suggesting that being so closely tied to the main sponsor, and being the local boy, is likely to have some bearing on how he views things.

With regards to Westwood, not sure what he's doing this week or whether he played at Loch Lomond in previous years. Some players prefer to be competitive the week before a major while others look to aclimatise. Both valid points of view, as is the point of view credited to him. Having said that, I didn't hear him say it personally so I guess I should go and redact my other post 

Niall

[George Pazin]

George

Let me tell you, Castle Stuart wasn't soft last year. It might have been damp with pools of water here and there but it certainly wasn't soft. The course held up remarkably well and it was the landslides blocking off a couple of the holes, and the flooded car parks on farm land that mainly caused the course to close down. With regards to the scoring, that was everything to do with the nature of the course. Even with the course lengthened this year, and a few bunkers thrown in, I suspect that the scoring will still be fairly low which is of course what they wanted...

  Luke Donald might not agree:

"It's nice to get another victory - I can get used to this," he said. "To do it on a links is even better and when I play well I tend to do reasonably well the next week.

“I holed putts when I needed to, and it's nice to do it when it matters. 

“The scoring conditions were there - Fredrik had a very low one, barely made the cut and finished second. 

“If you played well it was there for the taking and with the greens being softer and very little wind. But I holed the putts when I needed to, and I holed a bunch of 20, 25 footers out there today, and had a good feel for the greens. I was seeing the lines very well and it was nice to hold them when it mattered.

“I felt good out there. I felt very comfortable and very in control, and that's a good sign for next week.”

Couldn't find anything that said whether or not they put their hands on the ball.

[Mark Pearce]

George,

How did Luke Donald play the week after?

[George Pazin]

That invalidates his statements about the conditions under which he prevailed?

[Mark Pearce]

It certainly puts a question mark over the value of CS as a preparation for the Open. 

[DMoriarty]

Yes George. His failure to perform at the Open completely reverses everything said and done the previous week.

Don't you get how this works? Because he won at Castle Stuart but then missed the cut at the Open, Castle Stuart must not be a suitable preparation for the Open.  Now had he lost at Castle Stuart (or not played) and not performed at the Open, we could reach the same conclusion.   Same had he lost at Castle Stuart and won the Open.    And had he won at Castle Stuart and won the Open?  Well that would have meant that his brilliance as a player allowed him to overcome the wasted week at Castle Stuart which still wouldn't be suitable preparation.  

[DMoriarty]

Niall,  I think I read that Lee Westwood had played in 17 Scottish Opens in a row prior to bowing out of this one (reportedly because of the injuries.)   I think 15 of those Scottish Opens were at Loch Lomond.   So this idea that he would skip Castle Stuart because it wouldn't adequately prepare him for Open conditions seems more than a bit stretched to me. 

As for Paul Lawrie, it could be that he is just playing mouthpiece, or it could be that he means what he says, or (most likely I think) he could believe what he says and is acting as a mouthpiece.  I recall people saying similar things about Phil Mickelson's positive viewpoint re Castle Stuart last year when Barclay's was the sponsor.  Turns out that while Barclay's isn't a sponsor this year, Mickelson has decided to play anyway.   Perhaps someone should let him know that his time would be better spent playing some real links course.   Or maybe he couldn't get a tee time anywhere else?

[Jim Johnson]

Looking forward to seeing Castle Stuart this weekend on the tv. Just setting the pvr now. 

[Brian_Ewen]

http://www.paullawriegolf.com/blog

The course is as you would think a little wet but in very good nick they have added some length with new tees and there is a little more rough so course should play a bit tougher than last year.

[Mark Pearce]

The early groups certainly seem to be finding it relatively easy, Anders Hansen and Francesco Molinari are both -5 after 9 and 8 holes respectively and 38 of the 77 players on the course are under par.

[Mark Pearce]

Molinari now -10 through 15.  51 of 78 players under par.

[David_Tepper]

Nae wind today!

[Niall C]

Sorry George, I missed the bit where Luke Donald said it was soft as opposed to being softer ! There's a big difference between your ball plugging where it lands and the course being less than fiery. He also referred to the wind (or lack of) as being a factor in it being easy scoring conditions. To go into Mucci mode for a moment, I've played the course, was there all 4 days plus practice day last year and the course was certainly not soft, not by a long way.

David

Regarding Westwoods comments I read them in a Scottish newspaper article where the writer stated that Westwood said that was the reason for his not playing at CS, however the comment wasn't given as a direct quote so entirely possible that it was taken out of context or completely made up.

Mickelson - late late entry as sponsor invite. Apparently hasn't been playing well of late and looking to try and find some form (again media comment). I guess if thats true, the wide open fairways of CS appealed to him.

DT

Calm in the morning, wind got up a bit in the afternoon. It will be interesting to compare am and pm scores. I went round with Fisher, Drysdale and Rollins and between the three of them they barely missed a fairway and even then only by a couple of feet. Drysdale was the one before the start had said that it would be a putting comp which wouldn't suit his style of play. He wasn't wrong, as he 3 putted twice and missed 7 or 8 putts under 10 feet for a score of 2 under.

Niall

[Mark Pearce]

Niall,

Molinari is known as an excellent ball striker but a weak (if streaky) putter.  Did he spend the day knocking it close or have a rare day when his putter got hot?

[David_Tepper]

"it would be a putting comp"

Niall -

There was a time (and it was not all that long ago) when Johnny Miller referred to the Masters as "the Augusta National putting contest!"

Mark P. -

F. Molinari shot 62 (with 29 on the closing nine) on Sunday in the final round of the French Open. He must be playing pretty well!

DT

[Niall C]

Mark

Second hand comment from someone who spoke to the scorer in his group and apparently he was knocking them in from all over the place. Clearly he was inspired.

DT

I suppose Millers comments are true to a point in that the greens at Augusta will expose mercilessly any flaws in your putting, however its also about putting the ball in the right place for the putts which is why someone like Langer has managed to do so well there over the years. I don't think anyone could say thats the case at CS, certainly not where the had most of the pins today. They may decide to make it more difficult for them later in the week (or perhaps not) but clearly CS doesn't have the options that Augusta has to make it difficult.

Niall

[David_Tepper]

"but clearly CS doesn't have the options that Augusta has to make it difficult."

Niall -

With regards to difficult pin placements (and fast green speeds), I don't think there any links course that can really compare to Augusta National.

Hopefully, there will be a 3- or 4-club wind for a least one of the rounds (like there was at Day 1 of the Curtis Cup) and we can see how the course plays under those conditions.

DT

[George Pazin]

Sorry George, I missed the bit where Luke Donald said it was soft as opposed to being softer ! There's a big difference between your ball plugging where it lands and the course being less than fiery. He also referred to the wind (or lack of) as being a factor in it being easy scoring conditions. To go into Mucci mode for a moment, I've played the course, was there all 4 days plus practice day last year and the course was certainly not soft, not by a long way.

So you just object to my use of the word 'greatly', which is ok by me. I actually think the line between the firmness required to really challenge pros and the softness required to go low is pretty fine; after all, a little rain allowed some random golf announcer to shoot a 63 at Oakmont, which is mentioned occasionally when discussing tough courses...

You were there - did they play lift clean... or is my memory faulty?

[David_Tepper]

Commentary from The Herald on course conditions at Castle Stuart for the opening round Thursday morning:

"With hardly a breath of wind, especially for the morning starters, the flags were as limp as wet noodles and the soft fairways and greens, created by all that rain which mercifully stayed away for the opening round, meant the course was there for the taking."

[Wayne_Kozun]

I see no reason for the Euro Tour not to be aggressive in thinking outside the box.  Every year I watch Wimbledon and think golf doesn't have anything close to the spectacle of this event, but why not?

I am sure the guys wearing green jackets in Georgia would disagree, unless your comment only applies to European golf.

[Niall C]

George

I didn't object to any word in particular, I just thought it was wrong to call the course soft but I guess it comes down to your interpretation of what that means. To me soft is where your ball goes splodge when it lands and either stays in the plug mark or bounces out to the side. I don't think that happened as from what I so the ball was getting a good bit of run on landing.......either that or the balls were aquaplaining. Yes, from memory they did play lift and clean in at least part. Also to my mind its certainly easier to putt when the greens are damp as there less fiery.

DT

See my definition of soft above. No way was the course soft or anything like it. It's in great condition, even the bits where they have done some extensive returfing to accommodate drainage work. Also if you didn't know the course before you would be hard pressed to spot where they have put in new bunkers from last year. The work is excellent.

I bought a copy of the Herald this morning but didn't pay too much attention to the golf section. Who made the comment, was it the guy Ferrie who normally reports on the rugby ?

Niall

[David_Tepper]

Niall -

No, the article is by Nick Rodger, the Golf Correspondent.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/golf/molinaris-opening-lines-land-him-apart-in-the-birdies.18142351

From The Scotsman today on Thursday's round:

"A combination of the sting having been taken out of the course by recent rain and benign conditions left the Inverness venue virtually defenceless and, at the end of the first day, a total of 122 players in a field of 156 were sitting on par or better."


P.S. Do you ever get mistaken for Dougie Donnelly?

DT

 

[Niall C]

DT

Dougie Donnelly - Not often. We do both have the same crap wavy hair thing going on mind you although mine is thinning out a bit now. Met him once, just like you see on the TV, nice bloke.

Conditions certainly were benign until a bit of a breeze got up this afternoon but really nothing too strong at all. As I said before, the course is in excellent nick however the fairways are a bit more "consolidated" as they used to say in the old days, with a bit of moss and such like here and there, much like you get at an older links. I think the lies will be a bit tighter than when it first opened when the ball used to sit up a wee bit. You also didn't get the same borrows you would have expected. The rough also gives it mcuh better definition.

Niall

[DMoriarty]

I got around to watching much of the the first round coverage last night, and as far as scoring goes the course seemed to be playing extremely "soft." No doubt it can soak up water and they were getting some bounce around the greens, but It looked like they were pretty much able to go right at the pins without much consideration for rollout etc.  Multiple times the announcers commented on the soft and accommodating conditions on the greens.  More than once they commented on a good angle or bad angle, but then noted that the conditions had rendered the angles much less important than usual. This seemed particularly true around the greens, where golfers were hitting shots they might not have gotten away with on a firmer faster day.  

Even with this the course looks compelling, with many opportunities for interesting shots, especially around the green.  I sure hope they get some drier conditions at some point as I think it would be a kick to watch.    

I really enjoyed the few bunkers shots they showed . . . on television the sand looked heavy and wet and not easy to manage.  Els took four strokes to get out of one green side bunker.  

Looking forward to additional coverage which is very unusual for me.
________________________________________________________
 
Niall,

You seem to be defining "soft" as almost requiring plugged lies, but that hardly seems to realistic on a sand based(?) fescue course, does it?  I'd expect it to drain well but with lots of moisture I'd expect things would be quite a bit slower and softer than ideal.  

______________________________________________

I recall a few people with lots of complaints when the course first opened about railroad ties and contrivances, but the course looks lovely on  television.   I am left wondering whether it has a tiered feel to it but other than that it looks terrific and quite natural.   I hope to get to see it some day.

[Ulrich Mayring]

Say what you will, but Le Golf National in the condition they present it for the French Open, is a far better preparation for The Open than a soaking wet Portrush or a Castle Stuart in most any condition. It's a tough, tough setup with narrow fairways, deep rough, firm greens with vicious runoffs and terrific playing angles all around. It's not a links, but it plays almost like an Open setup and offers the same mental pressure as a major.

Ulrich

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