Rich,
It could be so because at medal play noone wanted to see a round ruined on the first hole because it was dicey and prone to producing high scores.
Especially with the concurrent influence of TV where the ideal finish was a crescendo ending at a difficult 18th.
If the leader/s tripled the first, all the air would be out of the balloon.
If you don't think there was a shift in emphasis from match to medal play in the last 60 years when TV was coming into it's own, you're out of touch with reality.
Mark,
See the above response to Rich regarding triples and TV on first holes
Pat
I don't think that the issue is having a round "ruined," but rather the issue of placing pressure on the very good golfer from the gitgo. In the anecdote I used (Castle Stuart), it was obvious that the very good player I was playing with could drive the green, but also hit it into the gunge on the left (or the sea on the right --unlikely for a very good player). As the anecdote said, he did both. But we were just playing for fun. If it had been tournament conditions from those tees I have no doubt that he would have hit a long iron or rescue club to the prefered distance for his scoring wedge and gotten either a par or birdie. That he got a par on the day through drive, reload, drive, putt show that there is a chance for the bold and good player to score 2 on the hole. Same, I'm sure for #1 at NGLA.
As a corrollary, I was up in Dornoch this year concurrent with the Scottish Amateur match play championship and watched many players (95% scratch and below) tee off from the 1st (very driveable hole for good players (330)), virtualy all of whom took a rescue club or iron, bascially to take the 5 out of play rather than go for the 2 or tap-in 3. This was proper risk management (even if boring) which proves that your theory that medal play is to blame for all the ills in golf does not hold water.
