Tim:
They use mats in the winter at St. Andrews and North Berwick because the divots will not heal at all in the very short daylight hours, and they don't want to go backwards on turf cover heading into spring. Fescue IS slower to heal. But, as Jon W. implies, the whole point of golf course maintenance in the old country is to let the grass take care of itself and feed it as little as you can get away with, as opposed to the American approach of fertilizing more, watering more, cutting more, etc.
In Dr. MacKenzie's day, more play was with wooden clubs and since courses were mostly unirrigated, players were not so likely to take many big divots as they do today. Having fescue fairways will reduce the incidence of divots some, but only if you maintain it hard and fast, which some do and some do not.