St Andrews, United Kingdom: Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) officials said on Wednesday that the Old Course, primed to stage the 144th Open Championship, will be able to withstand the expected adverse conditions set to hit the tournament.
With the opening tee-off set for 6.32am (9.32am UAE) on Thursday and the course soft after heavy rains in recent weeks, there were fears the famous 18-hole links layout could suffer further under the force of Mother Nature.
High winds and rain are predicted for Friday and Saturday, which will make tee-times for players crucial in a bid to avoid the worst conditions, but R&A chief executive Peter Dawson remained confident the course will hold up.
“We were going along pretty well until a week ago Saturday, when we had an immense amount of rainfall that morning,” said Dawson, who will oversee his last Open Championship before retiring.
“The place was awash, so any thought of getting hard-running brown links disappeared that morning.
“But the course has remarkable resilience and dries out extremely quickly. Unfortunately every day or two we’ve had of drying weather we’ve then had some more wet weather, and we’re getting more of that, which I think was largely on the forecast this morning.
“But we do this quite scientifically now, the moisture measurements and so on, and they are improving day by day, as is the firmness.
“So we’re actually, under the circumstances, very pleased with the golf course and the greenskeepers should be congratulated for what they’ve achieved and the progress that’s been made.
“I think all the players ... have been very complementary about the course and that’s great. But it looks as if we’re going to have some rough weather coming up, and that’s The Open Championship.”
Dawson was also questioned on whether the Old Course was still able to stand up to the standards necessary to challenge the world’s best golfers, although the expected bad weather will certainly increase the difficulties facing the field this week.
“I think the course out there has stood the test of time. The players love playing it and they don’t feel under-challenged by it.
“The R&A and the USGA made a commitment a long time ago with a joint statement of principles to act on hitting distance if it moves up again from the plateau it’s on, and there’s so many subtleties of ground and wind out there that this Old Course will last well into the future as a strong challenge.”
Dawson and the R&A have already revealed the venues for the Open, up to 2018, but Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush Golf Club will have to wait and see whether they will be given the rights for staging the 2019 rendition after an absence that dates back to 1951.
Royal Troon will host next year’s tournament, while Royal Birkdale and Carnoustie will stage the 2017 and 2018 British Opens respectively.
“We will be making announcements about future years in accordance with our normal schedule, and I’m sorry to say you are just going to have to be a little more patient yet.” said Dawson in reference to Royal Portrush’s bid to host the tournament outside England and Scotland for only the second time in history.
—AFP
