Peter Cowen Diary: At St Andrews only two things matter, weather and pin positions
This week’s The Open will provide a big test to modern equipment and its ball length
My thoughts turn to predicted score for both the winning score over 72 holes as well as an individual 18-hole round score in this week’s The Open, final major of the year.
There has been a lot of talk about modern equipment and the length the ball is going, does it need a rein in?
This week will test this conversation.
We will all have an opinion come late Sunday night. Maybe, the same as we have now or different?
The golf course is set up at 7,218 yards, par 72. There is talk that the 60 barrier could be broken.
Looking at the yardages on the card below there are a number of par 4’s that can be driven and par 5’s are, in reality, par 4’s.
The records show that the course record is 61 by Englishman Ross Fisher in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2017.
The Open has been held 29 times at St Andrews, the first in 1873 and the most recent in 2015. The Open course record at St Andrews is 63 by Paul Broadhurst in 1990 and Rory McIlroy in 2010. But beware the golfing angels and Mother Nature at St Andrews.
Rory followed his 63 with an 80.
At the end of the day, it is about two things: the weather and the pin positions.
The advanced weather forecast looks set fair, but with winds at no less than 20kph most of the week, especially Thursday to Sunday, as last week at The Renaissance Club proved, the fast running course, meant scores were higher for these elite golfers, not lower!
Make or break
The green speed can never be that fast, due to the exposure to the wind. The organisers of The Open, the R&A are responsible for the golf course set-up.
The pin positions can make or break a score around the Old Course.
Let’s all hope it is a fair set-up and who cares if a player shoots 59 or even less.
Why not?
My final thought is that over history St Andrews has never let us down with their Open Champions, in recent or further back in history. Just sit back and read these names:
2015 — Zach Johnson
2010 — Louis Oosthuizen
2000 & 2005 — Tiger Woods
1995 — John Daly
1990 — Sir Nick Faldo
1984 — Seve Ballesteros
1970 & 1978 — Jack Nicklaus
1964 — Tony Lema
1960 — Kel Nagle
Speak to you soon.
- Peter Cowen is 71 years old and one of the leading Golf Coaches in the world and a Dubai Golden Visa Awardee. He has Peter Cowen Academies with Dubai Golf: at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Emirates Golf Club and Jumeirah Golf Estates.