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Tournament Stats:
The British Open
July 16 - 19, 2009
Turnberry
Turnberry, Ayrshie, Scotland
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,204 yards
Purse: $6,770,142 with $1,208,954 million going to the winner
Defending Champions: Padraig Harrington
Results & Scores 2007 British Open
Box Score of 2007 British Open
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:267 (Greg Norman in the 1993 British Open)
54-Hole Record:
198 (Tom Lehman in the 1996 British Open)
36-Hole Record:
130 (Nick Faldo in the 1992 British Open)
Low round of tournament:
63 (Greg Norman in the second round of the 1986 British Open;
Nick Faldo in the second round of the 1993 British Open;
Jodie Mudd in the final round of the 1991 British Open;
Mark Hayes in the second round of the 1977 British Open;
Payne Stewart in the final round of the 1993 British Open;
Paul Broadhurst in the third round of the 1990 British Open;
Isao Aoki in the third round of the 1980 British Open.)
Tournament information:
The British Open traces its roots back to October 17, 1860, at the Links at Prestwick. Eight professionals vied for the inaugural Open Championship. It's interesting to note that a month later on November 6th, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States. When the 8 competitors made three trips around the 12-hole golf course at Prestwood. Willie Park Sr.'s 174 gave him a two-stroke victory over Tom Morris Jr. The original prize was the Challenge Belt. In 1873, Tom Kidd's victory at St. Andrews was monumental. It was the first Open Championship held at St. Andrews, and with Kidd's victory, he took home the first-ever Claret Jug. The jug was manufactured at a cost of 30 pounds by Mackay Cunningham & Co. of Edinburgh.
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By 1892, The Open Championship had moved to a 72-hole format, 36-holes over two days. With the changes to Open Championship format, play began to increase. As play increased, a cut was instituted, beginning in 1898, to limit the number of competitors over the final 36 holes. The increase in competition led to a decrease in scoring. Jack White's 296 in the 1904 Open Championship marked the first time a competitor shot an aggregate score under 300. His final round 68 also set the record for lowest round by a golfer. The Open Championship went on a six year hiatus beginning in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I. When the tournament resurfaced in 1920, it did so under new ownership. The R&A was entrusted with the task of managing the event. To this day, the R&A still manages the event.
The R&A quickly installed changes to The Open Championship. The event spanned three days, 18 holes on each of the first two days and 36 on the final day. Also, The R&A began charging admission to see the event. A year later, The R&A began to produce a replica Claret Jug that is awarded to each year's champion. The original jug resides in the clubhouse of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The suspension of the Open from 1939 to 1946 due to World War II represents the longest gap between Open Championships. Sam Snead won the 1946 U.S. Open at St. Andrews, defeating Bobby Locke.
The 1955 Open marked a new era for the event. BBC broadcasted the tournament on television for the first time. By 1966, the Open Championship was being played over four days, 18 holes each day. ABC, for the first time, broadcasted a live feed of the event in America. In 1977, Regional Qualifying around England and Scotland was introduced on a permanent basis, to help organize qualifying in which there was two levels, first local qualifying and then moving on the week of the championship. It had been an experiment at the 1926 Open, but abandoned after just one year. In 1980 the Open Championship was moved to its current format, 18 holes over four days, with the tournament concluding on Sunday. A decade later, in 1990, the event set an attendance record with over 208,000 spectators showing up to watch the tournament at St. Andrews. One more major change in 2005 saw international qualifying, with different sites set up in Australia, South Africa, Asia, America and for the European players to try and qualify in there country instead of having to fly off to England.
The 2009 Open Championship will be the 138th installment of the tournament. It will be held on the Ailsa Championship course at Turnberry Golf Club.
Course information:
Just like everything else in Britain, Turnberry has a very rich and story history. Going back as far as written history, the site of Turnberry has been the folklore of Scottish history as Robert the Bruce, who would be King of Scotland, was born on what many feel the present golf course was on and right near the lighthouse which has become the famous symbol of Turnberry.Golf was first played at Turnberry in 1901 as William Fernie, who won the Open Championship in 1883 and was the pro at Troon lay out and supervised the construction of a course that occupied much of the same land and terrain as the present day Ailsa Course that is holding the Open.
The club grew and prospered and ten years later a train line was run down the Ayrshire course and was later dubbed "The Golfers Line" because it served many famous courses including Gailes, Barrassie, Troon, Prestwick and then Turnberry. Once the train line was built, a new 100 room hotel was built.
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On 17 May 1906, the hotel opened, offering luxury rarely seen on such a scale at the time. With its electric lighting, central heating, hot and cold running water, and saltwater plunge baths, the Turnberry Hotel offered a rare glimpse into a whole new way of living. For years the hotel and the course strived, even holding man tournaments and titles.
The first hint of trouble was during World War I when a new instrument of war, the airplane because a part of the landscape. So after the start of the war it was determined that Turnberry would become a good miltary air base because of its strategic coastal location. So in place of the course, airstrips, hangars and huts were laid on top. After the war the course was rebuilt by James Braid with two courses being done. To remember those who lost there lives a memorial was built on the hillside overlooking the 12th green.
Unfortunately war again invaded the peace of Turnberry in 1939 and again the course was taken over and turned into a airfield, with the hotel becoming a military hospital. Now this war brought on more bigger planes and machinery as the course completely disappeared under tons of concrete and it looked like the end of not only the Turnberry Hotel but the courses.
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But bright minds got together, commissioned Mackenzie Ross to transform the instruments of war back into a course. Ross was able to get his workers to reshape the natural dunes, hillocks and valleys back into a course and retake all of the concrete and buildings and make them disappear. Still to this day there are scars of the remaining runways, they are being used to park cars for the Championship but in the 60 years since the course was reclaimed it looks as natural as it did before the first course was built in 1901.
Over the years the present Ailsa course has changed, Turnberry is 247 yards longer than it was when the British Open was played on it in 1994. Still the course has gotten the reputation as one of golf's hidden gems and if there was a beauty contest for the prettiest course in the world, Turnberry would give Pebble Beach a run for there money.
The Buzz:
What a weird British Open. As we have said before, Turnberry is one of the hidden gems of golf and one of the truly championship courses in the world. But on the same note, the course is one of the most isolated courses to hold a national championship as there are only a limited number of housing possibilities in a ten mile radius of the course. Now many can say that Carnoustie has the same problems, but there is a train stop less than a quarter of a mile from the front entrance which makes Carnoustie's remote location OK.But at Turnberry there is no train line and the roads leading to Turnberry have been redone but are still single lane roads. Housing is limited, this year we are hearing that quietly the Turnberry hotel didn't finish it's renovations in time and about half the rooms aren't available. I was very lucky to get into a small hotel called the Malin Court, about a mile from the course, but that only has 18 rooms! There is one other hotel in Maiden, the Wilding, but that again is small only about 20 rooms. South of Turnberry is Girvan, I stayed there during the 1977 British Open but in a visit to the town last night I could see that it's fallen on hard times and is not recommended. So that leaves the town of Ayr, a big town north of Turnberry but again that is 20 miles away and a long journey. I thank the R&A for coming to Turnberry, it's a great course but sometimes you wonder if the logistics of it are overpowering and I can see why it took 15 years for the R&A to return.
Other than that, the course is perfect, Tiger is here and everything in the world seem OK. Phil Mickelson is missed but again he has other problems on his plate, we hope and pray for him and look forward to his return.
Another person that passed up a visit was Brett Quigley. Of course he never dreamed of a possibility of playing in the British Open until he finished 2nd on Sunday at the John Deere and got the last possible spot. Now a lot has been written about him not coming but he had some reasons. First was a pro-am promise for the Monday after that he couldn't get out of and second he and his family were going to Milwaukee to attend the memorial service for Chris Smith's wife Beth, who died last month in a auto accident.
Hey, anyone catch Sandy Lyle's act, which was pretty class-less in branding Colin Montgomerie a cheater. In a way it is true, yes Colin got off for his "alleged" cheating in the 2005 incident in Jakarta. But O.J. Simpson also got off for the "alleged" murder of his wife just like Monty got off even though video evidence was conclusive on the problem. Still for Sandy Lyle mouthing off on Monty is sour grapes probably brought on because Monty is the Ryder Cup captain in 2010 and Lyle probably will never get the chance. Now we haven't heard directly from Monty but just letting this lapse is probably the best answer to the problem.
Here are some things to look for this week:
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the British Open :
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If there ever was a more perfect golf course for a major championship, this is it. The changes done to the course are wonderful and make the course better and are fair, the course has been setup up properly and there shouldn't be any problems. So what does all of this mean? I have always felt that a course setup up mid of the road, is in perfect shape and the weather is fair, favors the best golfers in the world. Of course it's easy to say, but again I see Tiger as a big favorite and I also like experience over naivete. So does that mean Padraig Harrington is a favorite, not really his game is still got some problems but look for players like Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson and of course Kenny Perry.
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Key stat for the winner:
The ability to adjust to the elements, especially wind and rain, is often crucial at the Open Championship. In 1986 when the Open was played at Turnberry, Greg Norman was the best at in some terrible conditions and was able to win. Same in 1994, wind played a factor and Nick Price was able to win. Now in calm conditions, players will have to attack as low scoring will prevail, just look at how Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus attacked Turnberry in 1977. Right now the forecast is calling for showers on Thursday through Saturday, with very heavy rain on Friday. Winds won't be that bad, between 10 to 15 MPH. On Sunday it's suppose to be sunny with winds between 15 and 20MPH. - There are only two par fives, the 7th and 17th, and a player can make up a lot of ground there as both are reachable in two. Now many will say that 17 is no longer reachable, but one of the reasons that they added 61 yards to the hole was because historically it plays downwind, so I feel that the players with a breeze behind him could have there way with the hole. But straight hitting is important on these holes, as both give trouble for those missing the fairway or green.
- Avoiding bunkers is always a key at the British Open, and Turnberry is no different. Many of the new bunkers have been installed around the 300-yard mark, which will make players think about whether they want to hit drivers off the tee.
- British Opens have produced an assortment of winners in the last 10 years, making predictions difficult. Padraig Harrington has won the last two, Tiger Woods has won three of the last nine and David Duval and Ernie Els were near the top of the rankings when they won. But Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton were two of the most surprising winners in major championship history and Paul Lawrie wasn’t far behind. Somewhere in the middle were last year’s winner was Mark O’Meara.
- Looking at Turnberry’s history makes one more likely to go with the favorites. Just look at the winners, Tom Watson, Greg Norman and Nick Price the greatest names in golf who were at the top of there games the year they won. With this in place, you have to like Tiger Woods who is this year's best player.
- So what will it take to win? Past major champions have won multiple majors and there hasn't been a fluke winner at Turnberry. Also look for players who have a strong record in past British Opens as it demonstrates an affinity for the unique challenges of links golf. Long hitting does not seem to be a big factor at Birkdale, most of the past winners have been medium-length hitters.
