Carnoustie has Jekyll-and-Hyde rep
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Colin Montgomerie is among the few who know the real Carnoustie.
He once walked off the course after an 81 at the Scottish Open with his curly hair twisted in a half-dozen directions, lamenting how he had to hit driver, driver and 1-iron simply to reach the par-5 sixth hole. And his mood did not lighten when a clueless reporter asked him, “Monty, was the wind a factor?”
This was one year after Montgomerie shot 64, still the lowest score ever at Carnoustie.
“This golf course is a sleeping giant,” Gary Player said Wednesday, reminiscing about his British Open title at Carnoustie in 1968. “It’s a giant when the wind blows, when conditions are difficult. And when it isn’t, when it’s only a calm day, it’s not all that tough. The thing that makes this golf course is that wee breeze. Just a two-club wind here changes everything.”
That’s the nature of most links courses. But Carnoustie is a mystery in other ways.
For most, the only memories of these mean ol’ links are from 1999, when the rough was so high and the fairways so narrow that more than 100 scores were 80 or higher during the week. Sergio Garcia cried in his mother’s arms after he shot 89-83 in his first major as a professional. The winning score of 290 was the highest at a British Open in more than 50 years.
The tabloids referred to it as Car-Nasty.
Eight years later, there might be reason to call the course Car-Nicely.
“This year, it’s a different course,” Garcia said Wednesday. “The rain is not helping, that’s for sure. If we don’t get some wind coming, the scores are going to be very low. It’s going to be easy to get to the fairway. We’re going to be able to stop it quite easily on the greens.”
No one is sure what to expect when the 136th British Open begins today, with Tiger Woods trying to become the first player in 51 years to win the silver claret jug three straight times.
The fairways are wider. The rough is minimal.
The weather is the biggest wild card.
Monday began with heavy rain that fell sideways because of 30 mph gusts, and ended with brilliant blue skies. Tuesday began with glorious sunshine, only to have the course pelted with showers in the evening.
Constant rain in the United Kingdom over the last two months has made the crusty turf feel more like carpet in a five-star hotel. It’s a complete turnaround from Royal Liverpool last year, which was so brown and baked that Woods only bothered to hit driver once in 72 holes.
The only consensus is that Carnoustie itself should be a fair test. Maybe the Royal & Ancient learned its lesson from last time.
Padraig Harrington believes the 24-year gap between Opens, from 1975 to 1999, left the R&A uncertain how much the game had changed. That might explain fairways that were only 12 yards wide and framed by knee-high grass.
“They obviously erred on the side of, ‘Let’s make it as tough as Carnoustie is meant to be.’ This time around, they have the experience of ‘99 to know the golf course,” Harrington said.
But before anyone thinks this is a cupcake, Harrington issued a warning.
“You can come out here and play this course with no rough and it would still be a very difficult test,” he said.
Woods only hit balls on the practice range and putting green on Wednesday, a recent trend for him in the majors. He, too, has seen the many faces of Carnoustie, having played the Scottish Open as a 19-year-old amateur in 1995.
So when it was suggested that Carnoustie might be a cupcake this time, it was all he could do to contain a smirk.
“I’ve never heard anyone say Carnoustie is easy,” Woods said. “Even the times I played the Scottish Open here, it was more benign than this, and the scores really weren’t that low. There are so many holes where you’re forced to hit long irons into the green. If you miss the ball in any of pot bunkers off the tee, you have to go sideways.”
Part of the mystery will start to unravel today.