R&A Returns Old To Four Off-Course Tees Instead Of Five!

The 17th tee less than 48 hours ago, with discreety disguised OB stakes (click on image to enlarge)R&A head honcho Peter Dawson revealed in his press conference that the 17th tee will now be part of the course, instead of a tee shot from out-of-bounds in a bizarre last minute decision considering the tee has been planned for a year and the officials have had no shortage of time to consider their options.

Q.  This is tongue in cheek and probably gives away our relative skill in this room, but a compatriot of mine, we walked out to the 17th tee and noted there was on the other side of the OB stakes.  If you dribbled one there, would you be lying 3 or 2?

PETER DAWSON:  You obviously haven't gone out there in the last 48 hours because you'll find that the OB stakes have been removed.

It was fascinating to see him say that with pride, considering it's rather clumsy to be making a last minute change to a course boundary! That came up...

Q.  Just to get clear on one thing, on 17 you've taken out‑of‑bounds stakes out.  Does that mean when you play on the 16th tee and you hit it on 17th tee, that's now inbounds?

PETER DAWSON:  That's correct.

Q.  So you've now changed the boundaries of the course in the last two days?

PETER DAWSON:  We have.  That was much heartened by seeing a photograph in the Dunvegan of James Braid in 1905 playing that hole from the railway line which was clearly inbounds at that time.  So it's not true to say it's always been out of bounds.

Q.  But isn't it slightly strange that two days before the Open Championship you've changed the boundaries of the course?  It's kind of embarrassing, isn't it?

PETER DAWSON:  I don't feel embarrassed.  I'm sure you'll think it's embarrassing but I don't.  I can cope with it. 

Video Look At The Road Hole's Setup

Check out the latest GolfDigest.com video effort of Sam Weinman, with yours truly talking about what to look for on the Road hole this week.

Stevie Offers Stunning Revelation: Tiger's Putting Of Late Substandard

This fairly innocuous and not particualrly revelatory comment from Steve Williams to PGATour.com's Brian Wacker has turned into major news here at the Open Championship:

The one part of Tiger’s game this year that has been very sub-standard is his putting. He hasn’t putted well in any of his events. The key to playing well at St. Andrews is putting. The greens are very generous so you don’t miss that many greens.

A couple of reactions to Tiger's press conference were worth noting, starting with ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski.

But once, just once, I'd like for Woods to walk into the interview room, dial down the defense shields and, when asked the inevitable question about the post-scandal Tiger, say something like: "I'm not asking for sympathy; I don't deserve that. But I'm hurting. And it's hard to play golf -- it's hard to do anything -- when your life is upside down, when you realize the impact of your actions. You guys want to take your shots? Fair enough. But this is real life, with real people. If any of you have ever had marital problems, you know what I'm talking about. It's hard and I'm just trying to put my life -- and the life of my kids -- back together. You don't have to respect me. All I'm asking is that you respect what I'm trying to do. Deal?"

But this was also a fair point:

To his credit, at least he showed up for the news conference. He's shown up for every news conference since his return -- pretournament sessions, postround sessions (with the lone exception of stiffing the media one day at The Memorial). And he's done it even when he wasn't in contention for one of the tournaments. He might not have said much, but unlike some big league ballplayers, he didn't go hide in the trainer's room.

Steve Elling wrote this about the putter change:

For those who have watched Woods over the years, and know his reverential attachment to the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 model he has used since mid-1999, he might as well have said he intended to swim back to Orlando when the tournament ends. He calls it his "gamer" and it is unquestionably the most valuable piece of sports merchandise on the planet.

Get ready to spit out your oatmeal, but he's won $87.5 million in official PGA Tour money with the putter. Plus all but eight of his 71 U.S. wins and 13 of his 14 Grand Slam titles.

"So, you're saying it might be worth something on EBay?" his agent, Mark Steinberg cracked.

Prince Andrew Tells Assembled Golf Aristocracy: Technology Has Been Great For The Game, Now Pick It Up And Get Those Prices Down!

The R&A clubhouse two nights before another Open Championship.The Association of Golf Writers Annual Dinner assembled off the first fairway at St. Andrews for a traditional stained-tie gathering of suits and those who only wear them once-a-year. The celebration kicked off with drinks and mingling, followed by a delicious meal, a few awards presentations and two speeches from former Golf Magazine editor George Peper and the Duke of York, Prince Andrew.

Lee Westwood picked up his award for most excellent golf by a European in 2009 and displayed wit, charm and a quick sense of humor in addressing the audience, highlighted by his congratulations of good fortune to Tim Finchem on Steve Stricker's win at the John Deere last Sunday: "Lovely to see an American win on your tour."

Monty then accepted on Seve's behalf the Michael Williams Trophy for outstanding services to golf and delivered a nice tribute to the former Open Champion, who could not accept the award due to his health problems.

Emcee and current Chairwoman Lewine Mair introduced the American transplant to St. Andrews, George Peper, who spoke lovingly about his attachment to St. Andrews 21 years after buying a pad on the 18th fairway. Peper talked about the difference between the spectacle of the game and the spirit, and warned the audience not to confuse the two with a little Frank Hannigan tribute. He said it was Hannigan, when talking about pro golf, who stated it was nice, but not necessary.

This little challenge to an audience generally inebriated by the self-assurance of administering and writing about the sport surely got turned some heads.  Peper then moved in with a killer portrait of a God forbid moment of the sea overtaking St. Andrews and that very building full of suits. He noted that the next day golfers around the world would set aside a few seconds of silence before going on with their regular game. The message: the game is bigger than whatever the assembled might believe is the sports center, even St. Andrews.

After a few stellar St. Andrews stories complete with excellent impersonations, Peper left the crowd fulfilled. Little did anyone know that the Duke of York would be offering the official "response," as the program described. And what a response it was, a marathon release of hot air that I was sure would lift the temporary tent and cart us all into the sea, almost as Peper had forecast!

Prince Andrew, errr...HRH, opened breezily enough by suggesting that he had "no idea why I'm here." The first few chapters of his speech, which was reportedly long enough to have been printed by special royal printers and flown in by his chums in the Royal Navy, first touched on the UK version of the First Tee, called On Course. It was all of the usual stuff about reaching out to the underprivileged youth, with a few twists. And then the former R&A Captain announced he would be touching on the subject of technology.

As the forlorn looks turned to sheer horror at the prospect of their least favorite subject coming up, the Prince dug in for a strong defense of the game.

"I would suggest the technology debate is nothing new," said HRH.

He acknowledged the pushing "of boundaries of innovation" and proceeded to make his case that technology debates were as old as the game itself, from the days of the featherie (which was still in use at the start of his speech) to the "days of urethane." The Prince then noted the constant change in some courses and the calls for a tournament ball, which he shot down because the evolution of technology has made the game easier and more fun for the masses. Golf, the fourth in line to the throne reported, "is a story of evolution and innovation and will continue to do so."

But, the former husband of Fergie said, "golf is not one-dimensional" and remains a game played "through the ears even for top professionals," and he said, it's simply a matter of finding a balance. He noted this balance may have been found since over the past decade there has been as much legislation from the governing bodies as the previous 150 years. He also noted that since 2002 there has been little or no distance expansion of note on the professional level.

In fact, Andrew contended, the new groove rule was doing a wonderful job returning a premium on accuracy, restoring the elements of risk and reward and most of all, that the R&A and USGA were fulfilling the difficult task of upholding the integrity of the game. This appeared to be the place in which he expected applause to break out, but the audience, not plied with enough libations to be that delusional, merely maintained their horrified expressions as the new honorary chair of the Drones Club seemed to be digging in for more. Or perhaps they recognized the irony of the Prince pointing out a suddenly regulatory surge just moments after suggesting that technology unregulated has taken the game to new heights.

The slimmed down Road hole (Click to enlarge)"I believe golf is fundamentally not broken," the Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy announced. "Like any tightrope walker, we need to balance a fine line." He was not referring to the tightrope walking necessary to navigate the 20 yard stretch of the 17th fairway that required single-file passage because the R&A is fearful of a long drive setting up a wedge approach shot.

As any speaker must do, the Prince then evoked the children, noting the need to cut out this business of building new courses longer as well as the need to speed the game up so that we can hand a better sport off to the next generation.

So just to clarify for those of you trying to keep score at home: don't regulate distance that might keep the courses shorter, faster and less expensive to play, but pick it up lads!

It was at this point I think I heard the first few snickers interspersed with the f-bombs and other snorts coming from Table 9. My own excluded.

The Prince, for the record, does not believe the pro game is to blame for slow play and that we all just need to be ready to play. Granted, this discounts that there might be three groups on a hole, all because too many folks are waiting for the formerly unreachable par-5 green to clear. But let's not get into details like that!

Furthermore, these every day courses do not need to all be championship length and "set up for the Sunday medal like the final round of the United States Open." Good advice from the man!

At this point the audience was no longer able to hide its pain or desire to catch a few z's as Andrew belched on about the joy of golf in the 2016 Olympics and the great hope he has of a special week at St. Andrews. And special is defined by? Why a win by a player from Great Britain or Ireland. It was so Chariots of Fire of him, and particularly respectful to the tour professionals present not of that pure GB&I stock.

Mercifully, the words "in conclusion" were uttered and the crowd managed to stave off a collective cheer. But 26 minutes in the Prince had managed to generate plenty of post-dinner conversation. For all of the wrong reasons. Cheerio!

Update on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 08:31 AM by Geoff

The Ancient Twitter was left with similar impressions of the night:

2010 Open Championship Photo Caption Fun: Champions Dinner

The look on Tiger's face is priceless...thanks reader Mel for finding this set of Associated Press images.

Update on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 07:32 AM by Geoff

The Ancient Twitterer with this caption:

2010 Golf Graduation Ceremony, University of St. Andrews

Watson, Palmer and Harrington, not backed by Luca Brazi, but instead, Peter Alliss over Palmer's shoulder (Click to enlarge)I was lucky enough to drive by Younger Hall this week and see where Bobby Jones accepted the Freedom of the City and delivered the greatest impromptu speech in the game's history. Even luckier to get inside to see this hallowed ground, and still more fortunate to have a ticket to today's "Golf Graduation Ceremony" whereupon Honorary Degrees were bestowed upon Padraig Harrington, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, along with honorary R&A professional Jim Farmer and Richemont CEO Johann Rupert.

Besides all of the expected pomp, circumstance and inevitable throat lumps when The King got choked up over the outpouring of affection from the packed house, the ceremony included lovely performances by the St. Salavator's Chapel Choir and in a moment of good fortune, a rare chance to brush up on my Latin and an early tour through the history of the game delivered by St. Andrews Principal Dr. Louise Richardson, who mercifully cut things off sometime before the Gutta was introduced in favor of allowing the patient and well-behaved crowd a chance to see their legends take the Academic Procession to the streets.

A few images from the day, click on them to enlarge

Tiger Press Conference Gets Mildly Tense; Tabs To Rejoice

There were a couple of uncomfortable moments in the Tiger Woods press conference today as the standing room only assemblage of inkslingers served and volleyed at St. Andrews. Interestingly, all personal life questions were posed with a wee bit of how shall I say it? No accent...if you live in these parts.

Q.  Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your act on the golf course.  He's gone on record.  Many of us over the years have heard you use the F word, we've seen you spit on the course, and we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs around.  Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums this week and respect the home of golf?

TIGER WOODS:  I'm trying to become a better player and a better person, yes.

Q.  Your public image has been transformed in the last year or two.  Does it bother you what the public at large thinks of you?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, most of the people have been fantastic.  The places that I've played and the people that have come up to me have been great.  As I said, most of the people have been so respectful over the years here, and I wouldn't see anything different.

Q.  Would it bother you if there was a perception of you as a different sort of person now?

TIGER WOODS:  Hey, it's their opinion.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

And this pointed question on Dr. Spaceman Galea.

Q.  I understand that you had a two‑hour interview with the FBI a couple weeks ago.  Can you confirm that was the case?

TIGER WOODS:  That was the case, yes.

Q.  And are you able to go into any details as to why they specifically wished to speak to you?  And also why you felt it necessary to use a doctor from out of the United States, who apparently is not registered to ‑‑

TIGER WOODS:  Well, I can't go into any of that because of the fact that it's an open case so far.  So that's an ongoing case, so I can't comment.

The real news out of the session, besides six holes now being grassed at his Dubai project (what a relief!), was the revelation that Tiger may abandon the same putter he's used for all major wins this week due to greens he said are Stimping under 9.

TIGER WOODS:  Yeah, I've always been tempted to change my putter on slower greens, and as I said earlier to Steve, I've always struggled when greens are really slow.  My stroke has always been, even from when I was a junior golfer, was built in ‑‑ I always feel more comfortable when the greens get quick.  Some of my best putting rounds were when the greens were running at 14 or something like that on the stimp like at Memorial.  I feel so comfortable on those type of greens.

But on slower greens, I've always had a hard time.  I've always experimented with other putters throughout the years, but I've never put one in play until now.

Update on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 08:46 AM by Geoff

****Mark Reason's analysis is captivating though he may be reading a bit more into this than necessary!

The opening two questions were asked by Americans and they were softballs. A relieved Woods welcomed them on first-name terms.

BBC 5 Live's Iain Carter then brought up Woods's reduced public image and wondered if St Andrews offered a Road Hole to redemption. Woods gave that the full headlights on beam. The smile was flicked on. He said: "I would like to win no matter what."

A couple of questions later came the first fastball. London press agency man Dick Turner asked: "Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your image on the golf course. Many of us have heard you use the 'F' word, we've seen you spit, we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs. Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums and respect the home of golf?"

Woods said: "I'm trying to become a better player and a better person."

Then he said his prayers and went to bed. Baby Buddha did not have a lot to say to us, but the media pressed on regardless. How much work did he have to do to rebuild his reputation? Rewind, press play: "Just trying to become a better person."

"It doesn't add a huge amount to the second shot. It adds a lot to the tee shot."****

Because there are 17 other holes of great interest I hate to belabor the Road hole debate any more than is necessary, but I thought Padraig Harrington's comments about the second shot were of interest considering that the R&A's Peter Dawson has stated that the intent in lengthening the hole was to bring the road more into play ("Crucially, the difficulty of the second shot will be re-established.")

Harrington seems to be saying that's not happening.

Now you've got to hit driver. It's slightly -- you're certainly not reaching the bottleneck of the fairway at the end, and you're left with a 5-iron. I hit 7-iron, 6-iron and 5-iron onto the green yesterday all from the same spot. It was obviously a little bit downwind.

It's not that it's a big second shot. The second shot has always been intimidating whether you're hitting, as I said, an 8-iron or a 5-iron, and with a longer club at least it's going to run up there. It's the tee shot that may hurt, not anything else. It really is a tough tee shot, as in, I hit a couple of drives off it yesterday, and they weren't too dissimilar, and one of them was like a long way down the right half of the fairway and the other was out of bounds, and it wasn't like -- I was kind of expecting to find -- I wouldn't have been surprised if the two of them were within five yards of each other. So it's an intimidating tee shot. It's what you're used to seeing on TV years ago. It's exactly what they need.

It doesn't add a huge amount to the second shot. It adds a lot to the tee shot.

Update on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 02:32 AM by Geoff

**A couple of more views, first Lee Westwood who says the new tee has added two clubs to the second shot.

"It's good, though the one thing I will say is that regardless of where the flag is you tend to only play for the front or certain spots anyway. I was about 30 yards behind where I have been on average in recent years and would say it was a difference of two clubs for the second shot. It was a driver and a 5-iron today."

And from Martin Dempster's story, this gushing endorsement from Tony Jacklin:

Tony Jacklin, the man who finished fifth behind Jack Nicklaus on the Old Course 40 years ago, believes the change will create a "70-30 ratio" of balls in the left rough this week. "You have to bite off more of the hotel now and I suspect the rough to the left will still get worn out even though it is thick over there," said the Englishman. "It was a good hole anyway and is a matter of conjecture whether it was necessary - obviously somebody thought it was necessary."

Update on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 03:32 AM by Geoff

****Tiger Woods, talking about the 17th and sounding like not a huge fan. 

Q.  Can you talk a little bit about the Road Hole, you know, your observations of the changes there.  Do you like them?  Do you not?  How is it changing your approach to playing the hole?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, it's a tough hole to begin with, no matter how you look at it.  I know that they wanted us to hit more club into the greens, into that particular green.  They did this whole study in '95, and the average player was hitting a 5‑iron.  Come 2000, 2005, I think it was like an 8‑iron, so they wanted to get it back to a 5‑iron in there.

And...

Q.  So you don't like it or do you have an opinion one way or another?

TIGER WOODS:  I'm pretty neutral on it because you're hitting ‑‑ all you're doing is basically hitting a little bit more club into the green, but it's the same tee shot.  It's the same angle.  You're taking the same line off the tee.

Day One At The 2010 Open Championship

The required shot of 1 and 18, click image to enlargeIt's a sad state of affairs when the WiFi is better on the train than it is in the dorms of one of the world's great universities. So only now as the clock is past midnight am I even able to log on at dial-up speeds! Therefore the nightly comments will be brief and unfortunately, I won't be able to surf around and link to some of the better reporting as in the past. Plus, I just can't wait to hop into this top-sheet lacking bunk of a bed (because there was that unidentifiable object strongly resembling a mouse turd or a piece of dried ear wax from the ghost of Tom Morris resting on the sheet...what a nice welcoming gift).

Speaking of Old Tom, his ghost must be using my bathroom because the energy efficient light that only comes on by identifying a human presence will not go off. Sweet dreams!

Oh you want to hear about the golf?

- If you ever have the chance to take the train from London to St. Andrews, do it. What a joy. The scenery is magnificent (see my Tweets). Oh, and the trains run on time, they are immaculate, the service is friendly and did I mention, the WiFi was stellar too?

- The Old Course looks as splendid as you might imagine, though I was shocked by how lush it is. In the areas I walked, it is not particularly firm (especially compared to the courses I saw last week). If the weather is benign, the combination of today's equipment and modern agronomics will render the place vulnerable to super low scores. Not that we care about low scores, but it would be nice if some of the strategy is allowed to be presented.The 16th's fence and contours (click to enlarge image)

- Did you know they added a new tee on the Road hole? It's as if nothing else exists on the golf course based on today's media center chatter. Of course, the tee is absurd not in the added yardage it brings, which is appropriate given the regulatory malfeasance of the governing bodies. Furthermore, the tee has been melded discreetly into the path between the tee and 16th. But there is the absurdity once again of teeing off over boundary stakes. No matter how much you prepare for it after the last Open, the sight remains bizarre.

- The other real crime of the Road continues to be all of the rough, which not only is in places where there should be fairway, and includes an unnatural narrowing down to 13 paces about 75 yards from the green, but it's also rough that appears to have been unnaturally prepared compared to other native grasses on the property. And with a green complex to approach to like that, it's unnecessary to be irrigating hay off to the side of a 495-yard beast.

- Tuesday marks honorary degree day for Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Padraig Harrington. The University of St. Andrews has been called out for Tiger's omission, but the real surprise is that they are giving Harrington a degree when he hasn't won at the Old Course and he's still a long way from completing his career. I will be attending and I believe you can watch online. My slow connection precludes me from pinpointing the web address of the event, which comes from the site of Bobby Jones's epic final appearance in St. Andrews. Perhaps someone can post a link below?

- Playing golf with hickories is just the best. But I'll bore you with that next week. The focus remains on the Home of Golf. At least, as long as I can get online.

The new 17th tee (click to enlarge) 

The 17th from behind. See if you can spot the fairway! (Click to enlarge image)

Poulter: Death To America...Golf

Lawrence Donegan reports on Ian Poulter's lively pre-Open comments about the state of American golf.

"The American guys who have won all the tournaments over the past few years are getting older," said the world No8. "Phil [Mickelson] is 40 – can he do what Vijay [Singh] did in his 40s? He's strong enough; it's whether he is hungry enough, I guess.

"The talent [in America] to replace them is very young and needs a bit more experience, so we have a 15-year window. The Americans have a gap and that gap is being filled by European guys right now, guys who are in their late 20s, early 30s and who are doing the job right now.

"In five years' time we should have taken a few majors. I don't want to put a number on it but the [English] guys that are in the top 40 in the world are all capable of winning them. It's for us to go out there and prove it but we can certainly win one or two a year, for sure."

"We like having a bit of wind, don't we? Just not like this."

Bob Harig writes about the tradition of no Sunday golf at St. Andrews which, did not include today when high winds made for a wild and wacky practice round, write both Doug Ferguson (here) and Steve Elling (here). Lawrence Donegan also files from St. Andrews and writes:

As for those who have not, they willfind the place in absolutely superb condition, even if it is a little bit greener than perhaps the R&A would like it to be. But the fairways are hard underfoot, the rough wispy – as it ought to be - and the greens as smooth as Tony Bennett's greatest hits.

That leaves just the one significant change to the course itself; the lengthening of the 17th hole by 40 yards, which places the new tee on the patch of land stolen from the neighbouring driving range.

To anyone who has never seen the Old Course before the change looks perfectly natural. On the other hand anyone who has seen the Old Course before would immediately be startled by the white stakes that run along the left-hand side of the tee.

Effectively the players will be teeing off from a place that is "out of bounds". It is not, of course, but still it is a bizarre arrangement.

As for the change itself, it met with general approval from those who played the hole yesterday, even if the enthusiasm was best measured with an atomic scale. "I don't think the change was needed,'' said Furyk with a shrug. "But now that it is there, I think it is fine."

"It's unfortunate because you're trying to get drama. It's a TV sport. The 17th has given them some great drama over the years. The change nearly has the opposite effect."

I'm sure we'll all be exhausted by the Road hole talk this week, especially since most centers on the new tee and not the narrowness of the landing area. But in reading Mark Reason's account, it's still a wonderful topic because of the golf-ball-goes-too-far element going mainstream in prominent UK papers like the Telegraph. (See post below.)

Also interesting is Graeme McDowell's view that many players will play the hole more conservatively and therefore have the opposite effect of the R&A's intent.

Players like McDowell have also warned that much of this week's field will now be more conservative and lay up to the front right edge of the green. They fear 'The sands of Nakajima' to the left or the path and wall to the right.

McDowell said: " It's unfortunate because you're trying to get drama. It's a TV sport. The 17th has given them some great drama over the years. The change nearly has the opposite effect. It's certainly a pretty significant change."

The R&A argues that if Tom Watson had the bottle to hit a 2-iron in his iconic battle against Seve Ballesteros in 1984, then the modern golfer should be able to cope with a 4-iron. Peter Dawson, the R&A chief executive, points out that the hole's length had not changed since 1900 and that players were coming in with very short irons.

The R&A hope that the extra length will force players to use a driver off the tee and a mid to long iron coming in. That will increase the risks of mistakes and bring the hazards more into play, particularly the infamous Road Hole bunker, nicknamed 'the sands of Nakajima' after the Japanese player who took five shots to get out.

Andrew Coltart was even more eloquent on the topic in a Scotland on Sunday piece by Paul Forsyth.

Andrew Coltart is another who fears that rolling back the years will lead to more conservative, even boring golf for the galleries. "I'm not sure it's going to be harder. In a way, it's going to be easier because you are going in there with a longer club. Part of the difficulty before was the temptation to go for a tight pin tucked behind the bunker. Now, if you're going in with a 4 or 5-iron instead of a 9-iron or wedge, that temptation is gone. You're just going to play short and right, and run it up the slope. You're going to see fewer guys in the bunker."

Coltart, who came through International Open Qualifying at Sunningdale, is rather a student of St Andrews. A member of the Scotland team that won the Dunhill Cup there in 1995, he loves the Old Course and everything it stands for. It has its faults - such as the pace of play, and the limited view it affords spectators - but the historic challenge it presents ought not to be tinkered with. "When Usain Bolt keeps breaking the 100-metre world record, they don't stick another couple of yards on his line to level it up. What's wrong with low scores? Let's make it attractive, make it exciting."

"OK, things change, time moves on, but people still look at art in the same way they did before. They still marvel at them. They don't touch them up to go with the flow. They should have left the 17th as it was. It's a gorgeous golf course, a wonderful place to play, but if you start making changes, it's not the same golf course. It's not the one played by the legends whose footsteps you are trying to follow."