"If the powers that be do not stop the golf ball arms race...you can say goodbye to the glory that is the Old Course at St. Andrews."

The technophobic agenda is running rampant here in St. Andrews as not only was I able to point out for Golf World that Saturday's wind-fueled fiasco has strong roots in regulatory cowardice and vision, but the chorus has been joined by Joe Posnanski at GolfChannel.com.

Posnanski made the connection between greens just a bit too fast for the slopes and wind which, rumor has it, sometimes blows here. Three straight majors and the folks in charge still stick to the same old speed. Cue that Einstein bro, he was on to something.

Posnanski considered the same thing I did: was play halted at the various nearby courses. Of course not.

He writes:

Companies fully understand that there are too many people out there willing to pay for longer golf balls. They will find ways to cut drag, to enhance lift, to defy gravity — or whatever else they can do to get a little bit more golf ball air.

And it will be up to the R&A and USGA to act and not just talk. Conditions are expected to be pretty mild on Sunday, which could mean it will be a shootout. Dustin Johnson and Jason Day and other long hitters will be hitting little wedges into holes. Guys will be driving par 4s. We could watch player after player overwhelm a defenseless St. Andrews.

And it comes back to Jack Nicklaus again. He has been warning about this possibility for years. Maybe St. Andrews can hold up now, but what about in five years? What about in 10? Everyone wants to see the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Everyone also wants to hit their drives farther. And, for the people who run golf, a choice will have to be made.

Beyond the usual stuff about the entire integrity and soul of the game being put at risk, there's another component in this as it relates to Jordan Spieth's historic quest. This in no way is meant to take away from Dustin Johnson's 36-hole position or use of his immense talent. But it's becoming apparent that he's using extreme distance versus to take most of the design elements out of play, as Graeme McDowell had predicted would be a key this week (Phil Casey's report here).

And I go back to this from Spieth from his post-first round press conference, a telling (and in no way bitter) statement about realizing he's got to be perfect to overcome DJ's advantage:

I saw a 65 in our group, and if D.J. keeps driving it the way he is, then I'm going to have to play my best golf to have a chance. It's hard to argue with somebody who's splitting bunkers at about 380 yards and just two-putting for birdie on five or six of the holes when there's only two par-5s. I don't have that in the bag, so I've got to make up for it with ball-striking.

Old (Course) News: Pushing Green Speeds To The Brink

My Golf World column on the ramifications of Saturday's inability to present a playable Old Course in windy conditions will be out later, but in the meantime a few thoughts on the latest major championship course setup fiasco in the distance era.(Jim McCabe of Golfweek.com recounts what happened here and has many player quotes on what they experienced, filed before the R&A commented in the press center.)

We know we are headed for a Monday finish at St. Andrews only because the green speeds are too fast for the contours when the wind is up. Three straight majors with a play stoppage have established that a Stimpmeter speed of 10+ is too much here. Heck, the nearby Castle Course with its exposed position on a hill and featuring modern greens with massive contours was open.

As Paul Azinger and Dottie Pepper noted on air and on Twitter (and as documented by John Strege at GolfDigest.com), they've played in comparable or worse winds here FOR CENTURIES because greens were not this fast. Azinger nominated 9 on the Stimp as a reasonable enough speed and here's guessing that would work. Pepper reminded us that this is the third straight major that the Old Course has been misunderstood by those setting it up. She also pointed out the overall statement this makes about runaway modern green speeds.

Sadly, we've seen this movie before: governing bodies willing to take things up to the edge in a peculiar and perhaps subconsciously self-destructive effort to hold the line on difficulty via trickery. In this case, trying to maintain certain green speeds on a course overwhelmed by modern distances, grooves and made easier by the impeccable conditioning by the maintenance team. Now we face a Monday finish and questions about the integrity of the championship because of risk-taking over a measely a foot of speed on the Stimpmeter (and to a lesser extent meeting the modern expectations of players who'd howl at the prospect of playing greens mown every other day).

One would hope the latest fiasco expedites and crystallizes two ongoing debates: the push for fast greens and the notion of regulating distance (as we do now), just not enough to impact elite players in a way that allows places like the Old Course to not be compromised.

For some context on green speed, check out Jerry Tarde's column from October 2013 on the evolution of documented speeds in America (suggested by reader Joe Ogilvie) and note Sir Michael Bonallack's resistance to knowing Stimpmeter speeds.

That's in contrast to his predecessor, R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson, who knows exactly what the green speeds were today at St. Andrews.

Q. What is the stimpmetre reading for the Old Course for The Open Championship?

PETER DAWSON: Well, we've been targeting between 10 and 10-foot-6, and we were achieving that every day, but we have kept the 11th green about six inches slower than those readings, and we've been consistently able to achieve that each morning.

To nitpick: Dawson recently justified the rebuilding of the hollowed 11th hole ground as able to handle play in high winds and because he didn't want to treat it differently in a championship. But in light of that revelation and more proof that the 10 to 10-foot-6 Stimpmeter range may be too much for these greens, I asked if he might reconsider the peak number.

Q. You said the 11th green a few weeks before the tournament is now puttable in high winds with the changes you've made. You've also said today that the green speed is on that green treated differently. Might you be willing to reconsider what you feel is the championship green speed that you discussed earlier? Is that something that would seem reasonable in light of what's happened?

PETER DAWSON: Well, I think for the vast majority of days here, if we went down to a green speed of something say -- pick a number, nine feet, and we played The Open Championship here, I think most people would think the greens were far too slow, to be honest with you. So it's a balance. 10 to 10-foot-6 is an appropriate green speed at St. Andrews in the vast majority of days. We've had a very difficult day today. The slope on the green at 11 is not directly connected with that. That's connected with slope as opposed to wind speed, and I still think what we did there was perfectly appropriate.

To recap: historic Eden green is changed to handle high wind days and so that it can be treated the same as the other days.

Reality: the changed green could not handle the high wind day if was compromised for and was treated differently anyway.

But more vital than this revelation of architectural ineptitude is the obvious absurdity of tainting a championship in the name of not taking real action on the distance scourge that keeps rearing its head in deflating ways.

Even the Chief Inspector wishes the play that took place for a half hour Saturday at St Andrews could be wiped from the record books, an acknowledgement that this championship may have been compromised by the committee's actions:

PETER DAWSON: Well, I wish we could. Rules of golf do allow you to wipe out a full round, but sadly not part of a round, and it's something that maybe the rules committee would like to look at for the future, but the rules of golf do not cater for that at this time.

First things first. Let's revisit the Overall Distance Standard driving the push for faster greens.

Update on Sunday, July 19, 2015 at 01:40 AM by Geoff

**Scott Hend launched the most pointed attack on the R&A ("absolute disgrace"). Mark Hayes reports that hes's not buying the small wind increase cited by the Chief Inspector.

"They want to come out with a diatribe that the wind picked up 10-15 per cent once they blew the horn, but that’s absolutely ridiculous. We were out there and told them it was no good. I make double-bogey on the one hole that I play and I miss the cut by two shots.

Hend said the players in his group had told the walking rules official that it was unfair.

"We kept saying to our rules guy that this is not fair and we shouldn’t be playing.

We get to the ninth tee and he finally said to us, `Hold up fellas, there’s going to be a back-up on the 10th tee’, so we stood and waited. He got a message from his boss in charge of the rules who said something like, `Why is your group not playing nine, make ‘em hit’.

“It was an absolute shambles and didn’t seem like anyone knew what was going on – it was very unprofessional. By which time, I’d already made a double. My ball landed on the front of the (par-three eighth) green and ran all the way to the back of the green."

Flashback Reads: Another Play Stoppage At A St Andrews Major

As we wait out a wind delay at the Old Course, where golf can no longer be played on a traditional gusty day due to modern green speeds, it's worth going back to read about the last two major championship delays here.

(Paul Newberry's AP story posted at GolfDigest.com is updating as news warrants, while Ian Poulter's updates are more entertaining).

Play was suspended at the 2013 Ricoh Women’s British Open when winds gusted to 38 miles per hour where "balls were moving on the greens, with the 10th green particularly affected." You can check out the post here that includes reporting from Alistair Tait on the green speeds then:

The LGU had already prepared for the strong winds by not cutting the greens as close as the previous day. “The 11th green wasn’t cut,” she said. “The greens were 9.4 on the stimpmeter as opposed to 10 the day before. They were really quite sticky.”

At the 2010 Open when play was suspended just as Tiger was to tee off, players vented that there was a Tiger-bias in the decision. From Lawrence Donegan's Guardian report:

The world No1 had not completed the first hole before he and his playing  partners were shepherded back to the clubhouse. Play restarted just over an hour later despite, according to several players, little apparent improvement in the conditions. Andrew Coltart, who was on the 6th when he and his playing partners were hauled off, said the delay had been "pointless".

With winds gusting up to 40mph, making it almost impossible to putt  on the more exposed of the Old Course's greens, the decision was taken to suspend play, provoking strong dissent among the players. Some argued the move had come too late, others suggested it was unnecessary and one, Martin Kaymer, hinted there may have been other motives. "Zach Johnson and myself had asked officials to stop play earlier," the German said. "On the 12th and 13th greens the ball was moving for us. Maybe they were protecting the better ones who were playing later.”

Jason Dufner, then just an emerging talent, had to take to an internet message board after he complained about what turned out to be a dodgy situation.

Most of the other observations then suggest why we are in for a cautious approach today: the conditions were not discernably different from the time of the delay to the restart. A couple of posts here and here with my comments and links to other stories.

And finally, we have R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson's recent remarks to Scotland on Sunday's John Huggan where he said the rebuilt 11th green could withstand windy championship days like this one.

“This is the only change we have made in order to get more pin positions. Some might say we could just have slowed the green – you for example – but I am of the philosophy that if the players are enjoying the course we will have a good Open and if they are not, we  don’t. This green would have to run at six or seven on the Stimpmeter to make it work as it was before. I think that might have attracted some hostile reaction from players and media.

“What we have now is a green that will still be puttable in a high wind, which it wasn’t before."

Da Anderson's Ginger Beer Is Back (At The 2015 Open)!

The R&A is paying homage to the drink and man that inspired the 4th hole's branding as Ginger Beer.

The "Gunner" comes in a bottle decorated by a label featuring an image of Auld Da Anderson selling his Ginger Beer and food items (historian David Hamilton theorizes that the round objects are poached eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried). I came across it at the British Golf Museum's new cafe with sensational views of the courses here.

Anderson was a caddie, ballmaker and clubmaker, and keeper of the green at St. Andrews before transitioning to his role selling beverages and food on the course. Many believe he served at the 9th hole, but the most consistent location of his Ginger Beer Cart was most likely the 4th.

The non-alcoholic Gunner consists of part Ginger Beer, part Ginger Ale, lime squeeze and 2 dashes of Angostura Bitter.

The spectator village here is particularly good, as Ryan Herrington notes in this post with extensive photos. As he points out, you can come here without seeing a shot and have a grand old time.

A key part of the village: exhibits from Emory University and St. Andrews University. The Emory collection is devoted to Bobby Jones' life in St. Andrews and includes pages from his manuscript (with Jones markings) for Golf Is My Game, along with a postcard sent after the Freedom of the City speech.

And watching over this to keep the gulls away? This hawk...(thanks Nancy for the link):

Meet Fearnley the Eagle.He's at The Open to keep pesky seagulls away from food in the Spectator Village.

Posted by The Open on Friday, July 17, 2015

ESPN Telecast of The Open Expanded for Saturday

Pretty impressive stuff from the worldwide leader to come on at 2 am ET to show the conclusion of the delayed round 2 at The Open.

From ESPN:

Round 2 of The Open, golf’s oldest major, at St Andrews in Scotland will be concluded on Saturday morning. The round started more than three hours late Friday morning because of inclement weather.
 
ESPN has expanded its telecast schedule for Saturday to include the majority of the conclusion of Round 2, which is scheduled to begin at 2 a.m. ET (7 a.m. in Scotland). Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods are among the players who will be finishing their rounds.
 
ESPN will leave the air and return at 7 a.m. ET (noon in Scotland) for its regularly-scheduled telecast of Round 3.

2015 Open Championship 2nd Round Notes & Comment Thread

A three-hour, fourteen-minute rain delay** has drenched the Old Course at St. Andrews, setting up day two for low scoring unless forecasted high winds show up.

Considering the weatherman got the overnight heavy rains part right, we'll just assume for now the wind is coming.

The revamped tee times are here. The Spieth-Johnson-Matsuyama grouping goes out at 5:48 pm local time.

TheOpen.com's digital offerings are here. And a reminder: if you are looking for sound only, The Open's live radio broadcast is most enjoyable.

The "Traditional" leaderboard.

**ESPN will be staying on in the States until the conclusion of play.

Good Read: "Mickelson dances golf's invisible line"

Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 2-under-par 70 in the windy afternoon conditions at St. Andrews, is profiled by ESPN.com's Kevin Van Valkenburg as the 2013 Open Champion "dances with golf's invisible line."

There is plenty of good stuff here, including this:

Mickelson said he and his wife, Amy, laughed recently when they remembered how upset they were 20 years ago when he wasn't included in a magazine story prior to the PGA Championship listing the game's "young guns." Justin Leonard was in there, and so was David Duval, but not Mickelson. Amy was so upset about it, she even walked up to the writer at the tournament and confronted him about it.

"We look back on that and we laugh," Mickelson said. "We were so immature that we felt we had to have input and say in every little thing." His face has grown noticeably weathered in recent years. Up close, his cheeks are pink and splotchy in spots, a visible consequence that comes from having spent the past four decades walking golf courses around the world, soaking up the taxing rays of the sun. There are small bags under his eyes, and he bends at the waist to read putts instead of at the knees, a telltale sign that the years, and all those steps, are adding up.

How The New Course Gave Us The Old Course

There’s a nice story from Christopher Clarey in the New York Times on the New Course at St. Andrews, an Old Tom Morris original. Though it's used this week for other purposes, the New has its admirers. If nothing else for giving us The Old Course name that has become iconic.

This was fun:

“It’s probably the oldest new course,” said George Wilkinson, a starter on the New Course. “Maybe they could market it that way.”

Said Moir: “Up until the New Course was built, the Old Course was just known as the Links. It was only when they built the New Course that they said, ‘We’ll call it the Old.’ They had a lot of imagination in those days.”

The New was designed by Tom Morris, who, despite the assignment, was known as Old Tom Morris to distinguish him from his son, who was known as Young Tom. (New Tom apparently was not an option.)

The story includes a nice slideshow too.

Video: Champions Challenge Recap, Arnold Palmer Interview

Before we get too deep into this Open Championship at St. Andrews, memories of Wednesday's Champion Golfer's Challenge should not be left too far behind in the rear view mirror. How lucky we were see Arnold Palmer hit what is possibly his last shot at St. Andrews, and witness Peter Thomson and Gary Player coming back one more time. Kudos to the R&A for having the event, presenting it with dignity and injecting a sense of celebration.

It's difficult not to get emotional watching Arnold Palmer's interview with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi afterwards. You can view it here.

Here is The Open official recap.

2015 Open Championship 1st Round Notes And Comment Thread

The Open is here and coverage kicks off at 4 am ET in the United States, with ESPN on for a whopping 11 hours Thursday and Friday. Multiple alternate feeds are available, including @TheOpen's Road hole feed and featured groups in morning/afternoon waves.

The full lineup is viewable here and you'll need the WatchESPN app to view on mobile devices.

With Jordan Spieth's Grand Slam request, subscribers to the Longhorn network will also be able to watch Spieth's featured group Thursday. 

The announce lineup is the same:

Mike Tirico and analyst Paul Azinger will call the play from the main booth adjacent to the 18th fairway. Hole announcers will be Curtis Strange, Sean McDonough and Scott Van Pelt, with Tom Rinaldi conducting player interviews.
 
On-course reporters for the morning players will be Andy North (with Jordan Spieth group), Billy Kratzert (with Bubba Watson group) and Dottie Pepper (with Tiger Woods group). For the afternoon session, Kratzert will follow the Phil Mickelson group and Judy Rankin will be with the Justin Rose group.
 
Later in the afternoon, Van Pelt and North will move to the booth, with Rinaldi and Dottie Pepper moving to hole announcer positions. Gene Wojciechowski will conduct player interviews. For the afternoon session, Kratzert will follow the Phil Mickelson group and Judy Rankin will be with the Justin Rose group.

The Open's official site includes extensive live coverage, though I'm not sure what is available in the USA. Check it out here and please let me know. And if you are looking for background sound only, The Open's live radio broadcast is most enjoyable.

The "Traditional" leaderboard

The 2015 Open Championship Is Here: Mini-Preview

The major we've all been waiting for, The Open at St. Andrews kicks off after the inspiring Champions Challenge saw legendary former winners play four holes. Headlined by Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Peter Thomson, the sun popped out to give us the added colors and that cinematic vibe to the 18th hole setting.

The golf course took an unexpected rain this morning, softening things up a bit. Watch for a low round early Thursday. As I noted in Golf World, the course isn't as lush green as stated, but in contrast to Chambers Bay it practically looks overseeded in ryegrass.

Regarding the changes, they probably won't make any difference, though the new ampitheater outgrowth of mounding added to the Road hole bunker could impact the championship. And looks worse and worse every time I walk by at that magnificent hole. Todd Lewis and I discussed the changes for Live From.

Soak up your Ivor Robson this week because this is the legendary first tee announcer's final Open Championship, writes Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com.  EuropeanTour.com also has a nice long story on Robson.

The tee times are here...

A few images from the last few days before the camera must be retired per the media regulations:

12345...17

Update on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 03:28 PM by Geoff

**Jim McCabe on Arnold Palmer's appearance at the Champion Golfer's Challenge.

At 85, Palmer is clearly having trouble walking, bothered by a painful  hip, and when he hit the ceremonial opening tee shot at the Masters in April, he conceded that it was the first golf ball he had hit in months.

But this was to be his farewell to St. Andrews, a place that in many ways is as crucial to his legend as is Augusta National. In 1960, Palmer had won the Masters and U.S. Open and deemed it important to go to St. Andrews and win the British Open. He created talk of a “Grand Slam” for the first time and oh, how he came agonizingly close to a third straight major. He lost by one to Kel Nagle, but remained smitten with the challenge. When he won the Claret Jug in 1961 and 1962, he brought this championship back into prominence and never has the British golf citizenry forgotten.

It's A Wrap: Jordan, Hogan And The Grand Slam

Maybe it's Wimbledon ending Sunday with spectacular wins or maybe it's the world not recognizing what a rare opportunity Jordan Spieth has, but his pursuit of the Grand Slam does not feel like it's getting the play it deserves.

Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com takes the big picture route and compares Spieth to fellow Texan Ben Hogan, talking to Dan Jenkins.

That was Hogan personified, said Jenkins, who has covered more than 200 majors during his distinguished career. In Hogan's mind, his  scorecard was the standard in which all other scorecards should be judged.

"Often it was," Jenkins said. "But sometimes it wasn't, and Ben would accept that, too, as being part of the game and graciously congratulate the winner."

Graciousness is a Spieth trait. Someone once asked him about his humility. Spieth responded that to talk about humility defeated the purpose of humility itself.

Who says something like at age 21?

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com talked to other players about the challenge of learning the Old Course on short notice and includes some telling comments about what players think of the task facing Spieth.

Spieth visited the press room early and was his usual eloquent, introspective self. Though the mentions of "feels" could prove to be the first early sign of trouble. Ryan Herrington on the feels word and what it might mean.

Hmm?!? Good to know that there is a thing called "feels" and that it can "travel."

And travel, indeed it did, from Woods to Spieth. As he tries for the third leg of the calendar Grand Slam, Spieth was asked about arriving on Monday and whether there were positives of playing the John Deere and getting to St. Andrews late.

"Not necessarily, other than going to a place I was familiar with, I could get in contention and get the right feels."

Alex Myers at GolfDigest.com considers the Grand Slam ramifications in his watch of the historic chase and noted that Spieth opened the door to some concessionary views that the Old Course is complex and that the simulator was not an accurate representation of reality.

And he doesn't sound like he's had enough time dealing with St. Andrews' winds -- an area which Tiger Woods said experience is most crucial -- either on his simulator:

"The course was a lot easier with 68 degrees and no breeze coming out of the air-conditioner in that room, so I got over here, and the real preparation really started."

Rex Hoggard played off of Jordan's comments about studying the history of the game and knowing what is on the line.

As Spieth has proven in his short career, he’s a quick study when it comes to high-pressure situations – like when he converted his disappointment over his loss in the 2014 Masters into his first major championship earlier this year at Augusta National – and with the world watching he seems to have struck an impressive balance between competitive indifference and situational awareness.

“I like to study the history of golf, and I think it's extremely special what this year has brought to our team and to have a chance to do what only one other person in the history of golf has done doesn't come around very often,” he allowed.

Ewan Murray notes in his Guardian story that Spieth's attitude toward the wind forecast is to embrace the coming trouble.

Spieth also brushed aside the prospect of strong gusts, possibly up to 40mph, disrupting his game. “I think it’s fun,” Spieth said. “If we wanted good weather we’d go play in California.

“We come over here because we want to embrace the opportunity of  handling these conditions. I understand that there’s a possibility for a  lot of this tournament to be dependent on the draw the first two days, at least for a few strokes. It doesn’t mean you can’t make it up if you get the bad end of it, but it will be harder. Nobody is going to know what that is here because it changes hourly.

Update on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 03:42 PM by Geoff

**Todd Lewis reports on Morning Drive that Spieth hired a St Andrews "expert" to help him better learn the golf course.