This year's Open Championship takes us to Turnberry Resort's Ailsa course, a course that has hosted the event 3 times before and is arguably the most scenic of all the Open Championship courses on the rota.
Don't believe me? Fine. Here:
With the exception of Greg Norman's win here in 1986, Turnberry has let players shoot unusually low (-12 was the winning score in both 1994 and 1977, belonging to Nick Price and Tom Watson, respectively). Although Turnberry is unusually beautiful, it's also unusually flat. How flat? During WWII the Ailsa course and its sister course (The Arran) were turned into concrete runways used by the RAF. It's a straightforward layout...there's a bunker here and a bunker there...or at least there used to be. Turnberry is almost bereft of bunkers compared to other Open Championship courses. Like all major venues these days, it seems, there are always course "renovations" and "adjustments" that take place to alter the original layout. This can include everything from tree removal to tree additions, lengthened and altered tee boxes, tighter fairways and new strategic bunkering. This year, 23 new bunkers were added to the course bringing the total up to 65, whereas other Open courses have upwards of 120. The weather, a standard and prominent factor at all Open Championships, is going to play a huge role in determining the winner. Either way, you have to consider that Tiger Woods is either going to demolish the field or end up right on the heels of whoever may escape with the coveted Claret Jug.
Padraig Harrington, who has been the winner of the past two Open Championships, is seriously struggling with his game. I know firsthand, having spent the better part of an hour watching him at the practice range at this year's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Harrington was consistently drawing every club, intentionally, from short irons to laser hybrids to towering drives, a pattern that is traditionally inconsistent with his high fades. As of the end of last year he was the clear favorite to three-peat. Harrington wasn't sure if he was even going to play in 2008 and ended up making a last-minute decision to enter the tournament despite a nagging wrist injury, which goes to show you how much talent the man possesses.
I'm not certain how the R&A changes or toughens courses for the Open Championship. The adjustments made to U.S. Open venues are well-documented - ankle-strangling rough, tighter fairways, ludicrously speedy greens - whatever it takes to make the place a living hell. Due to the nature of these British courses, the weather alone is enough to wreak incredible havoc on the playing field. If I remember correctly there wasn't much in the way of tall fescue or gorse bushes at Turberry. If this remains the case, Tiger Woods should be able to spray the ball everywhere off the tee and still hit greens in regulation. If the conditions are fast and dry, I expect that he may even leave the driver in the bag and opt for the 3-wood a little more often, a-la Royal Liverpool in 2006. With the #2 player in the world (Phil Mickelson) most likely absent due to his wife's battle with breast cancer and the #4 player (Kenny Perry) entering the tournament burdened by finding out his mother is in hospice, Tiger will be dealing with two less massive talents as he tries to hoist the Claret Jug for the 4th time. Despite this, there is still a solid and select group of players who stand a great chance of getting in his way.
Even with Woods' enormous talent and surgically repaired knee, anything can happen.
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