The Open Championship at St Andrews: News and gossip from the Old Course after round one

The magic and the madness of the 150th

Quite clearly we’re having a grand old time of it here in the home of golf. The sun is out often enough, there’s no rain, it’s a golf-mad town, a fun town, a beautiful town and a town full of people giving everyone a second glance (because so many folk are either famous or playing this week).

But there are some very odd episodes to contend with.

For one thing, I’m not entirely convinced that the hospitality industry has quite got to grips with what is going on. Last night myself and two friends entered a quiet beer garden, but couldn’t have a drink because there were no seats to sit on. This championship isn’t exactly a surprise, they’ve had years to get hold of plenty of seats. Don’t they want punters?

It got worse. At another venue, 10 Americans wanted to order food but it was 9.01 and the kitchen closed at 9. It was quite literally a repeat of the famous Fawlty Towers episode. What possessed them to miss out on at least £200? The Americans were baffled and quite rightly.

Then there’s the business of getting around the course. We all know that it’s difficult enough to shove 156 golfers round a plot of land that shares space in ways no other golf course does. When you’ve got over 50,000 being pushed and prodded around the edges of the property it can be downright Kafka-esque. Three times this week I have had to walk three quarters of a mile to cover 30 feet because of various one way systems and/or no entries.

Obviously, I’ve been infuriated and chuntered away to myself, but I’m not moaning because it must be a nightmare to officiate. More than anything, I am imploring you, if you’re coming later this week, to be extremely patient. You’re going to need every ounce of good will to stop yourself going doollally. And you know what? It might be the same for the players.

'It’s like one big green'

I wanted to know more about Korea’s Joo-Hyung Kim so headed over to the media centre hosting the nation’s golf writers. As regular readers will be aware I have an arsenal of foreign phrases and actions that teeter on the edge between cultural harmony and half-witted absurdity.

My attempts to say hello in Korean proved to be a little rusty, but making the effort earned me some grace and ‘Louis’ cheerily filled me in on the man who finished third last week in the Scottish Open and got off to a flyer here, eventually carding a 69.

“How had he got to grips with links golf?” I asked.

“We don’t know and he doesn’t know!” Louis said. “He arrived in Scotland last week and thought it was the strangest golf he had seen. He says he is playing it as one big green. He says that St Andrews has no fairways, only greens so he has been putting from everywhere and he thinks it is great fun.

“Maybe he likes it so much because he was inspired to play golf by watching Tiger Woods win the Open. He remembers him winning in very dry conditions.”

Can he maintain the pace? “Yes, he thinks so. He loves everything about it.”

Lovers and haters

It turns out that Austria’s Sepp Straka is having much more difficulty with links golf.

Just before he teed off I got chatting to an Austrian journalist who was both exceptionally funny about British imperialism and also the plight of his nation’s top PGA Tour performer.

Asked if Straka was enjoying his experience, he said: “He was born in Vienna and brought up in Georgia. There’s not a lot of seaside golf there and he’s struggling.”

It was unfortunately a little late to act on the news, but his 81 suggests that the information was spot on.

Let’s veer back towards a linksland lover. England’s Marcus Armitage is having a fantastic time and is so in love with playing at the Open he’s spent £2,500 in the merchandise store.

With family and friends up here it would be easy for him to lose focus a little. It’s also his third Open start so you’d half think that the frenzy might have abated, but it seems like he’s riding the wave rather than getting distracted.

Lowry digging deep

The 2019 champion got off to a nasty start but hung tough and after the round I overheard him implying that he wasn’t out of it despite a level par start. He was saying that to people who matter – his team. My impression was that it was real rather than saying the right things.

So I turned to his press chat and that sounded encouraging too.

“I got off to the worst possible start and fought back well,” he said. “After a bad tee shot on the second, didn't really do much wrong after that. I'm pretty happy with how I'm playing.

“I'm not down in the dumps by any means about my day. I'm pretty happy with how I fought. It's tough.

“The course is only getting firmer and it's as firm as I've ever seen anything. It's 350 to the pin on the last and you're hitting 3-iron. I've never seen a golf course like that. Who knows what score is going to win. If I can shoot a couple of scores in the 60s the next couple of days, I can be thereabouts on Sunday.

“There are a lot of chances out there. You can drive a few greens. I did today. I hit it pretty well. I put myself in decent positions.”

The stats back him up – he was strong tee to green, but putted poorly. I also like his thinking about the course. The threat of it is a risk for the pace-setters.

Going on the B of the Bang

How important is it to be close to the lead after 18 holes? Well, history says it is very important.

The last 15 Opens on the Old Course have all been won by golfers who were within three blows of the lead after 18 holes. If that maintains the short list is very short.

I think you could make an argument for it being time that trend was bucked and the course conditions might help that happen.