Brennans Caddy Report-2007 Open Championship

Mike, the doc Rich Gordin, and I all met up in Atlanta on Saturday night en route to Edinburgh which is about 2 hours from Carnoustie. We are located north-east of Edinburgh across the North Sea from the famous St. Andrews golf course. After getting our shuttle up to our place in the town, a place I must say that is like a palace compared to where we stayed last time, we arrived at noon on Sunday. We actually have more than two channels, internet service, and believe it or not cell phone service which makes life a lot easier. We all felt pretty good on Sunday so after getting settled, we went out and walked the course at 7pm to get a feel for the place. It was great to get to go out and walk around with just a putter so you can really see the course differently than when you play.

One of the challenges that I find here in Scotland is having some decent food. There tends to be a lot of fish and chips and fried food, not that I am complaining or don't like it but a weeks worth is too much.  IMG who is the management group that represents Mike and a bunch of other world class golfers has had a hospitality house at this event for the past few years and it has been great. The have great meals each night and all the guys and family and friends are invited over to have dinner. Needless to say this year's event is much more comfortable than that in 1999 but looking back that was an experience I will never forget.

Monday morning we all woke up pretty early only to look outside and see the wind blowing 40 mph and the rain coming down sideways! It is amazing how it can be perfect on Sunday and absolutely horrendous on Monday. We tried to go out to the course and play a few holes but it just wasn't worth it so we played three holes and came back to the place. As the day went on the weather got better and better and with all the daylight we decided to go back out at 4:00 pm and played 18 holes with a local qualifier named Kevin Harper from England. It was a great practice round as the weather did a complete 180 and it was perfect out. The course itself is much different from the 1999 Open Championship which is a welcome surprise!

On Tuesday we got out to the course at 6:00 am and played our second practice round with Charles Howell III, finishing around 10:00 am. It is not too often that you can play a practice round that early and there were quite a few groups ahead of us. After the round Mike did a little practicing and then we called it a day.  Mike has gotten a lot better over the years of not wearing himself down during the early part of the weeks in majors; they take so much out of you mentally that you need to conserve energy early in the week.

The course this year is much easier that it was in 1999. I am sure most people remember the finish by Jean Van de Velde when he had a three stroke lead coming down the last hole only to make 7 and lose in a playoff. That year the rough or fescue as they call it here was the worst I have ever seen. It was to the point where you were lucky to get the ball back to the fairway with some of the lies you could get. The fairways were really tight almost to the point on a few of the holes with a side wind and firm grass that it was impossible to keep the ball in the centre of the hole. I still remember Mike shooting 83 the first day of the tournament and making the cut, that is something you can say doesn't happen very often. In fact that would be a good stat to find out what the highest first round score to go on to make a cut in a major was. He ended up coming back the second day with an even par 71 for a +12 score which was the cut line. To this day that round is still one of his best rounds of golf I have seen in the 9 years working for him.  The fairways have been widened a bit and the rough is nothing like it was that year but it is still very challenging and will be a great test, much more fair that last time.

The key to all these links courses is to stay out of the fairway bunkers at all costs. That is what makes things so challenging is that they are all placed in perfect spots on the fairways that you have to really work your way around the course. Although the yardage on the score card may say it's a long course it doesn't play that long at all as the fairways are pretty firm and the ball rolls a long way. It is critical off the tee to evaluate the wind and play a club that keeps you short of the traps whenever possible. Although on some holes you need to challenge a bit so that you can reach the green but then the traps come into play. Most holes have a very good risk reward relationship where if you want to hit driver and shorten the hole, the bunkers are looming and they are basically a one stroke penalty. The faces are so steep that the best you can do on most of them is wedge out back to the fairway. The setup this year I think is fantastic and I really like the golf course.

The entire course is a challenge from the famous 6 hole where they allege Ben Hogan took on the bunkers on the par 5 all four days. It is a famous hole with OB all down the left side of the fairway and pot bunkers starting at 245 out. You will see guys play it all different ways from laying up short of the traps to hitting driver over them to play left of them which is what Hogan did successfully for all four days.  The finishing three holes are really good demanding holes, 16 is a 240 yards par 3 with two nasty bunkers guarding the green. If you can run the ball up the green it is a good shot and from there take your two putts and move on. 17 is a par four that has a creek running across the fairway twice which makes the tee shot difficult and then the second shot is a long one to the green. 18 is the hole Van de Velde made famous and it is a very tough finishing hole. It is 500 yards and the OB goes down the left side of the green, if the ball starts turning left at all it can easily roll out of bounds. This might be my favorite Open Championship course and I am looking forward to getting the week going and gaining some momentum going into the next few weeks.

Enjoy the Open,

Brennan