Brennans Blog - The British Open Championship

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:13:25

The British Open Championship or the Open Championship as the Europeans call it, is this week's event. I believe this is the 9th Open that I have caddied and this is the only course in the rotation that I have yet to attend. Royal Birkdale sits just outside of Manchester in Northern England and is located in the quaint village of Birkdale. The championship was last played here in 1998 when Mark O'Meara defeated Brian Watts in a playoff. Since then they have made some major changes to the course, no pun intended. In fact 16 holes have changed at least slightly from the ï¿½98 Open. There have been some substantial changes on a few holes but most changes involved the addition of new tee boxes and the shifting of bunkers.

This week Mike has rented a house in town where he, myself, and Jeff (Mike's trainer) will be staying. It is walking distance from the course which is always a bonus. We all met here on Monday morning and after a little nap went to the course to play 9. After a little practice on the range the day was over. On Tuesday Mike played 18 with Craig Barlow who qualified for the tournament a few weeks ago in Michigan.

Like the US Open this tournament has some qualifying tournaments around the world. It use to be that you would have to come to Europe to qualify the week before, but now with the new system it gives a lot more guys an opportunity to make the field. Craig is playing in his first British Open so it was fun to get out and play with him. Today Mike went out at 6:30 and played nine then had a short practice session. A little rest on Wednesday afternoon and we are ready for the tournament.

Royal Birkdale has always been considered one of the best Open courses along with St. Andrews and I can see why. Like most courses in England it is a links style course that is quite flat with bunkers perfectly placed on every hole. What I like most about the course is that there are very few blind shots with the tee shot on nine being the only real exception. I have never been a big fan of holes where you stand on the tee and have no idea where you're going. The holes are very well defined by traps therefore you can see where you need to hit the ball. The course is a bit softer and greener than they like it but with all the rain they have had there isn't much that can be done to correct it. This is the only course that I have heard of where the first par 5 isn't until #15. There are only two par 5s which are 15 and 17. Not very often can you play that many holes on a course without seeing a par 5. I can't remember the last course we played that didn't have a par 5 on the front nine.

One of the unique things about this event is that all players tee of on the first hole therefore times range from 6:30am to 4:20pm. There is daylight till 10pm so there should be no issues with finishing before dark. It's odd to see guys on the course so early and so late in the day. I remember our first year at Carnoustie when we had a 4pm tee-time and we had all day to kill before playing. It is a bit out of the ordinary which makes it difficult to remain focused. The other major obstacle is the wind. The weather this week has been very windy and cool. Today felt like a winter day in Ontario. The winds have been blowing 30 mile per hour which has made the course play very difficult. If winds stay up the ball will be much harder to keep in play and you can expect to see some high scores.

I like the pairing we have this week with Colin Montgomery and Boo Weekly; two guys that couldn't be more opposite. I think the key this week is going to be to stay out of the traps. They are so penal that most of the time it's just like a stroke penalty. If you can hit the tee shots in the fairway then you will have some great chances at birdies. I think it will be a great Championship and look forward to getting to work!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!