The links effect
The British Open comes to Scotland this month
WORDS | MINTY CLINCH
TALK ABOUT A FEAST OF GOLF. First up, the Open on the Old Course at St Andrews this month. Then this autumn comes the Ryder Cup on the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor near Cardiff. Ancient versus modern, links versus parkland, Scotland versus Wales, individual triumph versus national glory. The tournaments could hardly be more different, yet both contests will attract an anticipated 50,000 people per day.
The Scots claim golf as their own invention, insisting that the 12th-century shepherds who knocked stones into rabbit holes in sandy coastal grassland were the pioneers. Ancient Rome and China have their own claims, but there is no doubt that Scotland was the driving force behind the modern game.
Although golf and football were banned north of the border in 1457 because they interfered with archery practice, the Scottish royals played on, with James VI introducing the game to the English when he succeeded Elizabeth I in 1603. In Victorian times, Scottish soldiers created historic courses as they golfed their way around the Empire.
It follows that there is no better place to celebrate the Open’s 150th anniversary than St Andrews, the small golf-crazed university town in East Fife within easy reach of both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports. The first Open was played over 12 holes at Prestwick near Glasgow in 1860, but the tournament is now hosted by one of nine courses from an Anglo-Scottish rota. Custom dictates that it returns to St Andrews every fifth year.
After winning in 2000 and 2005, Tiger Woods is on for an Old Course Open hat-trick. In the Augusta Masters in April, after a five-month break triggered by his extra marital excursions, he finished fourth behind arch-rival Phil Mickelson and Britain’s Lee Westwood. Partisans who dare to interpret this as a sign of permanent psychological damage believe Woods will be deposed by a British player. For that, read English – Westwood, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Chris Wood, possibly Ross Fisher – or Northern Irish – Rory McIlroy.
Then again, it could be another American or someone from the non-Ryder Cup nations – Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, South Africa’s Ernie Els, Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy, South Korea’s KJ Choi. Who knows, but when the early three balls tee off over Swilcan Burn in first light on the opening Thursday, the sense of history will be overpowering, the atmosphere electric. Four days later, the world will watch the winner kiss the Claret Jug, which has been awarded since 1872.
No surprises if the lips on the silverware belong to Tiger Woods, but his profile may be lower in October’s Ryder Cup, a tournament that rewards team spirit rather than individual genius. Wales gets its chance to host the 38th event thanks to Sir Terence Matthews, born in 1943 in the maternity home on the Celtic Manor estate. After amassing a telecom fortune in Canada, and becoming Wales’s first billionaire, he bought his birthplace in 1980 and spent £140 million building two golf courses and a luxury hotel which dominates the M4 motorway outside Newport. In 2001, his £30 million bid for the Ryder Cup received enthusiastic backing from the Welsh Assembly and he duly landed the prize.
As neither of his existing courses fitted the bill, Matthews created a new one, a Ryder Cup first. For good measure, he threw in an opulent clubhouse, with mirror-image locker rooms for the teams. In contrast to the sheep-cropped turf, pot bunkers, heather and gorse on the Old Course, the Twenty Ten is lush parkland, with large water features on the Usk Valley floor surrounded by a natural amphitheatre that makes for optimum viewing.
On the first two days, 12 Europeans and 12 Americans, captained respectively by Ryder Cup legend Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin, will lock horns in four balls and foursomes (competition formats) on turf groomed to perfection. On Sunday, they’ll go head to head in the decisive singles. When one of them hoists the trophy, donated by packet-seed tycoon Sam Ryder in 1927, Wales’s biggest-ever sporting event will bow out in cascades of champagne.
While the public head for park and ride, the players will board their private jets, but the real winners will be those who linger longer in East Fife and South Wales. Both are great destinations for golf, water sports, beaches, scenery, Celtic life and traditional towns and villages with taverns and fish and chips. Enjoy.
The Open takes place in St Andrews on 15-19 July, www.opengolf.com. The Ryder Cup will be held on 1-3 October, www.rydercup.com
IT’S YOUR ROUND
IF YOU’VE BEEN INSPIRED BY THE PRO GOLFERS, WHY NOT HAVE A GO YOURSELF? HERE’S WHERE TO PLAY
EAST FIFE
GOLF IN ST ANDREWS
The Old Course, which is one of seven public courses run by the St Andrews Links Trust, is in global terms a must-play, with visitors pre-booking tee times over a year ahead. The daily ballot is often oversubscribed in high season, but the singles line offers a good chance to get on at short notice. Of the other courses, the New and the Jubilee are as challenging as the Old, while the Castle, designed by the fashionable American architect David McLay Kidd, has spectacular views over the town. +44 (0)1334 466666, www.standrews.org.uk
L-PLATES?
Want to learn to play in the self-styled Home of Golf? The St Andrews Links Golf Academy has state-of-the-art facilities and instructors approved by the PGA (Professional Golf Association). +44 (0)1334 466606, academy@pgagm.com
LOCAL ALTERNATIVES
The stars of world golf get an automatic entry to the Open, but any professional can enter regional qualifying competitions. The winners progress to Local Final Qualifying in Fife the week before the Open. In 2010, Scotscraig, the 13th oldest course in the world [www.scotscraiggolfclub.com], and Ladybank [www.ladybankgolf.co.uk] carry the flag for 19th-century values, while Kingsbarns [www.kingsbarns.com] and the Torrance at St Andrews Bay represent 21st-century golf architecture at the top of its game [www.fairmont.com/standrews].
STAYING IN ST ANDREWS
The luxurious 144-room Old Course Hotel [+44 (0)1334 474371, www.kohler.com/oldcoursehotel] beside the famous Road Hole and the traditional 65-room Rusacks Hotel overlooking the 18th green are most convenient [+44 (0)1334 474 321, www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk].
The St Andrews Bay Golf Resort, a few miles down the coast, has 209 luxury rooms, two courses and a gleaming new spa. +44 (0)1334 837000, www.fairmont.com/standrews
IT’S A SNIP
Letham Grange is a Victorian mansion on a 30-acre estate near Arbroath. It’s so relaxed it feels like home, albeit a home with two golf courses. For £279, you get three nights’ half board and four green fees. +44 (0)1241 890459, www.lethamgrangehotel.co.uk
SOUTH WALES
CELTIC MANOR RESORT
A 390-room luxury hotel with three championship courses – Twenty Ten, the Montgomerie and Roman Road – tennis courts and fishing. There is fine dining in the Crown, masterminded by Michelin-star chef James Sommerin, the Olive Tree has a Mediterranean buffet while the Rafters bar and restaurant serves contemporary European dishes in the Twenty Ten clubhouse. Check out the seasonal ‘stay and play’ deals. +44 (0)1633 413000, www.celtic-manor.com
L-PLATES?
The golf academy at Celtic Manor has tuition packages with qualified instructors: residential from £149 a night (two sharing), or non-residential for £49 per person (four sharing). +44 (0)1633 410312
LOCAL ALTERNATIVES
Royal Porthcawl, the most highly rated course in Wales [+44 (0)1656 782251, www.royalporthcawl.com], is an outstanding links layout on the seafront 25 miles west of Cardiff. The Pennard course, high on a plateau on the Gower Pennisula [www.pennardgolfclub.com], is series of picture postcards with rocky crags, hidden beaches and a ruined castle, while Tenby on the southern Pembroke coast is a tough challenge among impressive dunes [www.tenbygolf.co.uk].
IT’S A SNIP
King Arthur’s Hotel is a cosy country inn on the Gower Peninsula with new en suite bedrooms, old-tavern ambience and locally sourced cooking. Check out their ‘two-for-one’ B&B deals. +44 (0)1792 390775, www.kingarthurhotel.co.uk
