Sal Johnson, our great James Joyce of a golf writer, has this excellent preview of the British Open.
From the article:
# Key stat for the winner:
The ability to adjust to the elements, especially wind and rain, is often crucial at the Open Championship. In 1986 when the Open was played at Turnberry, Greg Norman was the best at in some terrible conditions and was able to win. Same in 1994, wind played a factor and Nick Price was able to win. Now in calm conditions, players will have to attack as low scoring will prevail, just look at how Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus attacked Turnberry in 1977. Right now the forecast is calling for showers on Thursday through Saturday, with very heavy rain on Friday. Winds won’t be that bad, between 10 to 15 MPH. On Sunday it’s suppose to be sunny with winds between 15 and 20MPH.
# There are only two par fives, the 7th and 17th, and a player can make up a lot of ground there as both are reachable in two. Now many will say that 17 is no longer reachable, but one of the reasons that they added 61 yards to the hole was because historically it plays downwind, so I feel that the players with a breeze behind him could have there way with the hole. But straight hitting is important on these holes, as both give trouble for those missing the fairway or green.
# Avoiding bunkers is always a key at the British Open, and Turnberry is no different. Many of the new bunkers have been installed around the 300-yard mark, which will make players think about whether they want to hit drivers off the tee.
He also takes a few shots at the unlovable Sandy Lyle who, in turn, took a few cheap shots at Colin Montgomerie for the unforgivable sin of being a nicer guy than he, (“who’d have thought that about Monty?” you ask…easy, it’s Lyle we’re talking about. Monty may be hard-boiled, but Lyle was always over-cooked), and for getting awarded the Ryder Cup Captaincy ahead of him.
It’s too bad for golf that Lyle didn’t hit those same cheap shots/sour notes coming down the stretch at the St. George’s or Augusta in ’85 and ’88. I’m sure his intemperate remarks will serve him well when he’s evaluated next time around for the Ryder Cup Captaincy. It was also a sterling way to open the proceedings this year’s Open Championship, so thanks for the memories Sandy. You just showed every fan exactly how and why you could win two major championships, yet still be a forgotten man.
