By Ron Whitten
Photos By Stephen Szurlej
July 2009
There should be no need to defend Turnberry's Ailsa Course anymore, no need to apologize for its perceived shortcomings as a quintessential resort course pressed into service as an Open venue once a decade since the 1970s.
The Turnberry that will be the site of the 138th British Open July 16-19 is a noticeably different layout than it was when it last hosted the Open 15 years ago -- and yielded 148 rounds in the 60s. ("The real par is about 67," Nick Faldo sneered at the time.)
It's radically different from its first Open, in 1977, when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus ran away from the field, but not from one another. Back then, Turnberry had been emasculated by such means as removal of all shaggy marram grasses around the edges of its bunkers. (The bunkers these days are deeper and have vertical, riveted faces.)
This area was ground zero in Scotland's war for independence, the crumbling foundation of Robert the Bruce's family castle still in evidence. The Turnberry of the 21st century remains a feast for the eyes. There are few spots in golfdom more breathtaking than Turnberry's setting, overlooking the Irish Sea with the mountains of Arran to the north, the slumbering Kintyre peninsula due west, the monolithic Ailsa Craig to the south. On rare clear days, even Northern Ireland is in view, at least from the upper floors of the magnificent Turnberry Hotel, high on a hill above the course.
It's a smorgasbord of landscapes, moving from gentle meadowlands to tumultuous sand dunes to terrifying coastline and back again, the entire mix warmed by occasional bursts of sunlight and tossed by frequent fronts of storm clouds and swirling winds.
But the Ailsa has always been considered easy for professional golfers, the place where players went for personal bests and championship records. In the sunshine of '77, Mark Hayes shot a second-round seven-under-par 63, an Open record that stands today. In miserable conditions in '86, Greg Norman matched that score, in the second round, and won by five. Course manager George Brown (who, at 71, will retire as superintendent after this year's Open) had ankle-deep rough and fairways narrowed to 28 yards for that Open, to no avail.
"If the weather hadn't been so horrible," Brown said of Norman's round, "I'm pretty sure he would have shot under 60 that day, such was the quality of his golf."
In the past, even gracious conquerors gave Turnberry faint praise. Watson, who edged Nicklaus by a shot to win his second Open in 1977 with a then-record 268, told reporters, "There's a lot more guesswork involved in playing most links courses than there is at Turnberry."
Nick Price, who won the 1994 Open at Turnberry, matching Watson's 72-hole score, added this: "When the wind doesn't blow, the course is really not that difficult," and the leader board backed him up.
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