'You have to be ready': What makes links golf and the British Open like no other golf major
Justin Thomas made his debut at The Open Championship when it last visited Royal Troon eight years ago.
It taught him everything he needs to know about what can make this major so maddening.
It had nothing to do with gorse bushes or pot bunkers. It was about weather and tee times.
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"I was in the bad one," Thomas said.
By that he meant the bad side of the draw, and it's part of the charm — or curse — of links golf and the British Open.
Justin Thomas during a practice round ahead of the British Open at Royal Troon. AP
It was fairly benign in the opening round at Royal Troon in 2016, all the way through Friday morning until near-50km/h wind and a driving rain made players in the afternoon feel they were on a different course than those who played early.
So severe was the change in weather the leading 14 players going into the weekend, including Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson, came from one side of the draw.
"I've never in my life grinded so hard to finish 50th," Thomas said.
"I shot 77 and made the cut by one. The worst part was Saturday and Sunday. The morning was the worst and you couldn't gain any ground."
Cameron Smith won the British Open on its last visit to St Andrews in 2022. AP
Most tournaments split the field in half. In the first round, one half plays off two tees - the 1st and the 10th - in the morning, and the other in the afternoon.
For the second round, they swap everything. The half that played in the morning, play in the afternoon from the opposite tee they played the day before. Then the field is cut, and tee times are seeded from the first tee for the third and fourth rounds.
But the ridiculously long daylight hours in the UK summer – sunrise at Royal Troon is at 5.01am local time, and sunset not until 9.47pm – means organisers at the Open can have all players hit off the first tee in groups of three, one after the other across all four rounds.
Smith played a practice round with Adam Scott this week. Getty
They still split them into morning and afternoon groups, so if you play in the morning in the first round, you'll play in the afternoon in the second, but it means players are on the course for significantly longer.
Justin Leonard will hit the opening tee shot in the first round Thursday at 3.35pm AEST (6.35am local). Sam Horsfield is the last to play. He will tee off at 1.27am Friday AEST (4.27pm local).
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Horsfield will likely sink his final putt on the 18th more than 14 hours after Leonard tees off. That means the weather will play a massive role. That happens elsewhere, but it is more pronounced in links golf.
Links courses that epitomise golf in the British isles are incredibly exposed with few trees. They also have deep 'pot' bunkers that take no prisoners.
Santiago de la Fuente trying to play out of a deep pot bunker next to the 11th green during a practice round. Getty
The fairways and greens are also significantly more firm than they might be elsewhere. This means instead of players hitting high shots that land and stop dead on the greens, they're more likely to keep it lower and allow the ball to roll - or chase - towards the hole.
They're also massive, and undulating. A player might find the green, but they might still be 40m from the hole. And if you miss the fairways, good luck. Where elsewhere you might find lush albeit thick green grass, on a links course you're likely to come across heavy straw, or gorse bushes.
With their yellow flowers, gorse bushes are appealing to the eye, but upon closer inspection are covered in massive thorns. A ball hit in there probably isn't coming out.
What that means is placement and planning becomes far more important. It's difficult to blast your way around a links course - it requires finesse and touch. That gives the shorter players – that's about how far they can hit it rather than any comment on their physical stature – a massive leg-up.
Sometimes the worst of the conditions is in the morning, as in 2008 when Rich Beem and Sandy Lyle walked off Royal Birkdale after nine and 10 holes, respectively.
Tyrrell Hatton playing a shot down a wide and exposed fairway. Getty
The forecast for the first round of the 152nd Open is for off-and-on rain during the day with gusts in the 32km/h range early in the afternoon — about the time Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are finishing their rounds — and then easing late. And then more gusts Friday afternoon late in the second round.
It's worth noting the forecast seems to change by the day. No one will really know until they're in the clear, or feeling like they are being blown into the Irish sea.
Sometimes the worst of the conditions are in the afternoon.
Louis Oosthuizen caught the good side of the draw at St Andrews in 2010. It was relatively calm all of the first round — McIlroy opened with a 63 playing in the morning — and then the wind became so fierce on the afternoon of the second round that McIlroy shot 80.
The winds got so strong play was suspended for more than an hour because balls at-rest were literally being blown off the greens.
Oosthuizen finished his first two rounds 65-67. Playing in the second group of the day, he finished his second round right before the wind came through.
Putting on links courses can be a challenge. This is Aussie Min Woo Lee on the 13th. AP
His name stayed atop the leaderboard for 11 hours that day and he led by five when it was over. He would up winning by seven shots.
Good golf and a good draw go a long way in links golf.
"It's part and parcel of the Open. There's always good draws and bad draws," Tommy Fleetwood said.
"Generally if you get unlucky and there is a good side and a bad side, that's wiping out half the field already.
"The good news is if you're on the good side. That's half of them gone and you only have to beat half the field.
"But that's always been part of the Open and that's the beauty of it.
"You have to be ready for whatever the conditions bring, along with the golf course. It's very important to embrace what can happen."
Xander Schauffele playing out of the thick rough during a practice round. AP
Another memorable example was Saturday at Muirfield in 2002. Tiger Woods had won the Masters and US Open that year, raising possibilities of a calendar Grand Slam.
He was two off the lead going into the third round when a storm off the Firth of Forth brought rain and 64km/h gusts. Woods shot 81 — nine others were in the 80s — and that was the end of that.
But getting the bad end of the draw isn't always the end of the Open. Padraig Harrington should serve as inspiration to everyone for what he did in 2008 at Royal Birkdale. He was caught in the raging wind playing in the morning in the first round, and scrapped his way to a 74. Harrington went on to win by four shots for his second straight Open title.
But it can be maddening. Gary Woodland recalls one Open when he was staying with Dustin Johnson. They compared notes at the end of the round.
"I was early, he was late. I'm hitting 3-iron into holes where he was hitting sand wedge," he said.
"You just hope you're on the right side. Otherwise, you try to make the most of it. Half the field is getting (dumped) on.
Adam Scott was among most players to practice hitting out of the deep pot bunkers that dot the Royal Troon course during practice rounds. AP
"I grew up in the wind. I like the tough conditions. But you'd like to be on the good side."
Conditions can be even more exaggerated at Royal Troon by its out-and-back nature. The forecast for one of the practice rounds this week was an example of the worst that can happen, with wind in the players' faces going out, and then it shifted, so they had to play the back nine into the wind, too.
The last time the Open was at Royal Troon, it had the second-worse draw bias — one side far better than the other — in Open history. It was so bad that Friday afternoon that the cut line dropped three shots in a span of 45 minutes.
Such is the nature of this fickle championship.
"Everybody knows that going into the Open," Thomas said.
"But I am so ready for a six- or seven-shot draw and being on the good side. It’s going to be awesome whenever it happens."
- Additional reporting by Damien McCartney
