Arnold Palmer's Guide to Majors 2015 (UK Edition)

Arnold Palmer’s Guide to the 2015

MAKING HISTORY WITH EVERY STEP

THIS COULD JUST BE THE BEGINNING

Arnold Palmer

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60 YEARS OF THE MASTERS

Plus

tom watson

Farewell from the Open's finest

martin kaymer Defence of a U.S. Open reign

Rickie Fowler exclusive / Chambers Bay, St Andrews & Whistling Straits / US Majors mapped

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Arnold Palmer Foreword

t is my great pleasure to welcome you to our fifth annual edition of Arnold Palmer’s Guide to the Majors. Like most fans of the game, the four major championships are the tournaments I look forward to most in the golfing calendar—apart from a little gathering we have at Bay Hill each Spring; you may know the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard is very close to my heart—and if the 2015 Masters is anything to go by, we are in for a great season of golf in these historic tournaments.

It was a great honour, along with my good friends Jack and Gary, to serve as honorary starter at the Masters again this year. I would not miss the Masters for the world.

Unfortunately, I had to forego Augusta’s famous Par 3 Contest as my rehabilitation from a shoulder injury took longer than I had hoped (and I know, recovery from any injury always takes too long!).

That Par 3 Contest at Augusta was the brainchild of my old friend, the late Cliff Roberts, who pushed through the creation of the course and contest despite the original reluctance of his co-founder at Augusta, the great Bob Jones. I think the Par 3 Contest we enjoy today is emblematic of Cliff’s great and far-reaching legacy at Augusta National. I love the way the tour players participate

with their families and friends. It also brings the golfers closer to the fans, or Augusta’s patrons, I should say.

It is all too easy today for golfers to take for granted the fans who make their entire profession possible. Without the fans, of course, tour golf would not have any sponsorship or media coverage, and therefore no prize money. The Par 3 Contest at Augusta is a great opportunity for the players to give a little time and attention to some of golf’s most devoted fans. The players all know this. They are a great bunch of guys, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to remind them.

At the Champions’ Dinner on the Tuesday night of Masters week I was given an impromptu opportunity to speak to my fellow past champions and, as I discuss in my interview in this issue, I spoke largely about my friendship with President Eisenhower and enduring admiration for him. With that in mind I felt it was appropriate just to give my friends in that room a gentle reminder of their responsibilities as professionals and role models.

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as we have enjoyed putting it together, and while there is sure to be a lot of great golf to be enjoyed in the majors in 2015, I can’t tell you how much I look forward to teeing it up at Augusta again next April.

All my best,

Arnold Palmer

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Contents The King’s Spieth Paul Trow sets the scene for the remainder of the 2015 majors season

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From Augusta to St Andrews Arnold Palmer reflects on the Masters and confirms he will attend the 2015 Open

Fast starters Dave Shedloski winds the tape back to the 2014 major championships

The new star of Dallas Jordan Spieth won the Masters with stunning dominance. Robin Barwick focuses on the champ

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Spieth leads new generation Art Spander reflects on a Masters made memorable by an extensive cast of stars

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Ready to defend

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Footsteps shadowed by history

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All in the timing

Martin Kaymer is looking forward to using the U.S. Open to dispel his Masters disappointment

History beckons for world number one Rory McIlroy, as Derek Lawrenson reports

Rickie Fowler spoke exclusively to Robin Barwick about his major ambitions for 2015

Legend of the links Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus recall the famous 1977 ‘Duel in the Sun’ at Turnberry

The Modern & Ancient With majors set for Chambers Bay and St Andrews, Andy Farrell considers links old and new

Putting majors on the map We plot every American golf course to have hosted a major, with comment from Art Spander

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Northern Exposure Tony Dear visits Chambers Bay in Washington state, venue for the 2015 U.S. Open

Old Tom’s Return We follow in the footsteps of Old Tom Morris, from Prestick to St Andrews

The “best office in the world” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson talks to Peter Dixon about his impending retirement

Wisconsin sand blast Dave Shedloski reports from the modern-day giant of the Straits Course, Whistling Straits

Four to follow

Founding Contributor

Designers

Contributing Editor

Advertising Sales

Photographers

John Halnan Steve Richards

Executive Assistants

Enquiries

Advertising: ms@tmcusallc.com Editorial: jh@tmcusallc.com Subscriptions & copy sales: joe@tmcusallc.com

The Life of Lauren David Lauren, son of Ralph, speaks exclusively to Karen Kay about setting trends on the golf course

The annals of calamity

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Clive Agran commiserates with golfers who have suffered some of the most dramatic major slips

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Special Thanks

Pete Bevacqua Cori Britt Mike Davis Peter Dawson Bob Denney David Fleming Rickie Fowler Doc Giffin Ken Goodwin Chris Hughton Pete Kowalski David Lauren Andrew Lochhead Peter Nicholson Mike Woodcock

Paul Trow reports on a trio of classic venues that are primed to host majors in 2016

Roll of Honor

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Getty Images Leon Harris Patrick Drickey & Dan Murphy/stonehousegolf.com

Sweet ‘16

TheMajorsOfGolf.com

A roll call of every major ever played, listing winners, winning score and venues

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Reade Tilley

Carla Richards Phil Callis

Directors

Best of the rest

We consider 10 of the greatest golf shots to be played in the first decade of the new millenium

Arnold Palmer

Clive Agran Tony Dear Peter Dixon Andy Farrell Adam Hathaway Karen Kay Derek Lawrenson Dave Shedloski Art Spander Paul Trow

Joe Velotta

Four golfers we expect to create headlines in the majors this year

A new century strikes

Matthew Squire

Contributors

VP Operations

Jon Edwards Dean Jacobson Deric Piper

They may be supporting acts amid our pages, but these golfers are determined to star in 2015

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Creative Director

Matthew Halnan Kieron Deen Halnan

Homeward bound

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Publisher

Robin Barwick

Leon Harris

The Old Course, St Andrews is the oldest course in majors golf. Andy Farrell offers a guided tour

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Editor

Faldo to make final bow Sir Nick Faldo looks forward to playing in the Open for the last time in 2015

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USGA Foreword

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ll of us at the United States Golf Association are excited to bring the 115th U.S. Open Championship to spectacular Chambers Bay, marking the first time the U.S. Open will be played in the Pacific Northwest.

The championship will give the world a chance to see what residents of the area and those who have played this outstanding municipal facility already know: it is a true jewel of a course. The views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains from virtually every hole only add to the incredible visual tapestry of Chambers Bay. Despite being less than a decade old, Chambers Bay has already distinguished itself as a USGA championship venue. The 2010 U.S. Amateur, won

by Peter Uihlein, showcased the unique architecture of Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s design, which requires a variety of different shots and trajectories on full swings and creativity on and around the greens.

Chambers Bay is built on sand and fine fescue grass; a sustainable, drought-tolerant surface that is meant to play

firm and fast. Players will have to take into account how their shots will bounce and roll, and largely because of that, one of the most compelling aspects of this year’s U.S. Open is the flexibility that Chambers Bay provides us in terms of course set-up. There is no one way to play the course, and in turn there is no one way to set it up for championship conditions from day to day. We expect to utilize different teeing grounds and present the players with a variety of options and challenges throughout championship week.

The 2015 U.S. Open represents a new chapter in the championship’s history. It will be the first U.S. Open televised by our new broadcast partner, Fox Sports, which is preparing to deliver the sights and sounds of championship golf in a new way. And in bringing the U.S. Open to the Pacific Northwest, we are able to expose this great championship to a new region of sports fans.

We at the USGA are extremely proud of our long and close relationship with Arnold Palmer, who has done so much for the game, and we are delighted to support this 2015 edition of Arnold Palmer’s Guide to the Majors.

Mike Davis Executive Director United States Golf Association

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The R&A Foreword

T

he Open returns to St Andrews in July for the 29th time in the 155-year history of the championship. If past years are anything to go by, we are in for competition of the highest order over the world’s most iconic and treasured of courses.

There is something special about an Open played at the Home of Golf and the roll call of champions bears testament to the fact that the Old Course brings out the best in the best. Rory McIlroy, who was crowned Champion Golfer of the Year at Royal Liverpool in 2014, will be hoping to add his name to a consummate list of players that, among others, includes JH Taylor, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Severiano Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

This will be my last Open as chief executive of The R&A and I could think of no better place to take my leave.

My first Open in the role was also at St Andrews, in 2000, the year Tiger won by a margin of eight strokes. It would be wonderful to welcome him back this July and to witness one of the sport’s all-time greats competing once more for the coveted Claret Jug.

Peter Dawson Chief Executive The R&A

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It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since Arnold Palmer, twice a winner, played in The Open for the last time. It was particularly fitting that Arnold chose to bow out at St Andrews and the image of him standing in splendid isolation on the Swilcan Bridge, while acknowledging warm applause in his final round, will live long in the memory. This year it may well be five-time Open champion Tom Watson who bids farewell to the St Andrews galleries after giving us so much joy over the years.

As Arnold and Tom would acknowledge, however, time stands still for no one. Each generation brings forth players with the ability to take the breath away and the current crop is no exception. That said, the unique nature of links golf lends itself to guile and experience, which is why three players in their 40’s - Darren Clarke, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson - have won in recent years. All of which makes for a fascinating narrative and ensures the enduring appeal of The Open.

THE GIF T

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PGA Foreword

W

ith the PGA Championship making its third visit to Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin, the PGA of America anticipates another compelling story to be written at a venue that energizes both golf enthusiasts and our professionals who teach and grow the game each day.

Not only is the PGA Championship the only allprofessional major each year, but we take pride that the Championship continues to invite the 20 low scorers in our PGA Professional National Championship to join one of the deepest international fields in golf - the game’s finest teachers granted a shot at playing among the finest players.

Eleven years ago, the PGA and Whistling Straits unveiled a golf course on the shores of Lake Michigan that emulated the classic seaside links courses of the British Isles, evoking an image of the game born more than 400 years ago. One of the most challenging major championship sites in history, the Straits Course has yielded two dramatic playoffs to crown a PGA Champion.

Whistling Straits’ first PGA Championship in 2004 became the second Championship triumph for Vijay Singh, who won a three-hole, cumulative score playoff over Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard.

Peter P. Bevacqua Chief Executive Officer The PGA of America

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Six years later, Germany’s Martin Kaymer stepped up on the world stage by defeating Bubba Watson in another three-hole playoff to win his first major.

Whistling Straits, a Pete Dye masterpiece, remains a constant challenge for golf’s greatest players, and has ensured its rightful perch among the world’s most unique courses.

This August, we also will recognize two milestone anniversaries of PGA Champions. It will be 50 years since the late Dave Marr captured the 1965 PGA Championship; while Doug Ford marks the 60th anniversary of his 1955 Championship at match play, when he captured medalist honors and went on to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy.

In addition, we are proud to join Arnold Palmer, a PGA member for 55 years, in celebrating the PGA Championship. We are honored that Mr. Palmer keeps alive another tradition by using this publication to elevate all four of our game’s Majors.

We look forward to culminating the Majors season at Whistling Straits, where defending champion Rory McIlroy will be among the game’s finest players bidding to etch their name in our sport’s history.

Carlos M. Saavedra / Sports Illustrated

Man in the middle: Jordan Spieth embraces the media demands that come with winning the Green Jacket

Of course, Arnold Palmer will always be the King, but young Jordan may one day prove a pretty respectable heir apparent. While setting the scene for this year ’s remaining three major championships, though, Paul Trow wonders whether the game’s admiration of its new young star might have veered out of control

The N King’s Spieth No sooner had the final putt at this year’s Masters disappeared from view in the Georgia gloaming than the soothsayers were proclaiming the dawn of a new era for the game of golf.

The floodgates had opened and the river of Jordan’s dominance was in full flow.

Rory who? Tiger who? Jack who? So yesterday... and the day before... and many decades prior to that! For the moment, Spieth’s the name and Spieth’s the game!

The airwaves are awash with fanfares for this pristine, all-American sports star that’s been seamlessly transported in a neatly pressed Green Jacket straight from Central Casting.

Despite his tender years, the 21-year-old from Dallas is undeniably a phenomenal golfer - not so much a glittering prospect as already the real deal. No question about that, but it might be pushing things a little to catapult him into a Presidential dogfight with Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush just yet, even though he speaks as well and as wisely as either of them.

In more senses than one, his is an old head on young shoulders.

He demonstrated as much with his methodical dissection of the brain teasing challenge that Augusta National poses each April. The result was a record equaling display of clinical course management more worthy of a gnarled Tour veteran like Jim Furyk than a wide-eyed tyro still young enough to be in college.

Following swiftly from a victory and a brace of second places in his previous three PGA Tour outings, Spieth’s four-shot Masters triumph predictably propelled the publicity machine into overdrive with speculation on how soon the prodigy with the prematurely receding hairline would ruffle Jack Nicklaus’s leonine mane of 18 major titles.

Eclipsing Tiger Woods, seemingly stuck for an eternity on 14, is taken for granted. And as for Rory McIlroy, clearly a has-been at the advanced age of 26 years and a few days, his tally of four majors will be blown away in the blink of an eye.

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The Chosen One now has a solitary major to his name but one swallow a summer does not make, as Aristotle once observed

Hold on. Time for a reality check. The Chosen One now has a solitary major to his name admittedly more than such toiling, time serving titans as Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Rickie Fowler, and Jason Day - but one swallow a summer does not make, as Aristotle once observed.

The ancient Greek philosopher would have readily acknowledged that apart from Spieth’s sublimity, some significant sub-plots unfolded during the 2015 Masters, sub-plots suggesting we can expect to hear a lot more from both the current world number one and the ex-world number one before the word ‘golf’ is officially replaced in Webster’s Dictionary by ‘Jordan,’ or his new on-Tour nickname, ‘Golden Child.’

At the time of his canonization by Jim Nantz, Billy Payne and Bubba Watson in the Butler Cabin, Spieth was actually slightly older than Tiger when he became the first player to post a 72-hole score of 270 around Bobby Jones’ pride and joy; and only four months younger than Rory when he blitzed the field at Congressional by eight shots in the 2011 U.S. Open.

No, the cult of ‘Jordan’ probably has more to do with the game’s increasingly neurotic need for a fresh-faced Pied Piper to whistle up a nationwide recruitment drive for new participants. Tiger’s tarnished crown requires some vigorous buffing for all sorts of well-

documented reasons while Rory, a European and a biennial antagonist in the Ryder Cup, might not be exactly what Heartland America is looking for in a hero.

Through no fault of his own, Spieth has been perched on a pedestal, charged singlehandedly with the responsibility for triggering a new wave of growth in golf participation. But to anoint him thus at this early stage in his fledgling career has to be more of an exercise in wishful thinking than anything else.

Spieth would only be human if he suffered a reaction to his Masters heroics at some stage soon, but the point cannot be made forcefully enough that the competition he faces out on Tour today is way more intense and competitive than anything Nicklaus or even Woods encountered when they were starting out.

McIlroy, winner of last year’s Open and PGA Championships, has not exactly gone away. Indeed, the Northern Irishman played his final 45 holes at Augusta in 15 under par to haul himself from near certainty to miss the cut - on three over after 27 holes - into fourth place on his own. If McIlroy had bothered to play the week before in Houston so his game could be tournament-sharp from the gun, as Spieth did, then he might not have fired so many blanks during that opening round and a half.

Leading their generations: Tiger Woods wins the 1997 Masters (left), while Rory McIlroy (above) finished strong in the 2015 Masters, the only major title he is yet to win

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Battle of the Bay

It will surely be only a matter of time before Reed, four times a winner on the PGA Tour already, claims his first Major title

The next Major assignment for the two wunderkinds will be the 115th U.S. Open over the faux links at Chambers Bay, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design that straddles a disused gravel mine beside Puget Sound in Washington State. This spectacular-looking layout, complete with giant dunes, panoramic sea views, wild fescues and golden sunsets, will be the equivalent of an unseen examination paper to virtually the entire field, as it is a mere seven years old and has never hosted a PGA Tour event.

Chambers Bay’s only previous exposure to top-level golf came when it staged the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship, but a glance at the results that August week suggests that of those players already exempt into the U.S. Open, only Patrick Reed - who reached the last 32 - might have acquired sufficient experience of the course to have any chance of making it count.

The 24-year-old from San Antonio, who formed a highly effective partnership with fellow Texan Spieth during the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, always displays the sort of high-octane, get-in-theopposition’s-face level of confidence once embraced by the likes of Lee Trevino and the late Payne Stewart.

And on that basis alone, it will surely be only a matter of time before Reed, four times a winner on the PGA Tour already, claims his first Major title.

No fear: Patrick Reed (above), never one to hold back, was one of very few success stories for the American team in the 2014 Ryder Cup

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As if Spieth, McIlroy and Reed are not enough to worry about, how about some of the other pretenders at the remaining three majors in 2015?

Perhaps it’s best to look first at those who have already scaled the game’s pinnacles in recent times.

Bubba Watson, twice the Masters champion and a blaster who needs lots of room to shape his shots, could easily contend at all three of this year’s remaining majors. There are precious few trees at Chambers Bay, while the Open will be staged over the geriatric expanses of the Old Course at St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland and the PGA Championship returns to the Straits Course at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, where Watson got into a playoff in 2010.

To discount Bubba - flying high in the FedExCup rankings again this season - at any of these three venues would be sheer folly.

Almost as daft would be to write off his fellow leftie, Phil Mickelson, who, after a desultory start to 2015, bounced back in inimitable style to tie for second at Augusta. On only five of the 78 occasions since the Masters was first played in 1934 would Mickelson’s total of 274 have been beaten.

As he approaches his 45th birthday, there would be no shame if it transpired that Mickelson had decided to target this upcoming U.S. Open alone and to heck with the rest of the season. With six second places in his national championship he has a lot of cigarillos to his name but no ‘big daddy’ cigar. Oddly, the same was true of Sam Snead, another popular legend of the game who, like Mickelson, won virtually every other big title but came up agonizingly short four times in the U.S. Open.

F

From all four corners One player who does have the U.S. Open safely in his locker and must surely be a prime candidate for further success is the 2013 champion Justin Rose. After a similarly patchy opening to the season, something suddenly clicked for the 34-year-old Englishman and he promptly followed his tie for second with Mickelson at Augusta with a stellar victory in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC of Louisiana.

Rose’s great friend Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, and his successor as U.S. Open champion, Martin Kaymer, also look poised to hit form as we approach the business end of the Majors’ season. Neither has caused more than a ripple so far in 2015, but, as Alexander the Great - once Aristotle’s pupil - was once described by a commentator in his heyday, still waters run deep.

Another hardy perennial in the higher echelons of the official world golf ranking who knows what it feels like to win a major is Furyk, who ended a run of seven runners-up finishes dating back to 2011 with victory in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head the week after the Masters, and only three weeks shy of his 45th birthday. True, his solitary major victory came 12 years ago in the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields, but no one would begrudge this model professional another garland were it to come his way.

His fist-pumping, eye-bulging reaction upon claiming his 17th PGA Tour title showed the fire still burns

inside, but the same can also be said for most of the ‘nearly but not yet’ men jostling near, or within, the current top10 of the world ranking.

Certainly, no one would be surprised if Stenson translated his imperious Tour form of recent years into a first Swedish men’s Major win, but at the age of 39 he will be acutely aware that time is beginning to run out. For Westwood, now 42, the game is probably almost up, although he did win the Indonesian Open in April to suggest he could still be a factor if the putts start to drop. And who would have bet 15 years ago that Garcia, then the brightest young star in golf’s firmament, would still be groping around in the dark for his first Major at the age of 35?

To this trio of European stalwarts, who flatter in the Ryder Cup yet

As Alexander the Great was once described by a comentator in his heyday, still waters run deep

Been there, done it: 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose (top) and 2003 winner Jim Furyk (left)

seem to deceive in the majors, can be added English 30-somethings Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and Paul Casey.

All have had their moments over the years but they must secretly despair as each month goes by and another ready-made, battle-hardened rival rolls off the college production line.

The same sentiments will probably start to grip Dustin Johnson if he fails to chalk up a maiden major soon, especially after returning so successfully from his mysterious, unexplained six-month exile from Tour golf to win the WGC-Cadillac at Trump National Doral in March. It will be a bitter-sweet reunion for him at Whistling Straits in August, the course where he would have joined Kaymer the eventual winner - and Watson in the 2010 PGA Championship playoff had he not grounded his club on his 72nd hole, in what he thought was wasteland but was actually a bunker.

Then there’s Kuchar; perhaps the most consistent player in the game and without question a skilful navigator around hard courses, he is another who must be wondering what more he has to do to stumble across the line in one of the big four.

Of the younger brigade, time definitely still favours Players Championship winner Rickie Fowler, inside the top-five in all of last year’s majors, Jason Day, who has five top-four major finishes at the age of 27, and Hideki Matsuyama, who has taken over the mantle of Japan’s great hope from Ryo Ishikawa. Add to them the names of Victor Dubuisson, Brooks Koepka and Billy Horschel, not to mention those of a shoal of up-and-coming Asian golfers, and it would seem the cupboard is far from bare.

Then there’s a cluster of former major champions who might have at least one last hurrah inside them; Louis Oosthuizen (winner the last time the Open was played at St Andrews), his fellow South African Charl Schwartzel, Americans Zach Johnson,

Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and the now divorced Jason Dufner, and the ‘other’ Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell.

Never, surely, has the roll call of challengers been stronger. And don’t discount the teak-tough Jimmy Walker from rising to the very top at some stage, as the cream always does. No question, picking a winner from this lot is far from simple, despite the preeminence of Spieth and McIlroy.

After all this speculation, though, isn’t one name missing?

Initials T.W. Time Was? Not yet, no. To tie for 17th in the Masters after the golfing horrors of Tiger’s past 12 months was little short of remarkable, but whether he can kick on from such an encouraging showing, only time will tell. He’s won two Opens at St Andrews - 2000 and 2005 - but his two PGA Championship appearances at Whistling Straits resulted in ties for 24th and 28th.

Given his current predicament, Woods had better get himself back into gear. After all, he’s only 13 Majors ahead of the fast-closing Spieth. ★

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And don’t discount the teak-tough Jimmy Walker from rising to the very top at some stage, as the cream always does

Harbouring major hopes: Matt Kuchar (left) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (below)

Arnold Palmer Interview

From Augusta to St Andrews 26

“I was not surprised that Tiger made the cut. I’m more surprised that people questioned whether he would!”

Desk duty: Arnold Palmer in his office at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida

Q: How’s the shoulder coming on and have you got back out onto the golf course yet?

AP: Today is the best day I’ve had. I’m in better shape than I’ve been in for three months and I’m able to move it all over now. I can’t lift it quite as high as I’d like to but I’m moving pretty well.

Q: Have you got back onto the golf course yet?

AP: I’m about to start today!

Q: Do you think some pros get back into the game too soon after they’ve had an injury?

AP: I’m sure they do.

Q: Did you ever have to deal with being tempted to come back from an injury too soon?

AP: I never did [have a serious injury as a pro], not really. My right hip is about all, and I played through that.

Q: It was another great Masters this year. What were the highlights for you?

AP: I think the fact that that young man played so well.

Jordan Spieth was outstanding. He performed very, very well, and particularly so in a major.

Q: Do you think he’ll feel more or less pressure going forward, now that he’s won the Masters?

AP: It’s something that you can get used to. In the case of Spieth, I think he will probably relax a little now that he’s won one. It depends on the individual.

If he can accept the pressure, then it’ll work well for him; if not, it’ll cause trouble, more pressure, and then he will have to get used to it again. I think from his performances up until now, Spieth’s future is looking very good.

Q: Off the course, he seems like a good guy, honest and committed to community and family. Can life choices off the course help you to be a better golfer?

AP: Yes, it’s about integrity, and integrity can mean a lot to you in your life as a professional golfer and otherwise. Jordan Spieth is all of the things that you mentioned; very personable, he appears to be very honest and forthright, and does a very nice job. His fellow pros on tour will respect him and hold him in high regard just as much for his honesty and integrity as anything he can do on the golf course.

Q: Did it surprise you that Tiger featured on the Masters leaderboard?

AP: I was not surprised that Tiger made the cut. I’m more surprised that people questioned whether he would make the cut! I think he is heading in the right direction now and that he could be a factor again very soon. It might be tough for him to win a major this year, but I certainly rate his chances of winning again.

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Arnold Palmer Interview

Arnold Palmer has never been one to miss a special occasion if he can possibly help it, like the 2015 Masters and the 60th anniversar y of his debut at Augusta National. Palmer is also making the trip to Scotland in July for the Open at St Andrews, where he made his Open debut in 1960. Majors contributing editor Reade Tilley paid a visit to Palmer in his office at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, to talk about the Masters, the Open, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods and a lot more besides

“Our friendship is one I regard as one of the greatest in my life”

A P : Oh yes, but I can’t repeat what he said about it!

Q : I understand you were singled out and presented with your Eisenhower Tree memento at the Champions’ Dinner. Can you talk us through that scene?

A P : It was a full table of all the players. They singled me out as the first one to receive a piece of the tree and the guys started asking questions, which prompted me to make a few remarks. Mostly I spoke about the President and what a great guy he was, how I valued our relationship and how I still do.

Usually I do not let him get out of my mind very far because he was such a special person and our friendship is something that I regard as one of the greatest in my life.

Mutual respect: Arnold Palmer (left) with President Dwight Eisenhower at Augusta National

Q: If Tiger could bag one victory, do you think he still has it in him to get on a roll, just like old times?

A P : Only time will tell that. His future is in his own hands. I don’t know where he’s at mentally or what he’s thinking personally, but I certainly would not count him out.

British debut: Arnold Palmer is designing a new 18-hole layout to expand the exceptional golf offering at Castle Stuart in Scotland

Q: All past champions at the Masters this year were presented with a plaque created from a segment of the Eisenhower

Tree. What did you make of that gesture from Augusta National?

A P : It was very exciting and a very nice gesture by the club. The plaque is something we all will proudly display. It is a nice tribute to the former President and general who had such a history with Augusta and was a really great guy.

Q : You knew President Eisenhower well. Did he ever speak to you about the tree?

Dan Murphy / stonehousegolf.com

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Q : We understand a number of the players were touched by what you said. Did any of them speak to you about it afterwards?

A P : Oh yes, they all talked about it and said how nice it was that I spoke, which was mostly in terms of being a friend of the President of the United States. And others around the table made very nice remarks, too. It was one of the more memorable dinners in recent years.

Q : You are designing your first British golf course at Castle Stuart, one of Scotland’s great young destinations. What can we expect from your golf course there? Will it be a links layout?

A P : It’ll be pretty exciting. I can’t reveal too much now because we’re just getting started and I haven’t finalized all the things I’m going to do to make it a unique golf experience.

We will do what we can to make the course a natural fit with the Scottish Highlands. Scotland is known for its varying weather and we will take into consideration all the factors that result from those changing weather conditions. The average temperatures

are cooler than somewhere like Vegas and the wind conditions are different.

We will look at how the wind comes off the sea, which is relatively close.

We’ll account for all 12 months of weather conditions in designing the golf course.

Q: The U.S. Open is heading to the Pacific Northwest for the first time this year, to Chambers Bay. Does it surprise you it has taken so long to reach that region?

A P : I’ve always kind of favoured the fact that the northwest could be a great place for a major championship and I am sure it will not disappoint. It is a distinctively different part of the United States.

I have played there and in British Columbia, Canada. Conditions there can be as docile as they are anywhere in the world at times, but the area is prone to weather conditions that are reminiscent of an Open Championship course; no doubt they were taking that into consideration when they built the golf course there and chose it as a U.S. Open venue.

Q: Have the USGA and PGA been slow to push their major championships into new territories?

A P : I think mostly the reason they haven’t gone to places like Florida and other areas has been the weather, although they have had the PGA Championship in South Florida.

Eventually I think they will have the U.S. Open and other championships in various areas throughout Florida and other states not currently in the rotation.

Champions’ Challenge?

A P : I’m considering it, but I don’t know yet whether I will or not. I do know that I always enjoy visiting St Andrews.

Q: Is there a particular pub you enjoy there, or any place you like to revisit when you’re in town?

A P : Sure! There are a lot of pubs in St Andrews I have enjoyed at one time or another. Try the Dunvegan!

Tip Anderson - who caddied for me at my first Open Championship and almost every one thereafter - was a fixture there. Though he is no longer with us, the owners still have a seat with his name on it.

Q: Rickie Fowler is determined to win his first major title this year.

What do you like about Rickie’s game and attitude?

A P : I like him very much. He is such a nice young man and a great player.

I think he has a very good chance to win a major. I look for him to come on strong this year. He’s solid - very solid - and he’s very aware of what he wants to accomplish. It’s just a question of time and experience for him.

Q: And what about Martin

Kaymer, the defending U.S. Open champion and winner of the PGA Championship the last time it was

at Whistling Straits?

A P : Martin has proven he’s a great player and he will continue to be a great player. There’s no question about that.

Q : Tom Watson is likely to be playing in his final Open Championship at St Andrews. How do you rate his achievements in the Open, in being the only golfer since Peter Thomson to win five times?

A P : In their primes, both Tom Watson and Peter Thomson had games that were suited to the Open and they could adapt to the conditions they were facing. Watson is a very good player and British courses suited his game.

“I think they will have the U.S. Open in Florida and other states not currently in the rotation”

Q : Peter Dawson will step down as chief executive of the R&A this year. How do you assess his career?

A P : Peter Dawson is one of the great men of golf. He has helped make the game better during his tenure, and do I personally like him? Very much! His governance of the Open Championship has been fantastic and his contributions to the betterment of the game generally have been outstanding and very well accepted, as they should be. H

Q: How long would it take you to ready Bay Hill for a major?

A P : I could have it ready in a month.

Dressed for the occasion: Tom Watson (left) and Arnold Palmer received Honorary Degrees from the University of St Andrews in 2010

Q: You are returning to St Andrews in July for the Open.

Is there a chance you could be tempted to play in the four-hole

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F a s ts

30

starters

Decisive blow: Rory McIlroy plays up to the 18th green in the final round of the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club

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David Cannon / Getty Images Sport

Martin Kaymer set about the 2014 U.S. Open at recordsetting pace, while Rory McIlroy showed similar dominance to lay foundations for victory in the Open and PGA Championship. Dave Shedloski reflects on a season of fast starts in last summer ’s majors

I

It’s not easy to make history quickly, and that’s especially true in golf.

Get ahead of yourself and you’ll easily fall behind. And, well, then you’ll be history.

Then again, given the long green line of the ancient game, populated by a well-documented array of accomplished players, the best way to make history in today’s era is to do it in a hurry. Which is where Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy came in with their major championship performances in 2014. The two European players combined to capture the year’s final three grand slam tournaments, with Kaymer blitzing the field in the U.S. Open and McIlroy claiming his first Claret Jug followed by his second PGA Championship title.

Kaymer’s victory made him the first German-born player to win the U.S. Open, and he joined countryman Bernhard Langer as a two-time major winner, having captured the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. If you thought Kaymer played well then, it was nothing more than a prelude to what unfolded at Pinehurst Resort’s famed No. 2 Course last year.

McIlroy, already with two majors to his credit - the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship - added two more with his victory at Royal Liverpool in the 143rd Open Championship, followed by his second PGA title at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Neither was easy, especially compared to Kaymer’s romp over the field in the North Carolina Sandhills, but they were career defining.

In becoming the first player to win consecutive major starts since Ireland’s Padraig Harrington in 2008, and the second since 2000 with Tiger Woods having streaks of two in a row or more on three separate occasions - McIlroy joined Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones as the only players in the last century to complete three legs of the career grand slam at the age of 25 or younger.

After a 2013 season marked by frustrations as he changed equipment and endured various personal distractions, McIlroy not only began to fulfil his immense promise, but also initiated the end of the era dominated by Woods and, to a lesser extent, Phil Mickelson.

If one happened upon a feeling of awe for the youngster from Northern Ireland, then join the crowd. That is a crowd, by the way, that includes McIlroy himself.

“To win a fourth major, to be one behind Phil [Mickelson], one behind Seve [Ballesteros], level with Ernie [Els], level with Raymond Floyd; I never thought I’d get this far at 25,” said the ‘Red King’, to take the translation of ‘Rory’ from Gaelic. He might not have expected such early success, but he had to know he was capable of it.

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Knockout performance: Martin Kaymer blitzed the field with 65s in the first two rounds of the 2014 U.S. Open

2014 U.S. Open

Setting the sandhills alight

pinehursT no. 2 , pinehursT resorT & cc, nc

When the USGA completed preparations of Pinehurst No. 2 for the 114th U.S. Open, in concert with a groundbreaking restoration by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, there wasn’t a blade of rough to be found. Nevertheless, after sampling the arid landscape, it was clear that few in the field of 156 players expected to better par. And few did.

Rickie Fowler, who would go on to finish in the top-five in all four majors, and double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, each completed 72 holes in one-under 279. They finished tied runers up, two strokes better than a group of five that included PGA winner Keegan Bradley, Jason Day, Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. That wraps up the ‘B’ flight.

What of Kaymer? Quite simply, he was playing a tournament by himself.

Kaymer began the championship with a pair of dazzling 65s, giving him a 130 halfway total that set a tournament record. It was only lunchtime on Friday when Kaymer holed out in the second round, but already the outcome seemed settled. He led by six shots, equaling the 36-hole mark Tiger Woods set in 2000 at Pebble Beach and tied by McIlroy in 2011 at Congressional Country Club.

“It was probably the best two rounds I’ve ever seen since I’ve been playing,” said Bradley, who was paired with Kaymer.

Both Woods and McIlroy had gone on to win handily, of course; Woods by a record 15 shots and McIlroy by eight, with a 16-under 268, the championship scoring record.

A masterful Kaymer followed suit, never letting a fellow competitor within four strokes over the final 48 holes. Kaymer submitted a 9-under 271 total, the second lowest in championship history behind McIlroy. He was the seventh player to win the U.S. Open wire-to-wire, just a month after he had taken the Players Championship in similar fashion.

It was a remarkable display for a player who had reached number one in the world in 2011 but had slipped to 63rd after an ill-advised attempt to revamp his game.

juNE 12-15 par: 70 Pos. Name

To Par R1

R2

R3

R4 Total

1

Martin Kaymer

-9

65

65

72

69

271

T2

Erik Compton

-1

72

68

67

72

279

Rickie Fowler

-1

70

70

67

72

279

Dustin Johnson

+1

69

69

70

73

281

Henrik Stenson

+1

69

69

70

73

281

Keegan Bradley

+1

69

69

76

67

281

Brooks Koepka

+1

70

68

72

71

281

Jason Day

+1

73

68

72

68

281

Brandt Snedeker

+2

69

68

72

73

282

Adam Scott

+2

73

67

73

69

282

Jimmy Walker

+2

70

72

71

69

282

T4

T9

T12 Kevin Na

+3

68

69

73

73

283

Marcel Siem

+3

70

71

72

70

283

Justin Rose

+3

72

69

70

72

283

Matt Kuchar

+3

69

70

71

73

283

Jim Furyk

+3

73

70

73

67

283

+4

70

71

72

71

284

Jordan Spieth

+4

69

70

72

73

284

Ian Poulter

+4

70

70

74

70

284

Brendon Todd

+4

69

67

79

69

284

T17 J.B. Holmes

T21 Cody Gribble, Steve Stricker 285. T23 Shiv Kapur, Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel, Francesco Molinari, Aaron Baddeley 286. T28 Graeme McDowell, Daniel Berger, Victor Dubuisson, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry, Brendon De Jonge, Chris Kirk 287. T35 Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Hideki Matsuyama, Ernie Els, Bill Haas 288.

T40 Louis Oosthuizen, Garth Mulroy, Zac Blair, Zach Johnson, Lucas Bjerregaard 289.

Popular votes: Erik Compton (top) and Rickie Fowler (left) won over the Pinehurst galleries with outstanding performances

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2014 Open Championship

“You want to win majors in your career, but if you can win more than one it means so much more,” Kaymer said.

“Especially when I went through that low, some people called me a one-hit wonder. So it’s quite nice proof, even though I don’t feel like I need to prove a lot to people.”

“I’m wondering how he did it,” McIlroy mused with genuine awe of his Ryder Cup teammate. “Obviously, if you limit the mistakes, you might end up a couple under for the week. But to do what he’s doing... I think it’s nearly more impressive than what I did at Congressional.”

royal liverpool gc, hoyl ake, engl and july 17-20 par: 72 To Par R1

R2

R3

R4 Total

1

Rory McIlroy

-17

66

66

68

71

271

T2

Sergio Garcia

-15

68

70

69

66

273

Rickie Fowler

-15

69

69

68

67

273

4

Jim Furyk

-13

68

71

71

65

275

T5

Marc Leishman

-12

69

72

70

65

276

Adam Scott

-12

68

73

69

66

276

Charl Schwartzel

-11

71

67

72

67

277

Edoardo Molinari

-11

68

73

68

68

277

Shane Lowry

-10

68

75

70

65

278

Graeme McDowell -10

74

69

68

67

278

Victor Dubuisson

-10

74

66

68

70

278

T7

Rory’s return McIlroy wasn’t about to be overshadowed for long. In fact, it took all of two rounds at Royal Liverpool to seize the narrative, as the Ulsterman borrowed Kaymer’s strategy to dampen a lot of rival spirits in the 143rd Open Championship. He led by four strokes over Dustin Johnson after 36 holes, and by six over the next set of challengers, after posting consecutive rounds of 6-under 66.

When he eagled two of the last three holes to end the third round, McIlroy’s lead was six and the rout was on.

Except no one told Fowler and Sergio Garcia.

McIlroy had won his first two majors by eight strokes, but he struggled in the final round this time, and Garcia and Fowler, with 66 and 67 respectively, stormed to within a stroke before a birdie on the final hole gave McIlroy a 71 and a two-shot victory at 15-under 273. He became the seventhyoungest man to win three legs of the grand slam and just the 16th player to claim three of the four major trophies.

“It’s pretty hard to describe right now, to be honest,” McIlroy said after a triumph that required more toil than the Sunday stroll everyone expected. “All I know is that I’m three legs into the four towards a career Grand Slam at age 25. I’m feeling pretty good right now.”

He was feeling even better after his second PGA title, captured in near darkness after an ordeal significantly less certain than his quest for the Claret Jug. McIlroy entered the final round at Valhalla three strokes clear of the field, but by the time he made the turn on Sunday he was immersed in a four-way tussle with Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Fowler. He responded by shooting a three-under 32 on the inward nine - marked by a three-wood from 281 yards to set up a sevenfooter for eagle at the par-five 10th.

A final-round 68 and 16-under 268 total beat Mickelson by a stroke.

With his victory in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone

Pos. Name

“I’m three legs into the four towards a career Grand Slam at age 25.

I’m feeling pretty good” —Rory McIlroy Another close call: a resurgent Sergio Garcia pushed Rory McIlroy to the line at Hoylake, but finished runner-up in a major for the fourth time

T9

T12 Ryan Moore

-9

70

68

73

68

279

Robert Karlsson

-9

69

71

70

69

279

Dustin Johnson

-9

71

65

71

72

279

T15 Stephen Gallacher -8

70

72

70

68

280

-8

72

70

70

68

280

-7

70

69

74

68

281

Francesco Molinari -7

68

70

76

67

281

-6

76

69

70

67

282

Keegan Bradley

-6

73

71

69

69

282

Chris Kirk

-6

71

74

68

69

282

Matteo Manassero -6

67

75

68

72

282

David Howell T17 George Coetzee T19 Angel Cabrera

T23 Chris Wood, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose 283. T26 Thomas Bjorn, Ben Martin, Brian Harman, Byeong-Hun An, Jimmy Walker, Darren Clarke 284. T32 D.A. Points, Hunter Mahan, David Hearn, Kristoffer Broberg 285. T36 Louis Oosthuizen, Jordan Spieth, Branden Grace 286.

T39 Brendon Todd, Koumei Oda, Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama, Thongchai Jaidee, Gary Woodland, Kevin Stadler, Marc Warren 287.

2014 PGA Championship valhall a gc, louisville, k y august 7-10 par: 71 Pos. Name

To Par R1

R2

R3

R4 Total

1

Rory McIlroy

-16

66

67

67

68

268

2

Phil Mickelson

-15

69

67

67

66

269

T3

Henrik Stenson

-14

66

71

67

66

270

Rickie Fowler

-14

69

66

67

68

270

Jim Furyk

-12

66

68

72

66

272

Ryan Palmer

-12

65

70

69

68

272

Jimmy Walker

-11

69

71

68

65

273

Ernie Els

-11

70

70

68

65

273

Victor Dubuisson

-11

69

68

70

66

273

Hunter Mahan

-11

70

71

65

67

273

Steve Stricker

-11

69

68

68

68

273

Mikko Ilonen

-11

67

68

69

69

273

T13 Brandt Snedeker

-10

73

68

66

67

274

-10

65

74

67

68

274

T15 Charl Schwartzel

-9

72

68

69

66

275

Marc Warren

-9

71

71

66

67

275

Brooks Koepka

-9

71

71

66

67

275

Lee Westwood

-9

65

72

69

69

275

Adam Scott

-9

71

69

66

69

275

Graham DeLaet

-9

69

68

68

70

275

Jason Day

-9

69

65

69

72

275

Louis Oosthuizen

-9

70

67

67

71

275

Bernd Wiesberger -9

68

68

65

74

275

T5 T7

Kevin Chappell

T24 Justin Rose, Jamie Donaldson 276. 26 Joost Luiten 277.

T27 Jerry Kelly, Kenny Perry, Bill Haas 278. T30 Thorbjorn Olesen, Alexander Levy, Danny Willett 279. T33 Daniel

“I feel like my game is where I want it to be to put myself in there in all the majors” —Martin Kaymer

Summerhays, Nick Watney 280. T35 Vijay Singh, Hideki Matsuyama, Richard Sterne, Jonas Blixt, Sergio Garcia 281. T40 Koumei Oda, Jason Bohn, Brendon de Jonge, Luke Donald, Brian Harman, Ryan Moore 282.

Setting high targets: Phil Mickelson proved he can stil contend in majors at the 2014 PGA Championship

Invitational between his Open and PGA triumphs, McIlroy joined 10 other players since 1934 to win a major in the week immediately following a PGA Tour victory.

“He’s better than everyone else right now. Yeah, he’s good. Really good,” Mickelson said of the new four-time major winner.

“I think I showed a lot of guts out there to get the job done,” McIlroy said. “I proved that I could grind it out. I’m on a nice track at the minute.”

Both McIlroy and Kaymer proved a great deal more in 2014 than just an ability to win majors. They separated themselves from their peers with performances that were as much inspiration as they were competitive execution. Other than what we’ve witnessed consistently from Woods over the past two decades, it’s rare to see such brilliance unleashed in the tournaments that are the sport’s sternest tests.

The challenge going forward for each of them is to display an ability to summon such excellence again, to back it up and to build on their resumes. More history making beckons. One thing is clear: they have the attitude to complement their aptitude.

“I’ve really found my passion again for golf,” McIlroy said. “Not that it ever dwindled, but it’s what I think about when I get up in the morning. It’s what I think about when I go to bed. I just want to be the best golfer I can be.

And I know if I can do that, then trophies like this are within my capability.”

“Majors? That’s a big call. Very tough to win one, let alone, say, all four,” Kaymer said wistfully. “Obviously, Rory is close; he only needs the Masters. For me, I always thought my best chance was the Open Championship. Next one is at St. Andrews, my favorite golf course. But I feel like my game is where I want it to be to put myself in there in all the majors. I just look forward to the opportunities.” H

Ga. Pore, si distiam landiatem. Corerorestia pa sequi occabo. Ditas doloris eium il molut esto de

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Masters Champion

Andrew Redington/Getty Images Sport

The new star of Dallas

Final flourish: Jordan Spieth plays from the pine straw during the final round of the 2015 Masters at Augusta (left), before Bubba Watson helped him into his new Green Jacket (right)

champ Spieth, that embellished the 2015 Masters with sentiment. The symmetry was uncanny. There went Crenshaw, twice the Masters winner and one of the smoothest putters to grace the game, retiring from the Masters at the age of 63. And here came Spieth, the first Texan to win the Masters since Crenshaw 20 years before, a ‘Longhorn’ from the University of Texas like Crenshaw, and putting at Augusta with a feel that was reminiscent of his mentor.

“I am so proud of my fellow Longhorn,” said Crenshaw, who inherited from another Texan, Byron Nelson, the responsibility of speaking on behalf of the past Masters champions at their annual dinner at Augusta National. “It is a great honor to call him a fellow Masters champion and to welcome him to the ‘Masters Club’ next year.”

While Crenshaw has taken Spieth under his wing, so Crenshaw’s caddie of 38 years,

37

Masters Champion

Jordan Spieth “I’ll probably sleep in this jacket tonight,” said Jordan Spieth in his acceptance speech at Augusta National. So the kid brings one-liners stopped the to his game too, as well as all those one-putts. golfing world And that was a putting performance at Augusta National that ranks in its tracks at among the finest ever rolled over those famous greens. Landscapers Augusta. We knew can expect orders for home putting greens to be on the rise this year, because it was on a makeshift putting green at home in Dallas where he had potential, the teenage Spieth honed his putting stroke, from dawn until dusk, in but no one could whatever spare hours he could find.

He was not perfect at Augusta - a trio of three-putt greens over predict how the the weekend inflicted minor blemishes to the scorecard - but these 21-year-old from misdemeanors were demolished by a record flock of 28 birdies over Dallas would four rounds, breaking Phil Mickelson’s 2001 record by three. For the dominate one of first two rounds - in which he shot a record score of 64-66, 14 under golf ’s sternest par - Spieth averaged only 1.39 putts per hole. No one in the field could touch his putting or scoring alike. The greens at a humid Augusta were tests. Robin unusually receptive this year, but Spieth was the only golfer who really Barwick was at had their measure.

Augusta National for the 2015 Texas two-step There was a handing over of the Longhorn at the Masters too, from Masters one Texan to another, from the old champ Ben Crenshaw to the new

“I’ll probably sleep in this jacket tonight”

—Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth

Born: July 27, 1993 Turned pro: 2012 Professional wins: 5 Best finish in each major: Masters 1st (2015), U.S. Open T17 (2014), Open T36 (2014), PGA Championship CUT (2013, 2014)

In eight Masters rounds his worst return so far has been 72, level par

Golden times: Jordan Spieth tees off on Augusta’s 12th hole, Golden Bell, in the third round of the 2015 Masters (right), and closes in on victory (below)

Carl Jackson, took Spieth’s bagman Michael Greller under his.

Jackson talked Greller through the pin positions each morning of the Masters, and Greller said it was like having a talk with Michael Jordan before each game of the NBA Finals.

21 going on 30 Four major titles are awarded each year, but there was an extra gravity about this one, a sense that one of the really great careers in professional golf could just be starting to unfold. It is a feeling backed up by numbers.

Spieth is the youngest Masters champion since Tiger Woods - Spieth was 21 years and 259 days old in winning, whereas Tiger was 21 years and 104 days in 1997, when he set the

38

record score of 18 under par that Spieth matched this year - and Spieth became the first wire-to-wire winner at Augusta since Raymond Floyd in 1976. Golfers don’t tend to win the Masters wire-to-wire because leading through three nights is a temptation that tends to steal sleep away, and if you dare to dream beyond the hole you are playing, Augusta National has a knack of sending you sliding into the creek in the blink of a Bubba Watson downswing. Who knows what the future holds, but even though Spieth

admitted to not sleeping well the night In the 2014 Masters, Spieth before this year’s final round, there is offered a hint of what was to come. something different in his demeanor, Impressive rounds of 71-70-70 gave in the way he handled the pressure the 20-year-old Masters rookie a share of leading from beginning to end and of the third round lead with Watson, in how he calmly and honestly copes and midway through the front nine with the demands of a hyper media. on the final round Spieth led outright.

It looks as if he has been doing it all Then dropped shots at the eighth and for years and suggests he has not ninth holes were compounded by reached his limits.

Watson bagging birdies at the same It is easy to forget that Spieth only holes to take charge. One of Watson’s turned professional in 2012, and that “slap cuts” - as he describes them - at when he led with 11 holes to play in 13 would soon take a friendly ricochet the final round of the 2014 Masters - off a branch to land 366 yards from ultimately finishing tied for second the tee and just a wedge from the behind his playing partner that day, green. That shot signaled ‘game the seasoned slinger Watson - he over’ and left Spieth racked with both was making his Masters debut. It is disappointment and determination to just worth emphasizing: Spieth has go again. played in the Masters twice, finishing “Bubba’s drive on 13, I’ll never tied-second and first. In eight Masters forget,” admitted Spieth that day. “I rounds his worst return so far has been thought it was out of bounds, 70 72, level par, in that final round last year. yards left, yet it turned out to be “You just cannot see this kid not perfect. Ultimately, hats off to him.” winning many, many majors,” offered “It was awesome to see Jordan Ernie Els, a four-time major winner. accomplish a goal that was his “He’s going to fly the flag for golf, I number one priority in golf, and it think, for quite a while,” chimed Justin happened more quickly than probably Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion anyone expected,” added Shawn who played in the final pairing with Spieth after the 2015 Masters.

Spieth on the Sunday at Augusta, Spieth could still go and use finishing in a Masters career-best tie that old putting green at home, which for second with Phil Mickelson. his father maintained, if he wanted Tiger Woods described Spieth’s to. He has bought a house just 10 performance as “fantastic”, adding: minutes from the family home, near “Jordan’s doing all the things he enough that he can still needs to do”. take his laundry home to “Jordan Spieth played so well,” Mom and spend time with says Arnold Palmer, in speaking his 14-year-old sister Ellie, exclusively to Majors. “He was a special needs student outstanding, and from what I have and probably Spieth’s seen of his performances up until biggest fan. now, his future looks very good.”

By all accounts the feeling is mutual, and Spieth A different perspective was particularly looking “There was all of this relief because forward to speaking to Ellie of how focused Jordan was on the after the Masters, bearing Masters this year, after being so close in mind their conversations last year,” Shawn Spieth told the USA the previous week at the Today newspaper in the aftermath Houston Open, when the of his son’s triumph. “He wanted so Spieth family all stayed badly to come back straight away together. After each round after last year.”

Ellie asked her brother if

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he had won. “Not yet,” replied Spieth after a first-round 69; “Not yet” after a second-round 66; “Not yet” after a third-round 67; then “No” after J.B. Holmes defeated Spieth and Johnson Wagner in a playoff. Ellie was not at the Masters, and Spieth said he was looking forward to going home, “so now I can tell her I won”.

“As great a game golf is, it’s still a game. He has that perspective,” adds Shawn Spieth. “It’s not changing a lot of lives in significant ways. What’s really most important to him is outside of golf, and that’s helping people who have different types of needs. He wants to make a difference in other ways in life that are bigger than the game of golf.”

After winning at Augusta, Spieth did not talk to the media about reaching the ultimate goal in his life, but in reaching “the ultimate goal in my golf life”. This 21-year-old golfer comes across as considered, balanced and generous too. And as for Spieth’s next golfing goal: “I want to be like Bubba,” he says. “I want to win two Masters.”

On the morning of April 13, the day after he won his Green Jacket, Spieth tweeted: “Well, I’m glad that wasn’t a dream”. Another great line, and no doubt there are plenty more to come. H

“You just cannot see this kid not winning many, many majors”

—Ernie Els

Fatherly love: Jordan Spieth greets his father Shawn after winning the first major of his young career

What a feeling: Jordan Spieth’s work is done as the final putt of the 2015 Masters drops

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Spieth leads new generation Art Spander has worked at so many Masters tournaments he has a personalised parking space in a prime spot on Berckmans Road. Here he reflects on his 47th consecutive Masters, when Jordan Spieth outshone world number one Rory McIlroy, while a clutch of past champions were pushed out to cameo roles

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images Sport

The slogan has been trademarked now, by the club, Augusta National, not by the

television announcer who first mentioned it - and has repeated it dozens of times - Jim Nantz of CBS. “The Masters,” said Nantz originally in 1986, “a tradition unlike any other.”

So pretentious. So accurate. There is nothing quite like the Masters, which through fame, fable and by joyously escaping the chill of winter, has found a niche which no other sporting event has reached.

“It’s the championship of nothing”, wrote the great journalist and author Dan Jenkins.

Absolutely true. But Jenkins, who has covered more than 60 Masters, knows there’s nothing like it; a blend of competition and history, on lawns as green as the jacket presented for winning the golf, embellished by azaleas planted to bloom at the proper time, and by desperate fans who plant themselves on Washington or Berckmans roads to plead for tickets.

This 79th Masters was won by the young American, Jordan Spieth, in such a resounding, record-tying fashion he became the first golfer to gain the cover of Sports Illustrated since Rory McIlroy in July 2014, and the first American golfer since Tiger Woods in April 2013.

Still, there was so much more: McIlroy, who needs only the Masters to take all four majors; Phil Mickelson, battling age (he’s 45, over twice as old as Spieth), and Woods returning from golfing purgatory and a bad back - each making their presence known.

There was the farewell of two-time winner Ben Crenshaw, at 63 surrendering to age and at the same time revelling in the success of one of his Texas protégées in Spieth. And a last hurrah from Tom Watson, who on day one shot the lowest ever score for someone aged 65 - a 71, one under par - and then, like Cinderella’s coach turning into a pumpkin, he turned into a very old man and shot 81 the next day.

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Another Masters miss for McIlroy

Masters legends: Phil Mickelson challenged again (top), while Ben Crenshaw bowed out with a hug for long-time caddie Carl Jackson (above)

McIlroy came in as Masters favourite, if there truly can be a favourite in an event where 90-something individuals are battling a plot of land as much as each other

Repetition is often necessary in the sporting world, a confirmation that with each revolution of earth around the sun, while some change is inevitable, so much remains comfortably familiar, verities on which we can depend.

There always will be college football on New Year’s Day at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, always will be the tennis each June at Wimbledon and there always will be golf’s first major of the season each April a t Augusta National.

T o start each M a s t e r s , champions of the past will hit a morning tee shot while spectators or patrons - watch the balls fly and call down the echoes.

I t used to be Freddie McLeod and Gene Sarazen. These days it’s the Big Three of the ‘60s, who now are in their ‘70s or ‘80s; Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

McIlroy, generations younger, came in as the Masters favourite, if there truly can be a favourite in an event where 90-something individuals are battling a plot of land, the course, as much as each other. But McIlroy was ranked number one in the world and had taken the final two majors of 2014, the Open and PGA Championship. So with Tiger, 39-years-old and coming off a couple of miserable tournaments in February, the odds makers logically chose McIlroy.

Rory wobbled at the start, but while Spieth grabbed the headlines - opening with that 64 which would catapult the 21-year-old towards a final score of 18-under 270, sharing with Woods the all-time low - McIlroy would find his bearings. He closed with a 66 on Sunday, and his cumulative 12-under 276 would have been enough for victory in each of the previous three years.

Playing with Woods in the final round - the man he has supplanted at the top of the heap - McIlroy was figuratively unnoticed even though his

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name was high on the leaderboard, and he showed he very well could win at Augusta in the coming years, probably more than once.

“I came in feeling good,” said McIlroy, who turned 26 in May. “[It was] just the start on Friday that really killed me. But as you’ve seen over the last 45 holes, again, there I’m playing very nicely. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

The observation is as old as the game. Putting it all together, the golfer’s lament. Some days the driver is working, the putter is not. Or vice versa. When there is coordinated success, you get a Spiethian performance. Golf, however, is about making the best of the worst, and so each player, while not ignoring the big, well-located scoreboards, deals with his own game.

Mickelson’s game was surprisingly sharp, especially since he had done almost nothing since winning the 2013 Open at Muirfield. In fact, after missing the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open in February at Torrey Pines in San Diego, not far from his home, Mickelson said his putting was “pathetic.” And the Masters, with its huge, rolling greens, can be a putting nightmare.

Mickelson had won three Masters and the memories stood him well. Of the seven tournaments he entered in 2015 before Augusta, he had nothing better than two 17th-place finishes; not quite the type of play that would get one optimistic. But as we know the joy of sport is unpredictability.

Phil hit a few of his erratic drives, but he also hit a few very accurate putts.

Suddenly, after not finishing better than 11th in any event for almost two years other than a second in the 2014 PGA at Valhalla - Mickelson was a contender.

The gallery loved it. Phil loved it; the sun shining as it so often does on one of Augusta’s past victors.

That he tied for second with Justin Rose on 274, 14 under par, was a bit of a disappointment - it was his 10th runner-up in a major, along with five firsts - but surely more of a reassurance.

He still had it, or so he believed. He spoke of what might have been.

“I needed something spectacular,” he said of a 69 that was one of his best closing 18s at Augusta, lifting him to a score topped only by his 16-under 272 that made him a champion in 2010. “It was a solid round, but it wasn’t exceptional, which is what I needed.”

Old age & treachery When we left Watson in autumn 2014 he was being ripped, mainly by Mickelson, for his ineffective manoeuvring as captain of the losing U.S. Ryder Cup squad at Gleneagles. Unlike ships that pass in the night, Mickelson and Watson did acknowledge each other before Friday’s first Masters round. Then Tom, Missouri resolute, went out and made four birdies against one bogey.

“Old age and treachery,” explained Watson, joking about how he shot one his wrist but played on and afterwards under par. “It’s fun to be in red figures said he was ready for what might be. at Augusta National. At my age that’s a “Considering where I was at Torrey minor miracle. But I want to make the cut.” and Phoenix,” said Woods, “to make He didn’t, shooting a nine-over 81 the complete swing change and rectify second round for 152, six beyond the all the faults and come to a major cut line. That he ended up with a triple championship and contend, I’m proud bogey on the 36th hole was sad in a way of that part of it. Just wish I could have but quite understandable for someone made a few more timely putts and whose first Masters was 23 years before moved up the board.”

Jordan Spieth was born in 1993.

Tiger remained atop one board.

Spieth and McIlroy have been When Spieth - who did very little wrong hailed as golf’s future. “The generations all week - bogeyed the 72nd hole it change,” said Tiger Woods. Undeniably. cost him the all-time cumulative scoring That doesn’t mean Woods is done, as record. Instead he was at 18-under 270, he demonstrated at Augusta. He had the same total posted by Woods back played only two other tournaments, in 1997. Tiger’s name will be there for missing the cut at Phoenix and then another year and maybe many after that. withdrawing in the first round at Torrey “To make my short game my strength Pines because of a bad back. Tiger said again,” said Woods, was pretty sweet. he was healthy and pleased, but that “Phil and I were chasing Greg [Norman], was on Tuesday before the tournament Nick Price and Seve Ballesteros, so the began, and he was heard by more roles are reversed, but it’s real neat to doubters than believers. still be a part of it. That’s the thing.”

He was correct. First, he shot his For everyone, competitor or fan, first sub-70 Masters round since 2011, it was neat to be a part of this 2015 a three-under 69 that shut down the Masters. That was the thing. H sceptics. Despite a final-round 73, he came in with a 72-hole score of fiveunder-par 283 to finish tied for 17th. He hit a tree root on the ninth and dislocated

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In the hay: Tiger Woods reacts to a wrist injury (top) while Justin Rose (above) posted a career-best Masters finish

“Phil and I were chasing Greg [Norman], Nick Price and Seve Ballesteros, so the roles are reversed, but it’s real neat to still be part of it” —Tiger Woods

Leading from the front: Martin Kaymer works towards a five-shot lead after 54 holes of the 2014 U.S. Open (main pic) and with the Sunday spoils (right)

David Cannon/Getty Images Sport

U.S. Open Champion

Ready to defend

Sometimes, when things are not going your way, the only thing for it is gardening. Millions of people around the world find solace in gardening, and Martin Kaymer is among them.

The reigning U.S. Open champion suffered another torrid trip to the Masters in April. Kaymer geared his early-season schedule around what he hoped would be ideal preparation for the first major of the year, and for a tournament in which the former world number one is yet to shine.

He has won two major titles, yet Kaymer has never finished inside the top-30 of the Masters. Scores of 76-75 this time scratched the German golfer’s weekend plans and left an exhausted, deflated golfer with one destination in mind: home.

“I thought I would be ready, but I practiced too much, too hard, too long,” a demoralized Kaymer told Majors at Augusta. “I wanted it too much, and sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. To be honest, I am so tired of golf right now. It has been too much. I just need rest and I don’t know if I will even play golf over the next two weeks.”

And he didn’t. Kaymer, 30, landed in Dusseldorf, Germany on the Monday morning and picking up a golf club was furthest from his mind.

“I did not play golf for about 12 days,” Kaymer says. “I helped my grandma in her back yard, mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges.

It was lovely, with the smell of freshly cut grass. We also trimmed back some of her trees in time for spring. She lives just five minutes away, and every time I am home she calls me and says, ‘Well, as you are at home, you’d may as well come and help.’ Sometimes that is just what you need.

“When I landed in Germany on the Monday I could feel it was where I wanted to be. Even though I was tired I gained a lot of energy from being home again. It was so nice to know I did not have to practice for the next week. I spent some time with my cousin’s kids, saw some friends and went to the cinema. It was brilliant, very refreshing.”

Tiger Woods talked about working from “sun up to sun down” in preparation for the 2015 Masters, and he was not the only one. But there is a fine line between training, practicing and playing to find peak form, and overdoing it. It is about finding the optimum, not the maximum, but that optimum can be elusive.

“I have always been one of those people who would rather do a little bit more, than do a little bit less,” reflects Kaymer. “The truth is that it is not always necessary to do more work. When

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U.S. Open Champion

Martin Kaymer is preparing to defend his U.S. Open title in June, and the German golfer is looking for a change of fortune after suffering disappointment in the Masters. He spoke exclusively to Robin Barwick

Martin Kaymer

Born: December 28, 1984 Turned pro: 2005 Professional wins: 15 Best finish in each major: Masters T31 (2014), U.S. Open 1st (2014), Open T7 (2010), PGA Championship 1st (2010)

Happy memories: Martin Kaymer wins the 2010 Alfred Dunhill Championship on the Old Course, St Andrews

you are playing well you feel you need to keep up the work to keep the form going, but if you don’t play well there can be the inclination to practice even harder to get the good form back. It can be a vicious circle and hard to get out of, and I have been in that circle for the past four of five months. There comes a point where you just can’t push any more.”

Kaymer’s Masters malaise could not be further from the comfort he found 12 months ago, in storming to victory in the Players Championship, before heading to Pinehurst, amid the sandhills of North Carolina, where he set a U.S. Open scoring record for 36 holes with scores of 65-65 in the first two rounds. Like at the Players, he completed a stunning wire-to-wire triumph, this time by a winning margin that was hard to fathom: eight shots.

The U.S. Open is simply not designed for that kind of scoring.

“I knew I was playing well at Pinehurst,” admits Kaymer, “but I did

not expect to lead the U.S. Open by six shots after two rounds. It would have seemed too far-fetched beforehand.

“I putted really well at Pinehurst.

Within 10 to 15 feet I did not miss many putts and that was really the key.

I hit a lot of greens too, but overall those putts kept my momentum going.

My putting saved a lot of pars, I holed the odd birdie chance and the result was a good score.”

Sounds a bit like Jordan Spieth at the Masters doesn’t it? Spieth also shot 130 for the first 36 holes - 64, 66 - to set a new Masters record for rounds one and two scoring.

“It was similar because Jordan did not hold back,” reflects Kaymer. “He got into the lead and kept going, and he did not play defensive golf. Even with a big lead he kept going for the par-five greens in two, and then his putting was brilliant.”

Washington defence Kaymer will not set foot on 2015 U.S. Open venue Chambers Bay in Washington state for the first time until the weekend prior to the tournament in June, but the coverage he has seen of the new major venue reminds him of Whistling Straits, the Wisconsin course that will receive its third PGA Championship in August. Kaymer won the last PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in 2010 - outlasting Bubba

Watson in a playoff - so the remaining American major venues for 2015 are setting up well in his mind’s eye. Not to mention the Old Course at St Andrews, another course on which he has triumphed and the one he singles out as his favourite course worldwide.

“I love going to St Andrews,” he says of the Scottish town that will host July’s Open Championship. “There is a special atmosphere in the town. It is such a pure and natural place to be, and there is so much genuine respect for golf, and the golf course still has that feeling of being untouched.

“The Old Course can play in so many different ways so you have to be creative around there. I love standing on that first tee and hitting a two-iron down the first fairway, and I love how the 18th brings you back into the town. It is just brilliant, with the sea in the background, and I love going running on that beach.

“You know, I could become an ambassador for St Andrews!”

Kaymer’s best Open result to date was at St Andrews in 2010, finishing tied for seventh, but having claimed the PGA Championship three weeks later, the 25-year-old Kaymer was unstoppable. He won the European Tour’s KLM Open in the Netherlands, made his Ryder Cup debut in a victorious European Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor, and then returned to St Andrews for October’s Dunhill Links Championship and claimed his fourth win of the year, and his third title in as many appearances.

Four months later he was world number one.

“I know I can do well at St Andrews,” says Kaymer, who is ranked 17th in the world at the time of writing. “It is a matter of letting things fall into place in the Open. The Open has always been the tournament I want to win the most, and it will be played on my favourite golf course. Hopefully I will give myself a chance on the Sunday.”

If the gardening leave has had its desired affect, Kaymer could still have a lot to look forward to this year. ★

Ian Walton/R&A

[British] Open & PGA Champion

Footsteps shadowed by history

Three down, one to go: Rory McIlroy completed the third corner of the Grand Slam in the 2014 Open at Royal Liverpool

Ask Rory McIlroy about his lifetime’s ambition regarding the major championships and he’ll talk in terms of taking each one in turn and seeing how many he’s accumulated by the end of his career.

Not for him a target list of Jack Nicklaus’s 18 majors on his wall growing up, like Tiger Woods had, or even one of Tiger’s 14.

At 26, McIlroy’s goals remain exactly the same as when he was nine and, speaking to a home video camera about what he wanted to achieve, he replied simply: “I want to win all four majors and become the best golfer I can be.”

However, given his startling progress so far, he will surely not mind the rest of us excitedly charting the passing of notable landmarks at record-breaking pace and wondering openly whether we’ve found another player who deserves to be mentioned on the same page as those two aforementioned keepers of the book on majors.

After all, the only player in the modern era who accumulated four majors faster than Rory did at 25 was Tiger. As for the Golden Bear, a man not noted for hyperbole, he went so far last year as to predict McIlroy had the potential to close in on his own record one day. The thing that pointed towards a long haul total somewhere in the double digits was the manner in which McIlroy followed up his victory in the Open last year with a triumph at the PGA Championship just three weeks later.

Some players never get over the excitement of clasping the Claret Jug tight; McIlroy allowed himself a couple of days and then it was back to the business of trying to win the next one. This was where Woods was so good, of course. He knows how rare it is - even for him - to feel in control of all parts of your game and how vital it is to ride momentum in the majors.

“When there are only four staged each year you have to make sure you don’t lose focus,” argues McIlroy. “After I won the Open I knew I was playing well enough to have a chance in the PGA if I didn’t allow myself to get distracted. There’s plenty of time after August to enjoy what you might have achieved. But from April until the end of summer it’s all about channelling your energies so you can give your best in those events.”

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[British] Open & PGA Champion

Ror y McIlroy ’s run at the grand slam is frozen for now, but that will not slow the world number one from chasing major success in 2015. Derek Lawrenson, golf correspondent of the Daily Mail, speaks to McIlroy about his irrepressible rise to the top of the world game

Contrasting fortunes: Rory McIlroy lets the 2011 Masters slip (above), but roared back in the U.S. Open (below). Bobby Jones (top right) was 21 years old when he won the 1923 U.S. Open

Emerging from Masters meltdown And yet, viewed in one sense, you could say his quest to win majors could not have got off to a worse start.

He played quite beautifully for three rounds at the 2011 Masters, to forge a four-stroke lead, but it all went wrong on the fabled final nine on Sunday. A hapless triple bogey seven at the 10th precipitated one calamity after another.

Images flashed around the world of McIlroy pitching out from beside one of the cabins at the 10th, a place where no golfer - and certainly not one of the Northern Irishman’s calibre - is supposed to tread.

The sport launched into fevered speculation as to how long it would take him to recover, if ever, but as it turned out, it proved the best thing that ever happened to McIlroy.

“It was the day I discovered that you learn far more from your mistakes in this game than you ever learn on the days when you win,” he says.

The U.S. Open was the major McIlroy always believed would give him the most trouble. Two months on from his Masters meltdown, however, he got the break he was looking for, and the chance to show exactly what he had learned. Instead of the usual demands of extreme patience and unerring accuracy in the pursuit of a score around level par, the requirements at Congressional were upturned after unseasonably heavy rainfall. Suddenly it was all sodden fairways and dartboard greens and in these conditions no one is better than McIlroy.

So it was that he feasted on his good fortune, and McIlroy - still just 22 at the time - showed what he had learned about not getting ahead of himself. This time a big lead was not squandered but stretched still further.

His 16-under-par total set a new

U.S. Open record and he became the youngest champion since Bobby Jones in 1923.

“I think it’s very important to win a major early in your career, so it doesn’t become something to play on your mind,” admits McIlroy from the refuge of being a major champ.

“Winning at Congressional was mostly all about joy but there was a little relief in there as well, for I’d taken care of a lot of questions that had come up after the Masters. To own a few records along the way as well, that was really nice, but at the end of the day it was about standing there with the trophy on the Sunday night.”

More records would fall the following year at Kiawah Island, where McIlroy won another major by eight shots, this time the PGA Championship. Jack Nicklaus had set a seven-shot record for margin of victory in 1980, but McIlroy holed a 20-footer for birdie at the last to beat it. He has inherited Tiger’s knack of holing putts when they really mean something.

“That was just an incredible week,” recalls McIlroy. “I hadn’t been happy with the way I’d played in the majors since winning the U.S. Open and I went into that week determined to give myself a chance. Everything worked out perfectly. The golf course suited my eye and as for breaking Jack’s record, anytime you take one off the greatest golfer of all time, you’ve got to feel proud about that.”

Still the eager student, by the time McIlroy emerged at Hoylake at

Belfast child: McIlroy embraces caddie JP Fitzgerald at Valhalla (left); eager autograph hunters in Belfast (above) and McIlroy with the Wanamaker Trophy last year (below)

the 2014 Open he had learned the art of the knockdown shot, having gone away and worked at what was missing from his arsenal with longtime coach, Michael Bannon.

“I put in a lot of extra work for Hoylake,” confides McIlroy. “I practiced a lot of different shots that I might need. I just learned from my preparations the previous year at Muirfield. I came over early and played a few practice rounds on my own, and the four competitive rounds at Royal Aberdeen [in the previous week’s Scottish Open] really helped as well. When the week came around I felt very comfortable on the course.

I was ready.”

Yet this was not to be like the other two majors he had won, where he was in total control. Here he had to scrap for his place in history as Rickie Fowler and, in particular, Sergio Garcia pushed him all the way to the 18th green on Sunday. McIlroy, though, hung on to win by two and become the first European in the modern game to win three of the four majors.

Just think about that; an achievement that eluded men of the

calibre of Sir Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros - and achieved by McIlroy at the age of 25.

He returned home to Belfast to cries of congratulations on every street corner but it was a different McIlroy who turned up the following week at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone.

“Rather than reflect on my win and enjoy it, I want to use it as a springboard,” he declared. “Yes, it’s going to be great to be introduced as the Open Champion but that’s not all I want to be this year. I’ve got a lot more things I want to achieve.”

Not since Tiger was in his prime had we heard a golfer talk like this.

Not since Woods at his best had we seen word matched with deed. Not only would McIlroy win the Bridgestone, he would claim his second PGA title the following week in epic circumstances at Valhalla.

Trailing the luckless

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Fowler by three shots with nine holes to go, and two adrift of Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson, McIlroy started for home with an eagle three at the 10th hole and took it from there. In failing light due to a long weather suspension, McIlroy tapped in on the 18th hole to trigger a thousand camera flashbulbs.

“Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the summer turning out like this one,” he said.

Those three victories

Rory McIlroy

Born: May 4, 1989 Turned pro: 2007 Professional wins: 17 Best finish in each major: Masters 4 (2015), U.S. Open 1st (2011), Open 1st (2014), PGA Championship 1st (2012, 2014)

over the course of one unforgettable month surely represent the zenith within European golf. Twelve rounds that moved McIlroy from being the best of his contemporaries to being compared only with Tiger and Jack. Twelve rounds that transcended the game and elevated him into the company of Lionel Messi and Roger Federer as the pick of modern sportsmen. For the record, those 12 cards read: 66, 66, 68, 71, 69, 64, 66, 66, 66, 67, 67, 68.

One step beyond A lot in common: McIlroy and Tiger Woods were paired together for the final round of the 2015 Masters at Augusta

By the time January ticked around, McIlroy was sitting in seat 1A on a plane to Abu Dhabi and writing his goals for this year on the back of his

boarding pass. Among them was to win the Masters and become just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam. He was also seeking to become just the third player to win three majors in a row after Ben Hogan and Woods.

Alas, neither was likely after a lackluster outward half of 40 shots in the Masters’ second round. At that stage he was outside the projected halfway cut mark and 17 shots behind the dominant leader, Jordan Spieth.

It says much about the greatness that lies within that McIlroy responded so well from that point. Not only did he make the cut, he made up 11 of those shots on Spieth. He finished fourth, his best result yet at the one major that eludes him.

“Who knows what might have happened if I’d shot 34 or 35 for the front nine on Friday but at the end of the day fourth was nothing to be disappointed about,” he says. “There are lots of positives for me to take to the Masters in the future. This was

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my first one where I shot under par in each round and I’m getting more comfortable on that course all the time. The 66 I shot on Sunday was one of the easiest 66s I have ever shot, so there was lots to be encouraged about, both for that tournament and the season ahead.”

It was not the result McIlroy wanted ultimately, but as he says, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. After the unknown quantity of Chambers Bay for the U.S. Open, McIlroy will defend the Claret Jug on his favourite course, the Old Course at St Andrews, before putting his PGA Championship title on the line at Whistling Straits, where he finished tied for third in 2010.

One more major victory and he will pull alongside Seve on the all-time list; two more, and he would be next to Sir Nick Faldo; three more, and he would be out on his own among Europeans, level with Arnold Palmer.

As it has done with Tiger before him, history will shadow McIlroy’s every footstep from now on. H

Answering his critics: Rickie Fowler secured his second PGA Tour title at the 2015 Players Championship (main pic & right)

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images Sport

All in the timing

P

rofessional athletes are accustomed to taking the Rickie Fowler was darts of media and public criticism. It goes with voted the most the job and anyway, most of the arrows bounce off over-rated golfer toughened rawhide. But when anonymous criticism is published and attributed to fellow professionals on the PGA Tour in - to the guys you tee up alongside every week, an anonymous and with whom you share locker room humour and mischievous survey clubhouse buffets - the jabs can catch a nerve. of PGA Tour golfers.

And so it was, three days before the first round of the 2015 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Jacksonville, that Sports Illustrated Six days later he published survey results showing that 24 percent of PGA Tour golfers sent his critics rated Rickie Fowler as the most over-rated golfer on the circuit, tied with scurrying when Englishman Ian Poulter.

Bubba Watson came in second on 12 percent, by the way. Yes, he won the Players Bubba Watson, winner of two Masters tournaments in the past four Championship. years. Just a one-track pony. To be sure, there are peculiarities in the Robin Barwick survey results. reports Despite becoming a star of American match play golf in the amateur Walker Cup and subsequently in the Ryder Cup, the ammunition for Fowler’s detractors was provided by a record showing just a single victory in four and a half years on the PGA Tour (the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship) since turning professional in 2009.

Never mind that he became only the third golfer of the modern era to finish all four majors in the top-five in one year, in 2014, a feat shared only by Jack Nicklaus (1971, 1973) and Tiger Woods (2000, 2005).

This achievement is double-sided though, as Nicklaus and Woods both triumphed in at least one of those major championships in each of their top-five sweeps, whereas Fowler did not.

Fowler led during the final round at Valhalla amid the most exciting finale to a major championship last year, in the PGA Championship. As dark, forbidding storm clouds rolled along the Ohio River Valley and over the city of Louisville, Fowler couldn’t clinch the putts to keep up with Rory McIlroy though, who won his fourth major title.

Fowler finished two shots behind and found that each major miss was more painful than the last.

“The PGA is the one that hurt most for me in the majors last year,” he reflects in an exclusive interview with Majors. “In the first three it was a lot of fun to be in great positions and to have great finishes, but at Valhalla I really felt I could go out there and win it. It stung. Still, to look back on the year, it was pretty awesome through the majors and something I can be proud of.

“Rory played great in the PGA. He was a deserving champion and right now he is the best player in the world. I’ll see if I can sneak one away from him at some point.”

Rickie’s retribution Fowler’s past achievements or shortcomings - be they half full or half empty - were given a fresh perspective by the time the 2015 Players Championship had finished on May 10, six days after those survey results were published and once the 26-year-old from California had completed one of the most dramatic late charges to victory imaginable.

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Rickie Fowler

Born: December 13, 1988 Turned pro: 2009 Professional wins: 3 Best finish in each major: Masters T5 (2014), U.S. Open T2 (2014), Open T2 (2014), PGA Championship T3 (2014)

Stronger together: Rickie Fowler has reached a new gear in competition since teaming up with Butch Harmon in 2013

Not prepared to accept just another strong finish, Fowler played the final six holes at TPC Sawgrass in six under par to steal the clubhouse lead. Six under par over one of the most treacherous stretches in American golf. Then he outlasted Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner to claim his second PGA Tour title against one of the strongest fields in the game and collect the biggest paycheck of his career ($1.8 million).

Some might argue that’s overpaid, but Fowler is unlikely to be tagged as over-rated again soon.

“If there was any question,” said Fowler, holding his Players Championship trophy, “this right here answers anything you need to know.”

Fowler’s last four holes in regulation at Sawgrass will be best remembered. He finished 3-3-2-3 birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie - to close his final round of 67, the low score of the day. Since hole-by-hole tracking began on the PGA Tour in 1983, no tournament winner had ever finished the final four holes in five under par.

In the playoff with Garcia and Kisner, Fowler had to revisit the 137yard 17th hole with its green all but

surrounded by water - the signature hole at Sawgrass - twice more. In three visits to the hole on the Sunday he birdied it three times, and five times out of six for the week. “Big thanks to 17,” said Fowler.

He admits that the previous single victory to his name had become a burden: “I was always looked at as only having one win on tour, and I needed to put myself in position to win more often.

I challenged last year but wasn't able to end up as the last guy standing. It feels good to win again, and I'm hoping to be back in the same position more often.

“If anything, typically my own expectations are the highest,” he adds. “I set my goals and focus on them, and how I want to play. I don’t worry about whatever the outside expectations might be.”

At home on the links For a tanned dude from the American west coast who looks as if he should be surfing off Malibu or skateboarding at Santa Cruz, Fowler is pretty good at playing the brand of links golf posed by the Open each year, the type of golf they used to play in tweed jackets and flat caps.

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On his Open debut at St Andrews in 2010, Fowler emulated Woods in making his way around the Old Course without his ball dropping into a single bunker over 72 holes. Unlike Woods - who avoided all sand in storming to a record-setting victory in 2000 - Fowler stayed out of the traps but shot 79 in his first round.

“The key to links golf is staying out of the bunkers,” he says. “I did a very good job of that in my first Open at St Andrews, but 79 is really a high score when you have not even been in a single bunker. I shot 79 the hard way.”

There must have been some gorse prickles in Fowler’s slim-fit trousers by the end of that day.

“I shot 79 when it was windy,” he contends. “I actually played pretty decent until I made a triple and a double coming in, just a couple of mistakes at a bad time. Then I played well in a bit of wind on the Friday to make the cut and I played very well over the last two rounds. In the end it was a nice way to start my Open career.”

Fowler posted 79-67-71-67 that week, finished 14th, and then reached a tie for fifth at Royal St George’s in 2011, showing more impressive guile and patience amid the wind and rain and odd bounces of St. George’s.

With a swing tightened up by Butch Harmon over the winter of 2013, Fowler finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy in the Open at Royal Liverpool last year, and the new world number nine (a career high at the time of writing) is now secure among the pre-tournament favorites not just at the Home of Golf, but at Chambers Bay and Whistling Straits too. ★

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The duel is won: Tom Watson celebrates his famous victory in the 1977 Open

Legend of the links This is what Jack Nicklaus says of Tom Watson: “His legacy has been cemented as the greatest to play in the Open”. Watson won the Open Championship five times between 1975 and 1983, and he has accepted a special invitation to play in the 2015 championship at St Andrews, in what might be his final Open curtain call.

Watson spoke exclusively to Robin Barwick

T

om Watson hoisted aloft the Claret Jug five times over a short span of nine years, which is a record. Of the five golfers to have won the Open at least five times, Scotsman James Braid is next in terms of time efficiency, taking 10 years to accumulate his quintet between 1901 and 1910.

It is all the more surprising then, that Watson - the most prolific of Open Championship golfers - didn’t like the Open’s customary brand of links golf until he had won the championship three times. To clarify: Watson says he didn’t like links golf.

“I didn’t like links golf and I was not a fan of St Andrews because of all the blind shots and the luck of the bounce,” admits Watson, 65, who won on his Open debut at Carnoustie in 1975. “I was an ‘American golfer’ who wanted to hit the ball through the air and then stop the ball quickly. Links golf didn’t fit into that paradigm.

“I changed my mind during the Open

Championship of 1979. I was not playing well at Royal Lytham and I was blaming the golf course and blaming links golf for my poor play, which was not the truth obviously; the blame lay with my poor play. I finally figured out that my poor attitude was holding me back.

Even though I had won a couple of Open Championships I still had not embraced links golf. In 1979 I told myself to stop fighting the golf course and start enjoying it.”

Watson’s conversion was sealed in 1981, when he made a pre-Open trip with good friend Sandy Tatum, a former president of the United States Golf Association, touring some of the finest and oldest links in Ireland and Scotland.

“First we played Ballybunion,” recalls Watson, “then Royal Troon and Prestwick, and then we went up to Royal Dornoch, and on that trip it grew on me, and I finally started to fully embrace the links game.”

A year later, in July 1982, Watson won his fourth Open Championship back at Royal Troon.

“I didn’t like links golf and I was not a fan of St Andrews” 59

Lighting up Turnberry

Moment in the sun: Tom Watson raises the Claret Jug at Turnberry in 1977 (above), having received warm congratulations from Jack Nicklaus (left)

“Jack was the man who I pointed to as the one to beat, he was the best in the game and I wanted to beat the best” —Tom Watson

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The 1977 Open Championship - the first to be staged upon the stunning landscape of Turnberry, on Scotland’s southwest coast - was strikingly, vividly, the epitome of all that is great about the Open. That championship has gone down in golfing legend as ‘The Duel in the Sun’, and that is the title of the book written by Michael Corcoran on the 1977 Open. Corcoran writes: “During a scorching hot week in July, Jack Nicklaus, by then regarded as the best player the game had ever known, fought furiously with Tom Watson, a talented and cerebral young man bent on joining Nicklaus in the upper echelon of the game. Playing together over two days and 36 holes, they distanced themselves from the rest of the field to such a degree that they were competing solely against each other. At stake was the game’s oldest and most sought after title, the Open Championship, and Nicklaus’s position as the world’s dominant player. The outcome would be decided in the oldest way known to man: face to face.”

“Jack was the man who I pointed to as the one to beat,” reflects Watson, 38 years later. “I studied and observed Jack over the years and I learned an awful lot. He was the best in the game and I wanted to beat the best.”

With the Irish Sea as their blue yonder backdrop, and played out on the hard-baked links - just the way Open governors the R&A like it - Nicklaus and Watson were both at their most potent. Playing together they both shot 65, five under par, in the third round, the low score in the field, to earn the final tee time in the final round, tied for the lead.

In the final round they went at it again, relentlessly exchanging birdie blows in an exhilarating battle. Ultimately, Watson carded 65 to Nicklaus’s 66, and the ‘Kansas City kid’ won the Open for the second time.

“Walking off that final green,” recalls Watson, “Jack grabbed me around the neck and said: ‘Tom, I gave you my best shot but it wasn’t good enough. Congratulations, I’m proud of you.’ That is what this great golfer said to me in defeat, and that says so much about Jack Nicklaus.

You know, he has always shown me great empathy. He understood the moment so well, and rather than see it from his own personal standpoint right then - when he was feeling a great sense of personal disappointment - he

gave credit to his competitor. That shows a lot about the man’s character.”

It was an iconic moment of 20th century golf.

“Had I won, it would have been very special,” starts Nicklaus, in speaking exclusively to Majors. “A few years ago a reporter asked me what I remember most from the 1977 Open. I quickly answered, ‘I lost’. I laugh at it now, but it’s true. When you are someone who loves competition and who entered every major championship with the desire to win and with the belief he could, finishing second is not a consolation. Having said that, that kind of competition down the stretch of a major is something I relish. I gave Tom my best shot and he simply played better.

When that happens, you reach out your hand and offer sincere congratulations.”

Incredibly, Watson was just a chip and a putt away from winning his sixth Open title in 2009 back at Turnberry, at the age of 59. It would probably have been the greatest swan song in the history of professional sport.

Watson was on the verge of becoming the oldest winner of a major by 11 years, but an eight-iron approach to the final green which had seemed perfect in midair - rolled agonisingly through the green, and an ensuing bogey left Watson in a play-off. Ultimately finishing second behind Stewart Cink, Watson became the oldest runner-up in majors history by seven and a half years. Cink was gracious enough to say that even part of him wanted Watson to win that day.

So it is little wonder the R&A invited Watson to the 2015 Open (his official fiveyear exemption from pre-qualification, earned as runner-up in 2009, expired in 2014), particularly as golf’s oldest major returns to its spiritual home, to the Old Course at St Andrews, where the Open will be played for the 144th time.

“In the history of golf, the first chapter is written at St Andrews,” says Watson. “When I first stepped on the Old Course, when I stood on that first tee, I honestly could feel that history, going back to the 1800s and those early Open Championships. That first tee on the Old Course gives you an electricity.

To know that you are competing on the Old Course in the Open Championship, as your fellow professional golfers did over 100 years ago, is a special feeling.”

Turning back time: Tom Watson was a single shot away from winning the 2009 Open, back at Turnberry

A wave from the Bridge

I knew that Nicklaus had done it again. Typical Arnold Palmer bid farewell to the Open at St Nicklaus; he could always do the impossible.”

Andrews in 1995, and Nicklaus played his For the record, Watson did secure his par final tour event altogether there in the 2005 in 2005 to make the cut, but this year it is his Open. Tradition now demands that retiring turn to pause upon the Swilcan Bridge. golfers pause on the ancient landmark of the “Tom and I shared a special moment Swilcan Bridge, which leads golfers onto the when I finished my career,” adds Nicklaus.

18th fairway, to wave to the crowds.

“I know he feels the same as I do about St “At the top of the arched bridge… memories Andrews and it holds a special place in his were flooding my brain, and emotions were heart. Tom’s legacy in the British Open is as washing over me like you can’t imagine,” great as anyone’s in history. He won five times recalls Palmer, who began his Open career at and Harry Vardon won six. James Braid, JH St Andrews in 1960. “I was also thinking how Taylor and Peter Thomson also won five, but it all seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Tom’s victories came in the modern era and The magic of the British Open was as strong with arguably the game’s toughest fields. That as it had ever been for me.” is not taking anything away from any other In 2005, Nicklaus was grouped with champions; they were all tremendous players.

Watson and Englishman Luke Donald as he I just believe that for Tom to beat the people played the 18th hole on the Old Course in he did under those conditions, in my opinion an Open for the last time, although it was not his legacy has been cemented as the greatest Nicklaus who was overcome with emotion. to play in the British Open.”

“By the time we got to the Swilcan Bridge I To clarify, while 2015 may see Watson’s was crying like a baby,” laughs Watson. “Jack last tilt for the Open, he is not retiring. Should said to me: ‘Get a hold of yourself, Watson; he finish in the top 10 at St Andrews, or win the you’ve still got to make the cut.’ (I needed a 2015 Senior Open Championship Presented par to make the cut.) It was very special to

by Rolex at Sunningdale (which will be staged play with Jack in his last official tournament.” the week after the Open), Watson will qualify Nicklaus had a knack for birdieing the for the 2016 Open at Royal Troon, where he final hole of tournaments, and his final attempt won in 1982. embellished the reputation.

“I am fairly certain 2015 will be my final “The putt broke left to right,” says Watson. Open, but you never say ‘never’,” adds Watson.

“It was downhill - virtually an impossible putt - “If somehow I caught lightening in the bottle, I but when the ball was still 10 feet from the hole could be back.” H

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The Modern & Ancient Thinking man’s golf: Castle Stuart is a modern links offering golfers strategic options off its tees

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A Andy Farrell considers the elements that constitute a genuine links golf course

There is no easy answer. In the Shell International Encyclopaedia of Golf, the Wikipedia of its day even if that was four decades ago, the entry for “Links” begins: “A term surrounded by some doubt and controversy.”

Nothing is more certain to start golfing pedants sounding their klaxons than the use of the word “links” to mean any golf course. They might pipe down a little if they knew that areas in the UK such as downlands above Eastbourne and outside Cambridge were apparently known as “The Links” long before golf was played there in the case of the former, or in the case of the latter, where it has never been played at all.

The Shell Encyclopedia concludes: “Nevertheless, in modern usage the term tends to mean sand-dune country of little use except for golf between the sea and more fertile areas; ‘links’ type golf is generally thought of as that found only on traditional seaside courses.”

This ‘linksland’, formed as the sea retreated, especially in areas around the British Isles, came with fine fescue and bent grasses kept in perfect trim by grazing sheep and rabbits, as well as naturally occurring obstacles such as the dunes and holes hollowed out to provide livestock protection from the elements, now known as bunkers.

Dan Murphy / stonehousegolf.com

The U.S. Open is being staged on one of the world’s youngest golf courses that some would call a links, Chambers Bay, while the Open Championship will unfold on the oldest links of them all.

ny year that features St Andrews on the list of major championship venues is one to savour.

The Old Course is, of course, the original and the best, the layout that has influenced the rest, not least the place where every major season begins at Augusta National.

Only five players have won at both, and only two of those, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, have done so in the same year. What price Jordan Spieth joining them? Another intriguing prospect this year is of a mix of venues both ancient and modern.

Sharing the spotlight are Whistling Straits, hosting the PGA Championship for the third time on the banks of Lake Michigan, and Chambers Bay, which stages the U.S. Open after only opening in 2007. Created from a former sand and gravel quarry, once popular with dirt-bikers and off-road four-wheelers, the course in Pierce County, Washington impressed the USGA so much that after operating for only eight months it was awarded the 2010 U.S. Amateur, won by Peter Uihlein, and the 2015 U.S. Open.

For the first time, we are led to believe, America’s national championship will be played on a “traditional links”.

But what exactly is a links?

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Deep among the dunes: Open venue Royal Birkdale is famed for its dramatic dune system

Engaging the senses Earlier this year The R&A released a report stating that there are 34,011 golf facilities in the world but according to the 2010 book True Links less than one per cent of those should be called “links”. Authors George Peper and Malcolm Campbell came up with a list of just 246 links, 210 of them in the UK and Ireland.

For the true cognoscenti, a links should be alongside a river estuary; offer at least partial or occasional views of the sea; have few if any trees; have numerous bunkers; and its two nines should be routed out and back, the front heading to a far point and the back returning to the clubhouse, in the general

manner of the Old Course. Strict observance of these criteria, however, would knock out half of the current Open rota.

So maybe it is a case of if it looks like a links… although that is only half the story, or rather one-fifth. For on a links all the senses are engaged. You can taste and smell the seaside air, as well as feel beneath foot the springy turf, surprisingly firm and yet forgiving.

Sounds range from the roar of a fierce gale to the silence of solitude, save for the birds above doing their own social media, namely tweeting.

Early British golf writer Bernard Darwin wrote of playing the seventh hole at Royal St George’s: “a fine spring day, with the larks

“...the sun shining off the waters of Pegwell Bay and lighting up the white cliffs in the distance; this is as nearly my idea of Heaven as is to be obtained on any earthly links”

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singing as they seem to sing nowhere else; the sun shining off the waters of Pegwell Bay and lighting up the white cliffs in the distance; this is as nearly my idea of Heaven as is to be obtained on any earthly links.”

On a links dramatic scenery is a bonus, as with the lighthouse and the views of Ailsa Craig at Turnberry, but often the treeless horizon and the dunes, whether welcoming as at Birkdale or intimidating as at Sandwich, have an understated beauty of their own. This bleak chic is never better than as the light fades on a winter’s afternoon, a loop timed perfectly to putt out on the 18th at dusk, a few holes stolen from the encroaching night.

Whether at dawn or dusk, a low sun shows off the subtle undulations of a links with a sea of shadows. Alister MacKenzie, the master architect, said the “chief charm of the best seaside links” were the undulating fairways, especially those of the Old Course, “where the ground is a continual roll from the first tee to the last green and where one never has the same shot twice. One hardly ever has a level stance or lie. It is this that makes the variety of a seaside course, and variety in golf is everything.”

Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

Old ways, new times: Kingsbarns was the first of new generation of links course to boost golf in Scotland in recent years

Optional benefits MacKenzie and Bobby Jones, both having studied the Old Course, created Augusta National on the links principle of giving players options. Jones lamented how the penal design that characterized many American courses led a player to hit the same shot each time he played a hole: “We rarely have a choice or an opportunity to think.”

But he added: “British seaside golf cannot be played without thinking. There is always some little favour of wind or terrain waiting for the man who has judgment enough to use it, and there is a little feeling of triumph, a thrill that comes with the knowledge of having done a thing well when a puzzling hole has been conquered by something more than mechanical skill.”

Phil Mickelson always had all the shots but it took him a record-equaling 19 attempts to win The Open at Muirfield in 2013 and he called it the “greatest achievement of my career”. He had won the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart the week before and said there: “For me, what I’ve found about links golf is that you have two factors: you have the ground that affects the ball and you have the wind that affects the ball. When the wind gets strong, you want to get it on the ground as fast as possible. That’s not hard to do. It just takes a little getting used to.”

Variable conditions affect clubbing on a links far more than any other type of course.

Padraig Harrington, a double Open champion, said: “Even me growing up with links golf, knowing how to play the shots, you have to convince yourself of certain clubs and trust it.

Warm, windy weather on a links golf course

allows you to manipulate the golf ball a lot, so that the wind is always working for you, even if it’s into you. I suppose it’s a little bit like sailing, the better sailors are able to use the wind whether its with you or not.”

So extreme conditions produced by a coastal setting are what really spice up the links challenge and perhaps separate a traditional links from other sand-based gems such as those found in the UK’s Surrey heathland, the Melbourne sand-belt of Australia and around Pinehurst. The superb Sand Hills, created by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore in Nebraska, is certainly “links-style” but may be far too far from the sea to truly be a links.

There are some fine new links at Barnbougle in Tasmania and Bandon Dunes in Oregon but it will be interesting to see the verdict on Chambers Bay, which for all its dunes and fescue grasses is on the inland

in Britain where all the best linksland was thought to have been used up. Look at the lengths Donald Trump had to go to in building his Trump International course near Aberdeen, though the result appears to be as spectacular as the hype.

With a nod to Pat Ruddy for almost singlehandedly creating the European Club south of Dublin, Mark Parsinen has been a prime mover in reviving links development with Kingsbarns, outside St Andrews, alongside Kyle Phillips, and Castle Stuart, with Gil Hanse, who has designed the Olympic course in Rio. Kingsbarns quickly established itself as part of the rotation for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and will host the 2017 Ricoh Women’s British Open, while Castle Stuart has already staged three Scottish Opens.

Ultimately, the quality of the turf is the key for the leading professionals. As Peter

“The thrill of squeezing a ball against the firm turf, trying to keep it low into a buffering wind, is something that lingers in the mind forever” Puget Sound. Whistling Straits is another course that was made to look like a links but is perhaps too artificial - and has all those bunkers behind the gallery ropes, which caused Dustin Johnson so much trouble in 2010.

There is something of the oxymoron about the phrase “new links”, especially

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Thomson, the five-time Open champion, said: “The thrill of squeezing a ball against the firm turf, trying to keep it low into a buffeting wind, is something that lingers in the mind forever.”

For the rest of us, there is no disagreeing with Peper and Campbell’s assertion that: “Links golf is the game distilled to its core values.” H

Arnold Palmer’s

Guide to the 2015

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themajorsofgolf

Putting majors on the map

Major championship golf in the United States was originally the reserve of the northeast, where the country ’s first big cities spawned the earliest great American golf courses. The U.S. Open was first played in 1895, yet did not cross the Mississippi River until 1938. The PGA Championship was inaugurated in 1916 yet only ventured from the northeastern stronghold for the first time in 1927, breaking south to Texas. The establishment of the Masters in Augusta, Georgia in 1934 gave the southern states a majors foothold, but at that time, the west remained a frontier too far.

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Here we map out ever y single major venue in the United States, showing exactly where ever y American major has been played, and how many times each venue has hosted a major tournament. Art Spander – resident of Oakland, California – also reflects on the slow migration of the majors from the traditional east to the new-age west

Maps key

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Left turn at the junction

Map no. Course name State No. hosted 1 Newport Golf Club Rhode Island 1 2 Shinnecock Hills Golf Club New York 4 3 Chicago Golf Club Illinois 3 4 Myopia Hunt Club Massachusetts 4 5 Baltimore Golf Club Maryland 1 6 Garden City Golf Club New York 1 7 Baltusrol Golf Club New Jersey 8 8 Glen View Club Illinois 1 9 Onwentsia Club Illinois 1 10 Philadelphia Cricket Club Pennsylvania 3 11 Englewood Golf Club New Jersey 1 12 Country Club of Buffalo New York 1 13 The Country Club, Brookline Massachusetts 3 14 Midlothian Country Club Illinois 1 15 Minikahda Club Minnesota 1 16 Siwanoy Country Club New York 1 17 Brae Burn Country Club Massachusetts 1 18 Engineers Country Club New York 1 19 Inverness Club Ohio 6 20 Flossmoor Country Club Illinois 1 21 Columbia Country Club Maryland 95 1 22 Inwood Country Club New York 2 23 Stokie Country Club Illinois 1 24 Oakmont Country Club Pennsylvania 11 25 Pelham Golf Club New York 1 26 Oakland Hills Country Club Michigan 9 27 French Lick Springs Indiana 1 28 Worcester Country Club Massachusetts 1 29 Olympia Fields Country Club Illinois 4 30 Scioto Country Club Ohio 2 31 Salisbury Golf Club New York 1 32 Cedar Crest Country Club Texas 1 33 Winged Foot Golf Club New 6 56 York 34 Hillcrest Country Club California 1 35 Interlachen Country Club Minnesota 1 47 36 Fresh Meadow Country Club New York 2 37 Wannamoisett Country Club Rhode Island 1 38 Keller Golf Club Minnesota 2 39 North Shore Country Club Illinois 1 40 Blue Mound Country Club Wisconsin 1 41 Augusta National Golf Club Georgia 79 42 Merion Golf Club Pennsylvania 5 43 Park Club of Buffalo New York 1 44 Twin Hills Country Club Oklahoma 1 45 Pinehurst Country Club North Carolina 4 46 Pittsburgh Field Club Pennsylvania 1 47 Cherry Hills Country Club Colorado 5 48 Shawnee Cricket Club Pennsylvania 1 49 Pomonock Country Club New York 1 50 Canterbury Golf Club Ohio 3 51 Hershey Country Club Pennsylvania 1 52 Colonial Country Club Texas 1 53 Sea View Country Club New Jersey 1 54 Manito Golf & Country Club Washington 1 55 Moraine Country Club Ohio 1 56 Portland Golf Club Oregon 1 57 St Louis Country Club Missouri 1 58 Plum Hollow Country Club Michigan 1 59 Norwood Hills Country Club Missouri 1 60 Riviera Country Club California 3 61 Hermitage Country Club Virginia 1 62 Medinah CC Illinois 5 63 Northwood Golf Club Texas 1 64 Big Spring Country Club Kentucky 1 65 Birmingham Country Club Michigan 1 66 Olympic Country Club California 5 67 Meadowbrook Country Club Michigan 1 68 Oak Hill County Club New York 6 69 Blue Hill Golf & Country Club Massachusetts 1 70 Miami Valley Golf Club Ohio 1 71 Southern Hills Country Club Oklahoma 7 72 Llanerch Country Club Pennsylvania 1 73 Minneapolis Golf Club Minnesota 1 74 Firestone Country Club Ohio 3 66 75 Aronimink Golf Club Pennsylvania 1 76 Dallas Athletic Club Texas 1 77 Congressional County Club Maryland 4 78 Columbus Country Club Ohio 1 79 Bellerive Country Club Missouri 2 80 Laurel Valley Golf Club Pennsylvania 1 81 Columbine Country Club Colorado 1 82 Pecan 1 87 Valley Country Club Texas 83 Champions Golf Club Texas 1 84 NCR Country Club Ohio 1 85 Hazeltine National Golf Club Minnesota 4 86 PGA National Golf Club Florida 2 87 Pebble Beach Golf Links California 6 88 Tanglewood Golf Club North Carolina 1 89 Atlanta Athletic Club Georgia 4 90 Shoal Creek Country Club Alabama 2 91 Oak Tree Golf Club Oklahoma 1 92 Kemper Lakes Golf Club Illinois 1 93 Crooked Stick Golf Club Indiana 1 94 Valhalla Golf Club Kentucky 3 95 Sahalee Country Club Washington 821 96 Bethpage State Park New York 2 97 Whistling Straits Wisconsin 2 98 Torrey Pines Golf Club California 1 99 Kiawah Island Resort South Carolina 1

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1st major 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1909 1912 1913 1914 1916 1916 1919 1919 1920 1920 1921 1921 1922 1922 1923 1924 1924 1925 1925 1926 1926 1927 1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1932 1933 1933 1934 1934 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1938 1939 1940 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 91 1947 1948 44 1948 1949 1949 1952 1952 1953 1955 1955 1956 1956 1957 1958 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 52 1964 1965 1965 1967 1968 1969 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1976 1984 1988 1989 1991 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2012

Even now, those who live in the more populated east flippantly refer to the Pacific region - the states of California, Oregon and Washington - as the ‘Left Coast’, a less than subtle implication of territorial imperative.

As if the Atlantic, the northeast coast, is the right coast, the proper coast.

America is a huge place; 2,600 miles and three time zones across.

73 1538 It grew east to west, hesitantly. There were mountains to cross, mental 85 35 ones as much as the physical.

40 Those sports residing and working in the East - the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League and 97 National Basketball Association are in New York; the PGA Tour, LPGA and tennis are in Florida - stayed close to home, keeping their biggest sporting events with them.

The first U.S. Open was at Newport, Rhode Island, and so why would anyone think of holding it out there in the wild west, where there 54 are rattlesnakes and sunburn?

Valid reasons existed to keep the U.S. Open championship tucked away in a corner of the country’s northeast. The headquarters of the USGA, which runs the tournaments, are there. The historic courses - all private - Merion, Winged Foot, The Country Club at Brookline, were there too. Air travel was in its infancy prior to the Second World War too. Not until the early 1960s did the jet plane go into service regularly.

Golfers and golf people find familiarity comforting. When the 1970 59 79 57Hazeltine U.S. Open was held at a new venue, in the prairieland near 64 94 Minneapolis, Jack Nicklaus said, “I like playing the Open where Ben Hogan played it.”

Interestingly, one of the courses on which Hogan played the U.S. Open and won was Riviera Country Club, a few miles west of Los Angeles, where in 1948 the tournament was finally held for the first time west of the Rocky Mountains and - after Cherry Hills in Denver in 1938 -71only for the second time west of the Mississippi River.

The USGA ventured to San Francisco’s Olympic Club for the first time in 1955, which was a major decision about its major championship.

That was only the second time the U.S. Open was played in a Pacific state, and not until 1972 at Pebble Beach—which had hosted the U.S. Amateur decades previously—was a U.S. Open played at a course to which the public had access, although with green fees in triple digits it wasn’t exactly the neighborhood muni.

90 Nicklaus won that, after asking then USGA executive director P.J. 63 Boatwright, “What did you do with all the grass?”

81 76 What the USGA did was take advantage of television and a shift 32 in the population from the so-called Rust Belt to the sunshine states 47 (California, with more than 36 million people, now homes the largest population of the 50 states) and a change in thinking.

Eastern journalists and some officials were hardly ecstatic when three times in five years the U.S. Open was held in the Golden State (2008 at Torrey Pines; 2010 at Pebble Beach; 2012 at the Olympic Club). Yet the networks are pleased to have a tournament held in the Pacific time zone, which is shown live in prime time in New York and 83 Boston, where it’s three hours later.

Continued on page 70…

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Regional divisions Our map of the United States is divided into seven regions over the next three pages, covering all 99 American major venues.

Numbers on the maps relate to the key on page 68. The bigger the circle around each number, the more major championships have been held at that venue.

Northeast

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Sounding out Seattle

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Mike Davis, the current USGA executive director, has been willing to step away from the conservative views of the past, and the 71 best example is the decision to choose Chambers Bay for the 2015 U.S. Open, the first held in the Northwest. The PGA of America first ventured to the region with its PGA Championship in 1944, when it landed in Manito Golf and Country Club in Spokane, Washington. Portland Golf Club in Oregon then held the PGA in 1946.

63 Chambers Bay is a former gravel pit. It 76 the first time the U.S. Open has been will be 95 32 brought to an infant course in 35 years, since Hazeltine in 1970, and it will be the first U.S. Open played on fescue, the grass of Britain’s links courses.

“This is a little bit of out-of-the-box thinking for the USGA,” said Davis. “To say we 56 are excited would be the understatement of the year.” 83 No less excited than golf fans in Seattle, who finally believe the tournament often called “the National Open,” finally has gone national.

“Coming into any championship, there’s always that element of the unknown,” said Davis. At Chambers Bay what golfers don’t know might hurt them. That might make some pros wish never again to play a course west of Pennsylvania.

“The course this year allows us to put tee markers where we want,” said Davis about the possible setup. “And in some cases we may end up putting tee markers on slopes as opposed to, well, always having tee markers on very flat areas… so that’s interesting.”

With the USGA we always thought, whatever the level of the teeing ground, the U.S. Open would be in New York, Pennsylvania or66maybe next door in Ohio and Michigan.

No more. New frontiers beckoned on the other side of America, and the bosses have stretched their horizons.

87 “You’re not going to know Chambers Bay in one or two rounds,” said Davis. “The golfers are going to see things they’ve never seen before at a U.S. Open.”

As Horace Greeley said long, long ago, “Go west, young man”. ★

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Southeast 88

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Top of the leaderboard

Augusta National was the 41st U.S. club

Colorado

to host a major. It is golf’s only perennial major venue and has hosted the Masters 79 times. Augusta National has hosted the most majors in the world (St Andrews in Scotland is second worldwide in terms of majors held, and it will host its 29th Open in July). The circle surrounding Augusta would be so broad that we have not included it in the sectional map of the Southeast (above), instead running its number ’41’ in blue.

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South-central states

California 88

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Western shoot-out

The Western United States held its first major in 1929, when the PGA Northwest

Championship ventured to Hillcrest CC in Los Angeles, the 34th U.S. course to host a major. Leo Diegel beat Walter Hagen in the semi-final before defeating Johnny Farrell in the final.

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Reaching a century

Chambers Bay in Washington state is set

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to becone the 100th golf course in the United States to host a major, when the the 2015 U.S. Open is held there in June.

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The U.S. Open heads into unchartered territor y this year, to the Pacific Northwest for the first time, and to a relatively untested golf course that only opened for play in 2007. Tony Dear made the trip to Chambers Bay in Washington State to cast his eye over a golf course that might be a links, or not, and might run as long as 7,900 yards, or not…

Photography by DAVID CANNON

Northern exposure

Getty Images

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nless they’ve scouted the course in preparation, it’s unlikely many competitors at the 2015 U.S. Open will have ever seen anything remotely like Chambers Bay. More used to lush, manicured courses that conform to the PGA Tour’s ideal, this comparatively barren landscape will appear entirely alien.

With acres of sand, no water hazards and a complete absence of trees (save for one fir at the back of the 15th green) the obvious association will be with the British coastline.

And yet, unlike Britain’s ancient links, Chambers Bay is eight years old and was built from scratch rather than left to evolve over centuries. And because of the present day’s need for instant recognition, Chambers Bay is altogether more theatrical and extravagant than Britain’s mellower seaside courses.

Chambers Bay was John Ladenburg’s idea. The Prosecuting Attorney for Pierce County (home to Chambers Bay), Ladenburg was elected County Executive in 2000. Before closing out his second and final term in office, Ladenburg was determined to make golfing use of a mostly derelict 600-acre parcel overlooking Puget Sound that the county purchased in 1992.

The place was a mess; covered in scrub, sand, ponds and debris from 100 years of sand and gravel mining, and on which the County’s water treatment plant stood.

The persuasive Ladenburg convinced the county to spend another $24 million on land that had already cost $33 million. He interviewed 56 design firms, but ultimately, the vision of Robert Trent Jones Jnr. matched Ladenburg’s the closest, and local favourite, Tacoma-based John Harbottle, was edged out.

Ground was broken in October 2005 and, over the course of the next two years, an amazing 100,000 truckloads of sand were removed from the site, cleaned, and returned for Trent Jones and his two close associates Bruce Hamilton and Jay Blasi to pile, shape, push, sculpt, cajole, and nudge into place.

Ladenburg knew Bethpage Black in New York had been the only municipal course to have hosted the U.S. Open (Torrey Pines would follow in 2008). He also knew that if the U.S. Open was to come to the Pacific Northwest for the first time, he couldn’t compromise on a single detail.

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The course would be all fescue like the Open venues, it would be walking-only, and it would be called Chambers Bay. The course opened in June 2007 and seven months later, the USGA announced it would be taking the national championship there.

The U.S. Amateur Championship served as a trial run. In August 2010 the best amateurs in the world competed on a parched and fiery Chambers Bay that took the concept of firm and fast to the extreme.

The event was a success for winner Peter Uihlein, but chief among a list of potential problems were the greens. Ryan Moore, from nearby Puyallup, played the course in 2010 and phoned the USGA’s Director of Rules and Competition Mike Davis (now Executive Director) to voice his concerns. The putting surfaces were slow and bumpy, he said, not even close to good enough for a U.S. Open.

In June 2012, Eric Johnson was finally appointed the new Director of Agronomy.

Johnson, who had spent four years at Spyglass Hill on the Monterey Peninsula and nine years at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, soon hired Josh Lewis, himself a former Bandon Dunes man, as his first assistant.

The difference between 2010 and 2015 is striking and a relief to Tacoma News Tribune writer Todd Milles. “I wouldn’t say we were getting nervous before Eric arrived,” he says, “but Eric and Josh have done an amazing job.”

Lewis predicts the rough will live up to traditional U.S. Open thickness. “We haven’t really ever seen thick, dense rough here before, but closing the course and reducing the traffic for a few weeks will allow it to develop.”

The course will play to a par of 70, but keeping all concerned on their toes, the front nine could play to 34 or 35, and the back nine to 35 or 36. Par and exact hole yardages will be provided daily for each of the four rounds.

The course can reach almost 7,900 yards but will likely play somewhere between 7,200 and 7,700 yards, depending on weather conditions.

Never have golfers headed to a U.S. Open with so many unknown factors to keep them off balance.

Firm, thick rough is probable, but sand everywhere you turn is confirmed, with possibly over 7,500 yards to navigate; with even 10 miles per hour of wind, Chambers Bay could become golf’s new monster.

1

Puget Sound

598 yards, par 5 The first heads west toward the Sound and McNeil Island, a 60-foot high dune running down the right side of the hole. Far too many approaches during the 2010 U.S. Amateur trickled 50 yards left of the green so Robert Trent Jones returned in 2011 to flatten the approach. The USGA has the option of playing the hole as a par four or par five.

2 Foxy

399 yards, par 4 The name pays tribute to the fabulous 14th at Royal Dornoch, but is also a reference to Fox Island out in the Sound. One of only two par fours under 400 yards, the second should be a decent birdie opportunity for anyone getting a good drive away. The hole bends a little left so the shortest approach is from that side, but a 100-yardlong bunker lies in wait.

3

Blown Out

198 yards, par 3 The first short hole on the course was lengthened considerably when Trent Jones returned in 2012. The hole will likely play downwind, meaning elite ball-strikers will only need a mid-iron to get home. There’s a huge bunker to the left so the ideal shot will be a baby draw that pitches on the front right edge of the green and uses the slope towards the hole.

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Hazard’s Ascent

495 yards, par 4 The fourth is named after Hazard Stevens, who in 1870 became one of the first climbers to reach the top of 14,411-foot Mt Rainier, 50 miles southeast of the course. The fairway bends slightly right around another huge sandy area and it is here that Chambers Bay really starts getting tough. Anyone leaving the green of this uphill 495-yard hole with a four will not be losing any ground to the field.

4

5

Free Fall

488 yards, par 4 From the high tee, the views of Puget Sound will give players a moment’s pause before they attempt to rifle one between two huge bunker complexes either side of the fairway. A deep, but more conventional-looking bunker protects the front of the green, but big-hitters who take advantage of the downhill tee shot should only have a short-iron second.

6

Deception Point

495 yards, par 4 The terrific sixth bends left to right and rises towards the green. The fairway is mercifully devoid of bunkers, but to set up a straightforward approach that can be brought in low to run up the green, the player must find the left half of the fairway. This hole will likely play into the wind - a strong par 4.

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7

Humpback

508 yards, par 4 If the sixth is tough, wait for the seventh. ‘Humpback’ (there are two hummocks short of the green, and humpback whales have often been seen in the South Sound) bends around a huge area of sand, making it something of a Cape hole where the brave will risk finding sand off the tee in search of a shorter approach.

High Road/Low Road

614 yards, par 5 This monstrous, straightaway, uphill par five was tweaked after the 2010 U.S. Amateur as too many balls missed the green to the right, running 50 yards back down the hill. The green surrounds were flattened and there are no bunkers here. However, the uphill slope, prevailing wind and multi-tiered green will keep the average score around five.

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Olympus

224 yards, par 3 From 100ft above the green, club selection is challenging, especially if the prevailing wind is blowing left to right. A typically large bunker guards the right side of the green, and must be carried from a new, lower tee installed in 2012. The challenge from the two tees is very different; finesse will be needed from the high tee, strength from the lower.

9 10

High Dunes

436 yards, par 4 The back nine starts with an absolute gem; a medium-length par four moving steadily uphill between two enormous dunes, both roughly 200 yards long. Hybrids and long-irons will be favoured on the tee as the fairway narrows the closer you get to the green, which is wedged beautifully between the two converging sand hills.

11

Shadows

537 yards, par 4 A really long par four which may be eased by the prevailing wind.

Carry the rough-covered dune in the centre of the fairway, and players will have a long-to-mid iron approach to a heavily contoured green which banks significantly from right to left. The large, sandy area short and right of the green should only trouble those in the rough off the tee.

13

Eagle Eye

534 yards, par 4 The fairway is the widest on the course, but that really is the only thing keeping the uphill, severely bunkered 13th from being downright evil. A huge sandy waste area defends the right side but anyone sniffing it with their tee shot will leave a much shorter approach. Wherever players drive the ball, par fours will be prized commodities.

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12

Narrows

331 yards, par 4 An exciting short par four, the 12th runs uphill between dunes that stretch the length of the hole. The only straight putt on the wildly-sloping putting surface is a tap-in, which players could conceivably leave themselves after a bold, perfectlystruck draw off the tee. The name refers to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed in a violent storm in 1940.

Cape Fear

546 yards, par 4 Another par four over 500 yards, the 14th is at least downhill. It curves right to left around a massive sandy area which lines the entire left side of the hole, though a conventional bunker, named ‘Bobby’s Bunker’ after Trent Jones, lurks in the middle of the fairway, about 300 yards off the back tee, ready to trap anyone not attempting to carry sand on the left.

15

Lone Fir

123 to 246 yards, par 3 The stunning par-three 15th plays downhill towards the Sound and the only tree within the course’s boundaries, a 50-foot Douglas Fir named ‘Lone Fir’, which is fast becoming the course’s iconic landmark. The green is surrounded by sand, which won’t be a problem when the tee is set at 123 yards, but will take some avoiding from the 246-yard marker.

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14 16

Beached

423 yards, par 4 Another glorious challenge, the 16th runs adjacent to the Sound and railroad tracks. The hole curls from left to right, the fairway sloping from the left towards another long, sandy area that extends down most of the right side. The smallest green on the course narrows to a thumbnail at the back, offering an exciting pin position for the closing stretch.

Tahoma

525 to 604 yards, par 4/5 Tahoma is the Indian name for Mt. Rainier and is a fitting tag for this monumental finishing hole. A 10-foot deep bunker sits in the middle of the fairway, 120 yards short of the extremely undulating green. The USGA’s Mike Davis wanted it there to complicate the second shot when the hole plays as a par five.

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17

Derailed

172 to 218 yards, par 3 The last par three is another memorable one-shotter with railroad, water and plenty more sand, both groomed and unkempt. Two distinct teeing areas demand either a drop shot with a short-ish iron, or level shot with more club. The green is split into clearly defined areas, ensuring plenty of awkward putts. Two-putt pars will work just fine.

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Photgrapher/Agency

Old Tom’s return In the autumn of 1864, Old Tom Morris left his job as Keeper of the Green at Prestwick Golf Club to return to the golf course by which he was born and bred, the Old Course at St Andrews. 150 years later, plus a few months, we followed in the footsteps of golf ’s original professional

Words Robin Bar wick

S

Pictures Leon Harris

pring is being kind, and as we gaze across the links of Prestwick Golf Club there is just the gentlest of prevailing breezes sweeping across the course from the Firth of Clyde. The skies are blue and it is surprisingly warm for April – perfect conditions for a game – but we are not here to play golf, we are here to embark on a journey from one side of Scotland to the other, from Prestwick on the west coast to St Andrews on the east, as Old Tom Morris did himself 150 years ago (plus five or six months or so).

“I tend to warn visitors who don’t know the course,” starts Ken Goodwin, secretary at Prestwick Golf Club, “that when they stand on a tee, if they can see a flag ahead they are probably not facing in the right direction.”

And therein lies the essence of this historic golf course. It is eccentric by modern standards, but when Old Tom Morris came here in 1851 to lay out the course, he set the standard for the design of links courses for generations to come.

“Prestwick was the first course Tom laid out, and his approach to golf course design was to first find a good place for a green,” adds Goodwin.

“Once he had identified that, he would find another good place for a green, and so it went on. If there happened to be a sand dune or a depression on the road to the green then it was up to the golfer to negotiate it, one way or another.”

The golf course at Prestwick, which started as 12 holes in 1851 and was partly re-routed and expanded to 18 holes three decades later, includes a rare treasure of golf design, a blind par three, the ‘Himalayas’.

“Himalayas has a big sand dune between the tee and the green,” explains Goodwin. “You would never be allowed to build that hole today. Modern pros would hate it in a tournament, but when the Open is at Troon or Turnberry we get a lot of them coming here to play the course for fun, and they think it’s great.

Golf in the early days was all about negotiating obstacles like that on our fifth hole.”

As a young club and ball maker of St Andrews, not long married, Morris was so keen to broaden his experience that he

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“I tend to warn visitors…if they can see a flag ahead they are probably not facing in the right direction”

made the bold decision to accept the job of ‘Keeper of the Green’ at Prestwick, a new club all the way on the opposite coastline of Scotland, at “a place in the vicinity of Ayr, called Prestwick,” as one Fife newspaper reported in 1851.

The 110-mile journey from St Andrews to Prestwick, east coast to west, was into the unknown in many ways.

“Morris was well liked at St Andrews and I think he surprised a lot of people when he moved to Prestwick,” starts Andrew Lochhead, a member at Prestwick GC and the club’s archivist. “He didn’t have any previous connection with the town and it was a long journey from home: a day’s travelling incorporating trains and horse and cart. He did it with a young wife and newborn child too – ‘Young’ Tom was only a couple months old. He took a bit of a gamble leaving all his existing friends and customers behind for the unknown quantity of Prestwick.”

Morris’s move would ultimately be vindicated by the inauguration of the Open Championship, in 1860, upon the very links he created with his own hands. The members of Prestwick organised the first Open in the hope of proving that their man, Morris, was the best golfer of his day, but Musselburgh’s Willie Park – the great rival of Morris – refused to fall into line and won the Champion’s Belt for the first time. But that is another story.

“Morris would fix any problems on the course with ‘sand, sand and more sand’” Birthplace of the Open: the third green at Prestwick (top), club secretary Ken Goodwin by Prestwick’s original first tee (left) and the 17th green (below)

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“I think Morris was always destined to return to his hometown at some point” Sign here: Tom Morris’ paperwork from 1855 at Prestwick (left), club archivist Andrew Lochhead (below, left) and club professional David Fleming (below, right)

At Prestwick, Morris was ‘Keeper of the green, club maker and ball maker’, with an annual salary of £36 (although his wages were well supplemented by exhibition and challenge matches, and from selling clubs and balls), and it was this job that established the role of the club professional. Morris was the first.

It was at Prestwick that Morris discovered that laying sand onto greens improved their condition. “Morris would fix any problems on the course with ‘sand, sand and more sand’,” says Goodwin. “That still holds true today. We still top dress our greens with sand.”

“It is amazing how the game has evolved since Old Tom Morris came here and designed the golf course, worked as greenkeeper, professional and club maker,” says David

Fleming, who took up the baton at Prestwick as club professional in 2004 and is only the club’s eighth professional since 1851. “I would love to know how Old Tom managed his time!

He played exhibition matches as well, and I honestly don’t know how he managed it all.

To be such a great course designer, player, greenkeeper and club maker, Old Tom was incredibly gifted. He puts us all to shame today!”

From 1861, Morris won four of the next seven Open Championships, all at Prestwick, and he was such a success in terms of playing, greenkeeping and his other extended duties, that the gentlemen members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club wanted him back in St Andrews. The offer of a £50 annual salary and a return home was too good to refuse.

“I think Morris was always destined to return to his hometown at some point,” adds Lochhead. “I expect he missed St Andrews by the time he returned in 1864. Prestwick Golf Club was grateful to receive the benefits of his services for 14 years.”

“In those days there were two distinct social classes,” adds Goodwin, “and for the gentlemen members of Prestwick Golf Club to hold a farewell dinner to honour Tom Morris before he left; that shows you how highly he was regarded.”

For Morris and his young family, that journey back to the east coast of Scotland would have taken all day, picking up trains from Prestwick to Glasgow, Glasgow to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Granton, and then by train ferry to Bruntisland, and then up to Leuchars Junction and St Andrews. About as complicated as a 110-mile journey could be.

The railways do not run those connections any more – what a pity – so to follow the footsteps of Morris from Prestwick to St Andrews we were kindly lent a brand new S-Class by Mercedes-Benz, patron of the Open Championship. Morris was nothing if not a progressive thinker, and we would like to think he would have approved in the advances in transport made over the last 150 years. He travelled by steam, we went via the sixcylinder diesel engine of the S 350 BlueTEC. The journey that

would have taken Morris from dawn until dusk took us little more than two hours. A bit like comparing one of Morris’s handmade feathery balls to one of today’s four-piece rockets.

So 14 years after Morris left St Andrews, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club lured him back. He was comfortably the best qualified and proven man to run the Old Course and serve the golfers of St Andrews. As detailed in ‘Tom Morris of St Andrews, The Colossus of Golf’ by David Malcolm and Peter Crabtree, The Fifeshire Journal reported Tom’s return thus, on 24 November 1864: “Tom Morris has arrived to enter upon his duties as Conservator of the Links and we doubt not that his return amongst us will add more item to the popularity of the national game.”

They got that right. Morris and his family moved into a house and shop on Golf Place in St Andrews and he officially began his new job on December 19, 1864, although Malcolm and Crabtree write that it was not until the New Year of 1865 that Morris was “presented with the tools of his office – a barrow, spade and shovel”. In 1866, the well established Morris became a property owner for the first time and moved the family to a bigger house, No. 6 Pilmour Links, and his business into a new shop on The Links.

Journey’s end: we arrive at the Old Course (above), where the 18th is named ‘Tom Morris’ (top right). The Morris shop (below), his house on Pilmour Links (right), and the 18th green of the Old Course with The Links beside it (bottom)

The ‘Tom Morris’ shop remains open to this day, overlooking the 18th green of the Old Course, and just up from the MacDonald Rusacks Hotel, which is where our journey from Prestwick came to its end. Like the S-Class, MacDonald Rusacks offers a level of comfort and luxury that Old Tom simply could not have imagined, but also one that he would surely enjoy, given the chance.

Morris’s old shop is now owned by the St Andrews Links Trust and fittingly, it retails the ‘Tom Morris’ clothing brand.

One of the most famous portraits of Old Tom Morris hangs in the Big Room of the R&A Clubhouse, which has the majestic bay windows behind the first tee of the Old Course.

The portrait, by Sir George Reid, shows Morris with long grey beard, bushy brows, weathered cheeks, buttoned up tweed jacket and flat cap.

He looks the model of upstanding tradition and endeavor that he was, but rest assured, Morris was arguably 19th century golf’s greatest innovator. As for the Open, it would not have been the same without him. H

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The 144th Open Championship takes the world’s oldest major to St Andrews, unequivocally the Home of Golf, for the 29th time.

Every hole that makes up the Old Course at St Andrews is knitted with ancient eccentricities and tales of both wonder and woe. Andy Farrell takes us around the oldest golf course in championship golf Photography by DAVID CANNON

Homeward bound

Getty Images

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lmost as soon as he took possession of the Claret Jug last year, Rory McIlroy said how excited he was to defend his title at St Andrews, his favourite course on the Open rota. As the world number one stands on the first tee under the gaze of the R&A clubhouse in July, the roars of approval from the spectacular horseshoe grandstand at Hoylake’s 18th may still be ringing in his ears, so deafening and prolonged were they.

Though there will be improved grandstanding this year, few such adornments are required at the Home of Golf. The natural amphitheatre around the first and 18th holes of the Old Course is the best-known scene in golf, a hallowed site of pilgrimage to all golfers.

Even without the vast crowds of an Open, the ancient setting has a special atmosphere.

A sense of occasion is felt by every pilgrim who tees up on the Old, each knowing they are following in footsteps of the greats, each tingling with a sense of history and anticipation.

It is comforting to know that the professionals still feel it, too. And that winning an Open at St Andrews remains the pinnacle of the game.

Here is something Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods agree upon.

Nicklaus in 1970: “If a golfer is to be remembered, he must win the title at St Andrews. It is my greatest dream come true.”

Woods in 2000: “It may be years before I fully appreciate it but I am inclined to believe that winning The Open at the Home of Golf is the ultimate achievement in the sport.”

Tiger’s feat of not going in a single bunker that year is revered around these parts, and bewildering to anyone who has come to grief in one of those wee beasties. Picking the right line off the tee, and knowing how it subtly changes in the ever-shifting wind, is why it takes so long to master the Old Course. There was nothing subtle about McIlroy’s turnaround in fortunes in 2010. On a calm Thursday he became only the second player to score 63 in The Open at St Andrews, but in Friday’s gale he scattered 80 shots all over the links.

It is not just the conditions above ground that are constantly in flux. Though the most natural, God-given course in the world, man has always been knocking off the rough edges and adapting it for the equipment of the day. So it was for Allan Robertson and Old

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Tom Morris at the dawn of the professional age, and for subsequent keepers of the green.

A myriad of tees have sprouted in unlikely places over the last two decades while course consultant Martin Hawtree, with approval from The R&A and the St Andrews Links Trust, introduced more alterations two years ago, as detailed in the hole-by-hole guide. Some were controversially received, including the first significant bunker changes for almost 70 years. The Old Course is a monument to the way the game was originally conceived but it is a living, breathing, evolving one.

Woods and Nicklaus joined JH Taylor and James Braid as the only double champions at St Andrews since the Championship was extended to 72 holes. Not all the of the game’s greats have managed to win even once but the roll of honour includes Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Peter Thomson and Bobby Locke, as well as Seve Ballesteros, thrilling in 1984, and Nick Faldo, commanding in 1990.

There is nothing quite like the reception a champion at St Andrews receives walking up the 18th fairway. Every vantage point is taken, on the ground and hanging out of the windows of all the grey buildings alongside.

The grandstands are packed, too, this year with seating for 10,000 spectators not just along the first fairway but in enlarged stands behind the 18th and 17th greens.

Louis Oosthuizen, a winner by seven strokes in 2010, could enjoy it to the full, as did Tiger, with wins by eight strokes in 2000 and five in 2005, and Faldo, who also won by five in ’90. “As I crossed the Swilcan Bridge,” Faldo recalled, “I deliberately scratched my spikes in the stone, thinking that I wanted to leave my mark next to the scuffs of all the other past St Andrews champions.”

Thomson, 60 years after his St Andrews win, will play the Champions Challenge prior to this year’s Open, a four-hole event also featuring five-time champion Tom Watson.

Then will come the farewells for Faldo and Watson, as they bow out of The Open as Arnold Palmer did in 1995 and Nicklaus did in 2005, being saluted on the Swilcan Bridge.

“The Open and St Andrews will forever hold a significant place in my heart,” said Sir Nick.

“My fondest moments in this great sport are woven with pictures and emotions in this setting. It all means a huge amount to me.”

2 1

Dyke

452 yards, par 4 Cheape’s bunker on the left must be avoided off the tee, but an approach from beside it is ideal to play over the ridge that cuts into the huge double green. Two bunkers, short and right of the green, previously out of play, have been brought in closer, in one of the most controversial of the new alterations.

Burn

375 yards, par 4 This is the widest fairway in golf but flanked by out of bounds to the right and, for poor Ian Baker-Finch in the 1995 Open, to the far left too. The Swilcan Burn, the only water feature on the course, runs in front of the green and can come into play not only on the approach but also from the drive, and even from slippery chips played from behind the green.

3

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Cartgate (Out)

398 yards, par 4 Flirt with the series of pot bunkers on the right - moved further up the fairway in the latest renovations - and the route to the green opens up. Take the safer line off the tee over the Principal’s Nose on the left and then the approach is over the mighty crescent-shaped Cartgate bunker in front of the green.

4

5

Ginger Beer

480 yards, par 4 Again, left is safer off the tee but the approach is disguised by mounding in front of the green. Whins on the right were cleared prior to the 2010 Open. The large bunker slicing into the green between the fourth and 14th sections is a no-go area, while a bunker close to the right edge replaces two that were previously further away.

Heathery (Out)

Hole O’Cross

570 yards, par 5 The drive at the first of the par-fives must be left of the Seven Sisters, the cluster of bunkers on the right. If laying up, it must be short of the Spectacles bunkers 60 yards short of the green, but approaches will vary in length since the green, shared with the 13th, is 100 yards deep.

High (Out)

371 yards, par 4 A blind dogleg right, over a rise, where the line off the tee is usually the red flag on the 11th green. Shell is the enormous bunker short of the green, before which players in The Open will have to lay up. Tiger Woods drove into it in 2005 but still made a birdie. The green slopes down to the right.

7 8 Short

174 yards, par 3 Out by the Eden Estuary the course now turns back around ‘The Loop’. This tee shot might play anything from a long iron to a nine or even a wedge, depending on the strength and direction of the wind.

Slightly long shots are better than shy, to avoid the two bunkers short of the green.

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6

414 yards, par 4 There is no margin for error off the tee here with bunkers both right and left, the Coffins being the latter and to be avoided, as the name suggests. From the ideal position this is a good birdie chance with no sand around the green, but the undulating surrounds will still test the short game.

9

End

352 yards, par 4 This is a short parfour with a large and flat green which is driveable in some wind conditions, otherwise the tee shot must avoid the two bunkers in the middle of the shared fairway with the 10th, and a new one on the left. Louis Oosthuizen drove the green and holed from 45 feet for eagle to all but ensure victory in 2010.

10

Bobby Jones

386 yards, par 4 Another shorter par-four, in the opposite direction to the ninth, this hole is named after the 1927 champion.

The fairway narrows at around 280 yards with mounding on the left and the Kruger bunkers on the right. The approach must be carefully controlled due to mounding in front of the green and a putting surface that tilts from front to back.

High (In)

174 yards, par 3 This is a dramatic short hole that puts some bite into the Loop. The severely sloping green is protected by the Strath and Hill bunkers, with the slightly flattened back left portion now allowing a new pin position near the latter sand trap.

Known as the shortest par-five in Scotland, Bobby Jones tore up his card after perishing in Hill in the 1921 Open.

13

11

Hole O’Cross (In)

12

Heathery (In)

348 yards, par 4 A final turn back towards the town starts with a seemingly innocuous par-four, but a number of hidden bunkers await in any wind conditions, while many have rued finding the gorse on the left. The green is the shallowest on the course and has some severe slopes so the approach, whether from close or far, must be judged perfectly.

465 yards, par 4 The drive must take on the Coffins in the right-centre of the fairway, while the second must fly over broken ground all the way onto the green. Unlike most of the double greens on the Old Course, this has flags at the front (13th) and back (5th), rather than left and right. A deep bunker on the right of the green is to be avoided.

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Long

14

614 yards, par 5 This is the second and last par-five on the course, with as testing a drive as they come, with out of bounds on the right and the Beardies on the left. No wonder the ideal landing area is called the Elysian Fields. The second shot must avoid the huge trap that is Hell, by going down the left, leaving a short pitch to the tabletop green.

15

Road

17

Cartgate (In)

455 yards, par 4 Sutherland, a nasty pot bunker at 260 yards, must be avoided off the 15th tee with the drive threaded between the humps known as Miss Grainger’s bosoms.

But the main threat is the green itself which appears deceptively close and large.

Distance control is the key here, plus avoiding bunkers at front and back.

Tom Morris

16

Corner of the Dyke

418 yards, par 4 Another classic hole with options. Take on the out of bounds on the right and the approach is more straight forward. Go left of the Principal’s Nose bunkers on the safe line and two bunkers up by the green come into play for the second. Jack Nicklaus described the former option as “strictly for amateurs”.

18

356 yards, par 4 Back to the relative safety of the welcoming first fairway, the line off the 18th tee is the clock on the R&A clubhouse to avoid the out of bounds on the right. But from the left the approach must clear the Valley of Sin, that magnetic hollow in front of the green, to find a pin that is never far from this danger.

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495 yards, par 4 The tee, for the famous blind drive over the sheds and grounds of the Old Course Hotel, was moved back 45 yards over the track on the right prior to the 2010 Open, when it averaged 4.67 for the week. This time the even more infamous Road Hole Bunker - that bites into the front left of the green - has been widened and the surrounds recontoured to feed into it. Simply a brute, which Seve once described as “a great par five”.

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The “best office in the world”

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Peter Dawson has served as chief executive of the R&A since 1999, but this year ’s Open Championship at St Andrews will be his last in office, as a golf-filled retirement beckons. Peter Dixon travelled to St Andrews for an exclusive interview with Dawson in a room with a notable view

F

or the past 16 years, Peter Dawson has occupied the “best office in the world”, a large wood-panelled room in the iconic Royal and Ancient Clubhouse overlooking the first tee and the 18th green of the Old Course at St Andrews.

“Not a bad place to come to work, is it?” the headmasterly Dawson says when asked to reflect on his time as chief executive of the R&A, the body which organises the Open Championship and governs the sport worldwide in conjunction with the United States Golf Association.

On September 25, after overseeing his final Open at the ‘Home of Golf’, Dawson will retire from the position and hand over the reins to Martin Slumbers, his recently appointed successor.

“When we announced the appointment of Martin, I got a text from my son saying, ‘It’s good to see they’ve gone up market’”, he says, laughing.

But by any yardstick Dawson’s tenure, particularly on the commercial front, has been a successful one. If he harbours any doubts, he keeps them hidden. And such is his air of confidence that it is almost surprising to hear him say that he gets tense in the week of the Open. But then again, who wouldn’t? “You’re always nervous,” he says, nodding his head to emphasise the point.

In the build-up to the Open, and in the week of the championship itself, Dawson runs on adrenalin. It has helped him to fend off anything the world, or the media, has thrown at him - from contentious issues such as Muirfield’s men-only membership policy, to the

suspension of play because of high winds at St Andrews - and it has allowed him to stand firm.

At times the media can be bullying, but Dawson is not one to be intimidated.

“The press often confuses the fact that I am the spokesperson and assume I make all the decisions,” he says. “That is not the case. The R&A operates a very powerful board and committee structure and decisions are taken by these bodies, not by me.”

So when he says the R&A tries “to keep away from the cult of personality,” this is not false modesty on his part. He will suffer the slings and arrows that come the organisation’s way primarily because it comes with the territory.

“I don’t want people to think I have left a legacy,” he says when asked what he would like his 16-year term in office to be remembered for. “It’s all about the R&A and what we do. It has been a privilege to be part of it, but we don’t ‘do’ legacy. It’s not an ethos that we encourage here. I have no pretensions about that.”

Leadership qualities His self-assurance is borne of success at an early age. Playing off scratch, he captained the Cambridge University golf team in 1969, while studying for a degree in engineering, and was managing director of Worcester Parsons, a small manufacturing company in Birmingham, by the age of 24.

“The company was part of the McKechnie Group and they took a chance on me,” Dawson recalls. “Boy, you learn a lot pretty quickly. There were about 150 members of staff and in that

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situation you have to grow up fast. The employees were probably right to think I was wet behind the ears.”

In a business career spanning 34 years, Dawson went on to work with Grove Worldwide, an American company that manufactures cranes and earth-moving equipment, and was running the company’s operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He ‘switched’ careers, at 51, to become secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1999. His business acumen has since turned the Open Championship into a huge commercial success; the aim being to plough the money back into the game worldwide.

“I look back fondly on my business career,” he says. “I miss the cut and thrust of dealing with the unions as well as the engineering side, the product development. But while I think of the welding shop from time to time, it’s not very often.”

Among his many traits, Dawson has been variously described as stubborn, guarded, fiercely private, selfdeprecating, bright and witty. He has had to develop a thick skin to deal with the criticism that has come his way over such issues as women’s membership of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the equipment debate, and the remodelling of some parts of the Old Course. And yet he would rather bite his tongue than betray a confidence.

A traditionalist at heart, he also knows that you stand still at your peril.

He may seem old-fashioned - and even plays up to the image - but he spent too long in the business world not to be constantly assessing the big picture. He

accepts change, but all in good time. More haste, less speed.

“In a previous job someone suggested that we were about to introduce Dawson’s ‘QPA4P’ system,” says Dawson, “which I eventually discovered was ‘Quill, Pen, A4 Paper’.”

He laughs at the thought of having a Twitter or Facebook account - “Not for me.

Gosh, no. I can see no upside to that” - but fully understands the power of social media and the internet and the speed at which news is disseminated around the world.

“Things spread so quickly now,” he adds.

“A word to someone in St Andrews - let’s say a local paper puts it online - and suddenly it’s out in California. That never used to be the case. You have to assume you are talking to the world all the time, even though you might think you are talking to someone next door.”

What he most dislikes about the modern world is the constant bombardment of emails.

“You can never hide from them,” he laments.

“It has been a big change in working practice because everyone wants instant replies. Years ago, if you got a letter, you could think about it.

Now if you haven’t replied to an email within five minutes you get another one. People make a lot of mistakes and take hasty decisions that way.”

Born in Aberdeen in 1948, Dawson spent his early years in Edinburgh, where he attended George Heriot’s school and first took up golf, and then moved at the age of 14 to Essex when his father, an executive with the GPO (latterly British Telecom), was relocated. Surprisingly perhaps, considering his lifetime involvement with a game he has come to love, Dawson was not part of a golfing family. That said, his father was a high achiever in the world of sport, and his dedication rubbed off on his son.

“My father was not a golfer, but he was a very good swimmer,” Dawson says. “In fact, he was the British record holder at the 100 yards breaststroke in 1939. And if there had been an Olympics in 1940, he’d have been there. I was force-fed swimming as a child and was quite good at breaststroke. But when we moved to Essex there was no indoor pool anywhere near.

So, having started golf, I stuck with it.”

Dawson joined Thorpe Hall Golf Club, which was the home course of Michael Bonallack, one of the best British amateurs of his, or any, generation. What a coincidence, then, that it was Bonallack, now Sir Michael,

whom Dawson replaced as secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club all those years later.

“We played together when I was a schoolboy, but after that we hardly saw each other until I came back here,” Dawson recalls.

In 1964, both flew the flag for their club at the same time, Bonallack winning the Essex amateur crown, Dawson the Essex boys’ title.

“There could be nothing better than Tiger and Rory down the 72nd hole neck and neck”

Room with a view: Peter Dawson’s office is the room with a balcony, beneath the arched window

“Catching up with my own golf” So, what next for the man who, whether he agrees or not, has been the face of The R&A for the past 16 years?

“I’ll miss it hugely, but I do feel the time is right to go,” he says. “It’s time to hand over to a fresh pair of legs, to take the sack off the back.

I’m going to have a really good try at doing nothing but catching up with my own golf.

“Actually, I’d like to do nothing serious until I get bored with that and then I’ll think about what I’m going to do.”

That said, he is likely to remain busy over the next 12 months in his capacity as president of the International Golf Federation, which is overseeing the game’s reintroduction to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

So, between games of golf at St Andrews (he lives five miles down the road), can he be expected to put quill to parchment and

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write his memoirs? “Certainly not,” he snorts.

“What goes on the road, stays on the road. I’ve interacted with a lot of people (he has played host to Bill Clinton and Clint Eastwood, among others) and those things deserve to remain private.” And as frustrating as that intransigence has been to elements of the press over the years, it remains one of his strongest qualities.

Among his favourite memories is Tiger Woods’s runaway victory in the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2000. “That was my first Open in my new role and it was Tiger’s first Open win,” he recalls. “I’ve loved all the Open venues, but that first one had a lot going for it. I was more on edge than normal.

“It would be nice to see Tiger here again this year. There could be nothing better than seeing Tiger and Rory [McIlroy] coming down the 72nd hole neck and neck.”

And what a send-off that would provide. H

The 2015 PGA Championship, the 97th edition, returns to one of the PGA of America’s contemporar y courses of choice, the sandy giant of the Straits Course at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin.

Dave Shedloski reports on a venue of true beauty, yet fickle nature Photography by PATRICK DRICKEY

Stonehouse Golf

(stonehousegolf.com)

H

aving been given a tour of a barren, flat tract of forlorn property on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan on a bone-chilling February day in 1994, it was impossible to picture the sand-strewn landscape that would become Whistling Straits four years later.

But Pete Dye and Herb Kohler shared a vision for the former army base located near Haven, Wisconsin, and that vision was to radically alter the landscape; scraping, shaping and carving it into a seaside linksstyle layout reminiscent of courses in Scotland and Ireland that the two men so dearly admire.

“I may live to be as old as Methuselah,” Dye said when the course opened in 1998, “and never get another chance to build something like this.”

That’s because the canvas couldn’t have been more pleasingly nondescript yet potentially compelling given its location hard

by Lake Michigan.

Already the owner of Blackwolf Run, a renowned 36-hole Dye-designed complex in the eponymously named town of Kohler, Wisconsin, Herb Kohler - the bathroom

magnate turned golf developer - sought to bring more recreational options to guests of his five-diamond resort, the American Club.

But he envisioned a radical departure from the parkland layouts of Blackwolf Run, and Dye again was the perfect choice, having introduced Scottish-style design touches to American courses starting in 1965 with The Golf Club in New Albany, Ohio.

But this was going to take more than Dye’s usual penchant for earth moving, innovation and idiosyncratic creativity. Truckloads of sand - more than 13,000 of them - were hauled in to help Dye create dunes and pot bunkers and waste areas as well as to bring new shape to the property. Also, while eight holes end up hugging the two miles of coastline on which the course is contained, including all four par threes, Dye wanted to offer golfers views of Lake Michigan from inland holes, so he needed added material to raise those fairways up to eight feet. In the end, 8,000 tons of quarried sand were pushed about a layout that would end up stretching to 7,514 yards and present a visually enthralling yet intimidating examination of golf known as the

Wisconsin sand blast 110

Straits Course. (A second course, The Irish, was added to Whistling Straits in 2000.)

For added touches of old world golf, the course was covered in fescue grasses and some seaside grasses along the dunes. Most of the greens are large and severely contoured.

It is void of any trees. Cart paths also aren’t to be found because it is a walking-only course.

So impressive and so unique was the end product that both the USGA and PGA of America sought to utilize it for their major tournaments. The USGA, which had held the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in 1998, took the U.S. Senior Open to Whistling Straits in 2007. Meanwhile, the PGA locked in a series of events on the Straits Course starting with the 2004 PGA Championship. It also hosted the 2010 PGA, will host this year’s 97th PGA in August and has the 2020 Ryder Cup on the docket as well.

“It’s as drastic as it can be. There’s nothing like this that we’ve ever played or came close to playing,” said Kerry Haigh, the PGA’s managing director of tournaments, who is responsible for setting up the championship course each year. “Anybody who sees the golf

course for the first time is amazed at the look and the feel and the drama that it presents. It’s intimidating, and inspiring.”

When the wind blows, which it often does along the Great Lakes coastline, the par-72 Whistling Straits, with its 1,400 bunkers, is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges in championship golf. It can certainly be one of the most frustrating. But that’s the nature of a Pete Dye golf course. Bold lines and subtle strategy are hallmarks of his designs.

“If the wind doesn’t blow, this course is a lot of fun,” four-time PGA Championship winner Tiger Woods said in 2010. “But if the wind howls, it’s so difficult. It’s hard for us as players to describe how difficult it is because we’ve got to hit all these shots from uneven lies and with a crosswind.”

Each of the previous two PGA Championships at Whistling Straits ended in a playoff as top contenders struggled to get separation. Vijay Singh defeated Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco in 2004; Martin Kaymer, who dominated the 2014 U.S. Open, captured the 2010 title in a duel with eventual two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson.

3

O’Man

1

Outward Bound

408 yards, par 4 A gentle but inspiring start with a short dogleg-left par four featuring Lake Michigan shimmering behind the green.

After a straightforward tee shot, the shortiron approach should favour the centreright portion of the green to avoid deep bunkers to the left and back right.

2

Cross Country

593 yards, par 5 A tee shot down the left side avoids a blind approach and sets up best for reaching the green in two. A pot bunker situated about 35 yards short of the green protects a narrow putting surface flanked by bunkers on the left and a large swale on the right.

181 yards, par 3 A tee shot to the left of the large, bumpy green will tumble into any one of several deep bunkers, or possibly into Lake Michigan.

In the 2007 U.S. Senior Open, the hole played third easiest, with winner Brad Bryant two-under for the week.

111 97

Gremlin’s Ear

355 yards, par 4 This is an easily drivable par four for most of the field, but this hole has plenty of defences to counter the opportunity.

A deep pot bunker guards the front-right portion of a shallow, undulating green.

Bunker and dunes on the left and a steep drop off the back are also trouble areas.

4

Glory

6

493 yards, par 4 This is a difficult driving hole, with mounds down the right and dunes and bunkers to the left, dropping off towards the lake. The elevated green is perched at the edge of the bluffs. The field average was 4.48 strokes here in the 2010 PGA Championship, making this the second most difficult after the 18th.

5

Snake

598 yards, par 5 A sharp dogleg-right, this par five will be tough to reach in two with a long carry over water to a shallow green.

The smart play is to set up a wedge approach to a green protected by a long bunker. This hole played the easiest in the 2010 PGA Championship.

7

Shipwreck

8

On the Rocks

507 yards, par 4 This is one of the most difficult holes on the course, starting with a blind landing area off the tee. A drive that strays right could tumble into dunes, bunkers or even lake Michigan. Dunes on the left and water and bunkers on the right protect a deep green that demands assured distance control.

221 yards, par 3 Cut into a hillside, this picturesque green is framed by a hill layered with bunkers on the left and Lake Michigan hard on the right. Third-round co-leader Nick Watney made triple bogey in the final round in 2010 to fall out of contention.

Down and Dirty

449 yards, par 4 The hole plays downhill to a fairway that tilts to the right. Seven Mile Creek and a series of narrow bunkers lurk to the right of the humpback green while sand dunes and bunkers present troubles on the left.

9

10

Voyageur

361 yards, par 4 This is another potentially drivable par four, although smashing it does not come recommended with some small, deep bunkers guarding the left portion of an elevated green. Nevertheless, Vijay Singh blasted a drive close to the green during his playoff with Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco, setting up a key birdie on his way to victory in the 2004 PGA.

Pop Up

11

Sand Box

618 yards, par 5 Named after the yawning, deep bunker that extends 100 yards from the green, this hole is likely to be a three-shot proposition for most players. Dunes and sand on the right side complicate the tee shot, and any approach short of the elevated green could catch a bunker or roll back down the fairway.

12

143 yards, par 3 The shortest hole at Whistling Straits plays downhill to a large, undulating green where three-putts can be difficult to avoid because of the green’s ridges. Bunkers and dunes trundling towards Lake Michigan await to swallow anything that drifts right. A shot too long also could flirt with watery disaster.

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13

Cliff Hanger

404 yards, par 4 Sand and dunes running the length of the hole on the right of this short par four should be avoided.

The second shot with a short iron plays downhill to a narrow putting surface flanked by bunkers, while a flare to the right will be lost over the steep bluffs into Lake Michigan.

14

Widow’s Watch

373 yards, par 4 The 14th is a short but tricky dogleg left where a conservative play into the right side of the fairway is recommended. Pull it left and a large bunker and dunes will leave a tough blind shot to a green that falls off on the right into deep bunkers.

Pinched Nerve

223 yards, par 3 The toughest par three on the course, the 17th is long with a green falling off steeply on the left towards sand dunes and bunkers.

An elevated sandy dune short of the green makes the target visually smaller. Martin Kaymer’s birdie in the three-hole playoff - the only time he birdied it all week - proved crucial in defeating Bubba Watson in 2010.

15

Grand Strand

518 yards, par 4 A proliferation of sandy areas and sunken dunes make the layout’s longest par four even more intimidating off the tee. A long-iron approach into a large green with a huge apron in front must avoid more dunes on the right and bunkers on the left.

16

Endless Bite

569 yards, par 5 There is no shortage of trouble on this reachable par five. Players first have to navigate a tight fairway between bunkers on the right and a rugged, steep fall-off to the left. The approach must carry more dunes and sand to an elevated green with more punishing deep bunkers on the left.

17 18

Dyeabolical

500 yards, par 4 A split fairway on 18 offers players an option off the tee. The right side is safer, but leaves a long approach into the huge, multi-tiered green of more than 18,000 square feet. Tee shots to the left must carry more than 270 yards over dunes and bunkers but stop short of Seven Mile Creek. Dustin Johnson flared a drive to the right in the 2010 PGA, found a bunker and ended up incurring a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club. It cost him a spot in the playoff won by Kaymer.

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Four To F ol l ow

It

is harder to call the winners of golf tournaments than it is for virtually any other sport. There have been exceptions, such as Tiger Woods at his best and Rory McIlroy during his golden summer of 2014, and you might include Jordan Spieth at the 2015 Masters in that category of predictable golfing champions, so convincing was his form going into Augusta this year. But these are exceptions that prove the rule, as the strength at the top of the world game has never been deeper.

Despite this, we have endeavoured to pick out the players we consider most likely to challenge for major honours this summer, beyond the players already featured in this issue. Here we profile the four players you just can’t count out.

Words Adam Hathaway

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D

ustin Johnson had a well-publicised break from golf in the second half of last year to recover from unspecified personal issues, but is back with a bang in 2015.

While some of the talk after this year’s Masters was on the return to form of Tiger Woods, the comeback of Johnson was no less newsworthy as he finished sixth at Augusta, having only returned to the game in February. Whatever Johnson’s problems were - and there were wildly varying reports, although the player himself hinted it may have been alcohol-related - he is right back in business and ready to land the major championship that really, he should probably have secured already.

Johnson returned to winning ways in March with his second WGC title at Doral, beating J.B. Holmes by a shot. He followed up with his best performance in the Masters, confounding those who had written him off a few months earlier.

He has major form in the book to encourage thoughts he could land a big one, and only celebrated his 30th birthday last year. In 2011 Johnson was lying a shot off the lead heading into the final round of the Open at Royal St George’s before missing out to Darren Clarke’s Sunday master class in the wind. In last year’s U.S. Open he finished fourth as Martin Kaymer turned the tournament into a procession, and Johnson would have been in a playoff with Kaymer and Bubba Watson in the 2010 PGA Championship had he not grounded his club in one of Whistling Straits’ expansive bunkers.

If his personal demons are under control it would be a reckless backer who dismissed Johnson’s chances of joining the game’s elite before the end of 2015.

Dustin Johnson Born: 22 June 1984 Professional wins: 11 Best finish in each major: Masters T6 (2015), U.S. Open T4 (2014), Open T2 (2011), PGA Championship T5 (2010)

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Ian Poulter Born: 10 January 1976 Professional wins: 16 Best finish in each major: Masters T6 (2015), U.S. Open T12 (2006), Open 2nd (2008), PGA Championship T3 (2012)

I

f Ian Poulter could bottle the form he shows in the Ryder Cup and take it to the major championships he would be a multiple winner already. The flamboyant Englishman was the catalyst for Europe’s dramatic come-from-behind win at Medinah in 2012, when he birdied the last five holes in his Saturday afternoon fourball match, partnering Rory McIlroy to a one-hole victory over Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson. That point gave the European team the slightest glimmer of hope for the Sunday singles with the score 10-6 down, and of course Jose Maria Olazabal’s team pulled it off; the greatest comeback on away soil in Ryder Cup history.

Even when the European Ryder Cup team was last defeated, in 2008 at Valhalla, Poulter played as one of captain Nick Faldo’s wildcard picks and delivered four points to the losing cause. His Ryder Cup potency was diminished at Gleneagles though, contributing two halves from three matches.

Poulter’s best showing at a major was his second-place finish behind Padraig Harrington at Royal Birkdale in the 2008 Open, when the Englishman mounted an impressive late charge to take the clubhouse lead, although it only briefly looked as if it could challenge Harrington, enjoying the form of his career at the time. Poulter certainly has the belief to win more than one of the big ones but, at the age of 39, time is running out. He has won two WGC events but a player of Poulter’s ambition will not be satisfied with them alone.

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Bubba Watson Born: 5 November 1978 Professional wins: 9 Best finish in each major: Masters 1st (2012, 2014), U.S. Open T5 (2007), Open T23 (2012), PGA Championship 2nd (2010)

B

ubba Watson was recently voted the player his fellow professionals were least likely to help out in a fight, but the lefthander is more than capable of sticking up for himself on the golf course as he has proved with his two wins in the Masters. The first of those Green Jackets came in 2012 when he beat Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff, manufacturing a miracle, hooked wedgeshot on the 10th to help him nail the title. That win was no fluke either; he had arrived at Augusta with three top-five finishes in his first seven events of the season, but after winning his first major he hardly landed a blow in the other three majors that year.

Watson also failed to threaten in 2013 but was back last season to win his second Masters by three shots from Sweden’s Jonas Blixt and Jordan Spieth.

Two dismal missed cuts followed in the U.S. Open and Open and Watson was down the field in the PGA Championship before getting his act together by winning the HSBC Champions tournament in China after a play-off against South Africa’s Tim Clark in November.

A third place at the WGC-Cadillac at Doral in March teed him up nicely for his tilt at a third Masters win, but a misfiring putter saw him finish in a tie for 38th after failing to break 70 all week. In the aftermath Watson claimed that he just needed to get the flat-stick working and he would be right up there again. One of the longest drivers in the game, the Old Course at St Andrews is forgiving off the tee if you can smash it for miles, so should suit Watson.

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Stephen Gallacher Born: 1 November 1974 Professional wins: 4 Best finish in each major: Masters T34 (2014), U.S. Open Cut (2005, 2011, 2014), Open T15 (2014), PGA Championship T18 (2010)

S

tephen Gallacher is the nephew of former European Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher, and only became a regular player in major championship golf in 2014, the year after his career took a massive leap forward.

Like American Jimmy Walker, Gallacher has produced his best golf relatively late in his prime years, but then so did Mark O’Meara…

Gallacher turned professional in 1995 and won the Dunhill Links Championship in 2004 but that seemed to be a flash in the pan before he turned on the afterburners in 2013. In the early part of that year the Scotsman ended a 201-tournament wait for his second European Tour win when he won the Dubai Desert Classic by three shots and moved into the world’s top 100. In 2014 Gallacher won in Dubai again, becoming the first player to successfully defend that title, and he was picked for the European Ryder Cup team by captain Paul McGinley as a wild card.

Gallacher’s year leading up to Augusta this season was encouraging as he finished third in Dubai - how he must wish a major was staged there - before a yo-yo performance in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral. There, Gallacher opened with an 84, enough for most golfers to throw the towel in, but he hit back with 72, before faltering to a 78 and rounding off with a 69. Gallacher missed the cut at the Masters after rounds of 71 and 76.

Even though he has reached 40 Gallacher can be expected to mount a decent challenge in the Open at St Andrews on home soil, where his links experience will come to the fore. He won the 1995 Lytham Trophy as an amateur.

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Other players who might make a major impression…

Henrik Stenson Sweden Born

5 April 1976

Best major finish

2nd (Open 2013)

Professional wins

17

Nick Faldo once earmarked Henrik Stenson as the next European who would make the transition from tour champion to major champion but it has not yet happened. While Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose have all chalked up wins in Grand Slam tournaments, 39-year-old Stenson has endured a couple of near misses, notably in the 2013 Open at Muirfield, when he was out-gunned by Phil Mickelson’s charge and finished three shots shy in second place.

Stenson snapped a club on the 15th hole at Augusta in the second round of the 2015 Masters as another major opportunity slipped out of his grasp, and he finished the week losing his world ranking of number two to Jordan Spieth. Time is no longer on Stenson’s side.

110

Jim Furyk USA Born

12 May 1970

Best major finish

1st (U.S. Open 2003)

Professional wins

27

Justin Rose England

Jason Day Australia

Adam Scott Australia

Born

Born

Born

30 July 1980

Best major finish

1st (U.S. Open 2013)

Professional wins

18

12 November 1987

16 July 1980

Best major finish 2nd (U.S. Open

Best major finish

1st (Masters 2013)

Professional wins

Professional wins

27

2013) Tied 2nd (Masters 2011) 7

A missed Cut at Augusta was a rare blemish for Jim Furyk, who bounced back the following week by winning the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. The nearest he came to adding a major to his 2003 U.S. Open title, won at Olympia Fields, was in the Open at Royal Liverpool, where a last round 65 got him to within four shots of the winner, Rory McIlroy. Furyk, who has a swing all of his own, entered his 24th year as a professional with high hopes of doubling his major tally.

Justin Rose took his time to bloom after finishing fourth, and low amateur, in the Open in 1998, but is now a contender every time he tees it up. His win in the U.S. Open in 2013 at Merion made him the first Englishman to win the title since Tony Jacklin in 1970. At Augusta in April he was Jordan Spieth’s partner in the last pair and, along with Phil Mickelson, shot 274, 14-under par, the best runner’s-up score in history.

He won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks later.

Jason Day has top-10s in three of the four majors to his credit. Day won his third PGA Tour event in February in the Farmers Insurance Open, winning a four-way playoff against Harris English, Scott Stallings and J.B. Holmes. That pushed Day up to fourth in the world ranking and teed him up for the Masters, but he faded to a tie for 28th. All on-course disappointment is put in perspective with the thought that several of Day’s relatives perished in the Philippines in Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

Adam Scott bounced back from the crushing disappointment of his last round collapse in the 2012 Open at Royal Lytham to win his first major championship at Augusta in 2013.

At Lytham, Scott had been four ahead with four to play but a run of bogeys let Ernie Els in for the Claret Jug. In the Masters he came out of the pack to tie with Angel Cabrera, before winning at the second play-off hole. Scott, world number one for 11 weeks in 2014, was fourth in the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral and tied 38th in the Masters.

Jimmy Walker USA

JB Holmes USA

Sergio Garcia Spain

Patrick Reed USA

Born

Born

26 April 1982

Born

Born

5 August 1990

Best major finish

Tied 14th (Open 2010)

Best major finish

Best major finish

Tied 22nd (Masters 2015)

Professional wins

7

Professional wins

Professional wins

4

16 January 1979

Best major finish

Tied 7th (PGA Championship 2014)

Professional wins

8

Jimmy Walker was rated to open his major account when he pitched up at Augusta, having already beaten Jordan Spieth in a play-off to land the Valero Texas Open a fortnight before the 2015 Masters. However he did not manage a round in the 60s and finished in a tie for 38th. Walker is the classic example of things coming to those who wait. He had played 187 PGA Tour events without a win and then reeled off three victories in eight events at the start of last season. He looks good enough to take the next step.

9 January 1980 2nd (Open 2007, ‘14; PGA 1999, ‘08)

J.B. Holmes headed to Augusta after a spectacular win in the Houston Open. He had started the day six shots behind Jordan Spieth but reeled the leaders in with a 64 to force a playoff, and then bettered the Masters champion-in-waiting and Johnson Wagner. His Masters challenge failed as he missed the cut after rounds of 76 and 71. Holmes has not had the major career he should have done. He has had brain surgery and significant injuries to his elbow and ankle but the win at the Houston shows he is back as a contender.

27

It is 16 years since Sergio Garcia burst to prominence by coming second in the PGA Championship, taking Tiger Woods to the wire at Medinah in 1999. He is yet to win a major though, despite several near misses, notably at the 2007 Open at Carnoustie and the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.

Garcia has the game and the brain to win huge tournaments as he proved with his victory in the 2008 Players Championship. He finished second again in the 2014 Open.

111

A relative novice on the major stage, Patrick Reed had his best finish in a Slam when he was tied for 22nd at Augusta in April. But the 25-year old is not shy of winning as he showed by landing two titles last year and this year’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January. Reed was only the fifth golfer to win three PGA Tour events before his 24th birthday since 1990 and joined some exalted company in Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia. Surely his destiny is to win a major.

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Big Eye

Full Mallet

Paul Lawrie Scotland

Zach Johnson USA

Matt Kuchar USA

Born

Born

Born

1 January 1969

24 February 1976

21 June 1978

Best major finish

1st (Open 1999)

Best major finish

1st (Masters 2007)

Best major finish

Tied 3rd (Masters 2012)

Professional wins

8

Professional wins

27

Professional wins

11

Paul Lawrie’s outstanding achievement was winning the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, when – from 10 shots behind on the first tee – he surged up the final day leaderboard to tie Jean Van de Velde and Justin Leonard, before winning the playoff with a pair of closing birdies.

Unfortunately for Lawrie, his finest day is often better remembered for Van de Velde’s mess of the final hole of regulation, when he triple-bogeyed to let the Claret Jug slip. Scotsman Lawrie loves St Andrews, where he won the 2001 Alfred Dunhill Links.

Zach Johnson is no stranger to competing at the sharp end of major championships and won his first in 2007 when he shot 289, the highest winning score in the Masters, to claim his Green Jacket. Johnson was outside the world top 50 when he won at Augusta but he jumped to 15th and soon followed up his win by taking the AT&T Classic. He was up to 7th by 2014 after winning the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

A solid ninth place at Augusta put Johnson in good shape for the three remaining majors in 2015.

The engaging Matt Kuchar has been there or thereabouts in enough major championships to be counted as a threat despite disappointing at Augusta this time around. At the Masters 12 months before he had been in a share of the lead as the final round got underway, before a disastrous four-putt on the fourth hole derailed his challenge. A former U.S. Amateur winner, Kuchar’s best U.S. Open to date was when he finished four shots behind Graeme McDowell in 2010 at Pebble Beach, in a share of 6th place.

Billy Horschel USA

Brooks Koepka USA

Victor Dubuisson France

Kevin Streelman USA

Born

7 December 1986

Born

Born

Born

Best major finish

Tied 4th (U.S. Open 2013)

Best major finish

Tied 4th (U.S. Open 2013)

Best major finish

Professional wins

3

Professional wins

6

Professional wins

Billy Horschel tasted the sharp end of a major when he was fourth in the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion behind Justin Rose. Horschel had been joint leader after two rounds, with Phil Mickelson, and although he faded with rounds of 72 and 74 it was a fine showing in his first Slam as a professional and hinted that he will be a major player in the future. He emphasised that by winning the 2014 BMW Championship and, a week later, The Tour Championship at East Lake, to secure the FedEx Cup and a $10 million bonus.

3 May 1990

Brooks Koepka is one to keep an eye on for the rest of the season after winning his first PGA Tour event in February, when he landed the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale. Koepka finished in a tie for fourth place in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst last year although he was 10 shots behind runaway winner Martin Kaymer. At Augusta in April he was solid in finishing level par and in a share of 33rd place. That was only his seventh start in a major and he is on the way up.

22 April 1990 Tied 7th (PGA Championship 2014) 2

European Amateur Champion in 2009, Victor Dubuisson had a solid first season as a pro in the majors in 2014 when he finished in the top 30 in all three he contested, with a best of seventh at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. Those finishes helped him onto the 2014 European Ryder Cup team. The Frenchman missed the cut in the Masters after rounds of 74 and 75 but he is capable of much better than that and could emulate his countryman Arnaud Massy, the 1907 Open winner, who is France’s only major champion.

113

4 November 1978

Best major finish

Tied 12th (Masters 2015; PGA Championship 2013)

Professional wins Kevin Streelman has failed to make an impact in the major championships but he has shown in the last two years that he has learned how to win. In 2013, and on his 153rd start on the PGA Tour, Streelman finally got his first victory when he landed the Tampa Bay Championship, and followed that up last season with a win in the Travelers Championship at River Highlands. Streelman finished with a tour record seven birdies in a row for a one-shot triumph over Sergio Garcia and KJ Choi.

3

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Phil Mickelson USA Born

16 June 1967

Best major finish

1st (Masters 2004, 2006, 2010; Open 2013; PGA Championship 2005)

Louis Oosthuizen S. Africa

Bill Haas USA

Born

Born

19 October 1982

51

Best major finish

1st (Open 2010)

Best major finish

It would not be a major without Phil Mickelson in contention; as well as five wins he has finished in the top three in Slams on 17 occasions. The one title missing is the U.S. Open, where the left-hander has had 10 top-10 finishes since 1995, and he will be looking to nail that tournament this year at Chambers Bay and pip Rory McIlroy to the career Grand Slam. Mickelson has an enduring knack rising to major occasions.

After no top-10 results in seven PGA Tour events in 2015, he was back on the leaderboard at the Masters, eventually finishing in a tie for second place, four shots adrift of Spieth.

Professional wins

12

Professional wins

Professional wins

24 May 1982

Tied 12th (Masters 2015; PGA Championship 2011) 7

Louis Oosthuizen spread-eagled the field at St Andrews when he won the Open by seven shots in 2010 and announced himself on the majors stage. Since those four days in Scotland he has had two top-10s in majors with his best effort being second in the Masters in 2012 when the South African lost a playoff to Bubba Watson, but his chances of adding to his Claret Jug cannot be written off. The Open returns to St Andrews this year and a top-20 finish at Augusta in April showed that Oosthuizen is still a contender.

The son of former PGA Tour player Jay, Bill Haas had his biggest payday when he won the FedEx Cup and $10million in 2011, clinching the title with his win at the Tour Championship at East Lake. Haas’s win in the Humana Challenge in January was his sixth on the PGA Tour and included a second round of 63. That week proved Haas was back to his best after a wrist injury disrupted his 2014 season. He carried the form into the Players Championship, finishing tied fourth behind Rickie Fowler.

Tiger Woods USA

Ryan Moore USA

Jamie Donaldson Wales

Paul Casey England

Born

Born

Born

Born

30 December 1975

Best major finish

1st (Masters 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005; U.S. Open 2000, 2002, 2008; Open 1st 2000, 2005, 2006; PGA Championship 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007)

Professional wins

106

It is hard to believe Tiger Woods has not won a major since the U.S. Open in 2008, but the way he played at Augusta in April proves the 14-time major winner could still contend.

Having played just 47 competitive holes this year before the Masters, many thought he would struggle after injury, short game problems and such a lack of action, but Woods finished in a tie for 17th despite injuring his wrist in the final round.

5 December 1982

Best major finish

Tied 12th (Masters 2015; Open 2014)

Professional wins

4

A glittering career in the major championships was predicted for Ryan Moore when he won the U.S. Amateur in 2004, beating Luke List in the final at Winged Foot, but he has yet to make the breakthrough. Moore showed glimpses of form at Augusta, especially with a second round 66, to finish in a tie for 12th in the Masters, which lifted him to 28th in the world rankings. Moore changed most of his clubs at the start of the year and that could be the mental boost he needs to challenge in the season’s last three majors.

19 October 1975

Best major finish

Tied 7th (PGA Championship 2012)

Professional wins

7

Jamie Donaldson did not play a full season of majors until 2013, 13 years after turning professional, and he shot to prominence in 2014 when he claimed the winning point for Europe’s Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles. Donaldson’s wedge shot that helped him beat Keegan Bradley in the final day singles proved he has the head for the big moments.

Gleneagles has since laid a plaque to mark the spot. A former Welsh Amateur champion, he was 14th at Augusta in only his second start there last year.

115

21 July 1977

Best major finish

Tied 3rd (Open 2010)

Professional wins

16

Paul Casey’s return to form is one of the golfing stories of the season so far. Last year the Englishman was down at 100th in the world rankings and missing the Masters, but after finishing sixth at Augusta in April he shot back up to 36th and so should be featuring in the remaining majors this season. A former world number three, Casey is a past winner of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the European Tour’s flagship event, and of the HSBC World Match Play Championship.

Hideki Matsuyama Japan

Kevin Na USA

Charley Hoffman USA

Born

Born

Born

25 February 1992

15 September 1983

Best major finish

5th (Masters 2015)

Best major finish

Professional wins

7

Professional wins

Tied 10th (PGA Championship 2011)

A former world number one-ranked amateur, Hideki Matsuyama is the clear front-runner to be Japan’s first major winner. In his first year on tour he managed top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open and Open and cranked it up in April when he was fifth in the Masters. The 23-year old won his first PGA Tour event last year, beating Kevin Na in a play-off to clinch the Memorial at Muirfield Village, which led Jack Nicklaus to remark that the Japanese youngster was golf’s next big thing. He is certainly in the frame.

5

27 December 1976

Best major finish

Tied 9th (Masters 2015)

Professional wins

5

Kevin Na, who emigrated to the United States when he was eight, was 20th on the PGA Tour money list last season after a string of top-10 finishes, and put in a decent four rounds at Augusta in April to finish in a tie for 12th. The naturalized American posted some consistent performances leading up to the Masters, including a sixth-place at Bay Hill and ninth in the WGCCadillac Championship. He has only played 13 majors but a world ranking in the 20s means he will get chances this season to improve his record.

Another player yet to make a significant impact on the majors, Charley Hoffman showed signs at Augusta that he could cope with the big guns. Hoffman was tied second after two rounds, fourth after three but then faded to ninth after a last round 74. The Californian has been a professional since 2000 but did not win on the PGA Tour until 2007.

His win in November in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba showed his game is moving in the right direction and he may yet find his best form in the majors.

Graeme McDowell N.Ireland

Anirban Lahiri India

Matt Every USA

Russell Henley USA

Born

Born

29 June 1987

Born

4 December 1983

Born

Best major finish

1st (U.S. Open 2010)

Best major finish

Tied 31st (Open 2012)

Best major finish

Tied 28th (U.S. Open 2005)

Best major finish

Tied 16th (U.S. Open 2010)

Professional wins

13

Professional wins

18

Professional wins

Professional wins

5

30 July 1979

Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2010, and was then a rock of the victorious European Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor. McDowell went close in the U.S. Open again in 2012 when he was second to Webb Simpson at Olympic Club, and he played in the final pair of the 2012 Open at Lytham with Adam Scott, but shot 75 to finish in a disappointing share of fifth place.

He was ninth in the Open last year but disappointed at Augusta National this time around.

Anirban Lahiri has won 18 times on the Indian and Asian Tours and any success he manages in major championships would be a massive boost for the game in the subcontinent. He was only the second Indian to make the cut at Augusta when he made his Masters debut in April, but a final round of 18 pars meant he could not move further up than 49th. Lahiri qualified for the Masters by moving into the world’s top-50 after winning the Hero India Open at Delhi Golf Club, and he will make his U.S. Open debut in June.

3

Florida’s Matt Every won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Bay Hill for the second year on the spin when he held off Henrik Stenson by a shot in March, and he went to Augusta in good heart for his second shot at the Masters. However rounds of 73 and 74 meant he was not around at the weekend. Every won the Ben Hogan Award for the best amateur golfer in the United States in 2006, a year after he had finished in a tie for 28th at the U.S. Open.

116

12 April 1989

Russell Henley was low amateur in the 2010 U.S. Open and a year later won on the Nationwide Tour, also as an amateur, when he landed the Stadion Classic. Henley became the first PGA Tour rookie to win on his debut for 12 years with his victory in the 2013 Sony Open. Then Henley was 24-under-par, smashing the tournament record, and a year later he won his second PGA Tour title when he won the Honda Classic, coming out on top in a four-man playoff that included Rory McIlroy.

paul lawrie

christianmacleod.com

Tiger Woods, the dominant player of his age, features heavily in our celebration of the 10 greatest shots in the majors from the first decade of the 21st century. And they are all totally different shots; a magical chip-in at Augusta, a miraculous putt he simply willed into the hole while standing on only one working leg at Torrey Pines, and a holed sixiron at Hoylake. As Andy Farrell writes, the memory of standing behind the 14th green that day, of the almighty roar that went up from the grandstand and the standing ovation Woods received as he marched up to the slope from the fairway, will long endure. Slightly more surprising is the strong showing of Padraig Harrington, but for a year or so he produced golf of the highest class. We are also reminded of how close Lee Westwood came to being a major champion, twice finishing just shy of a play-off, at the 2008 U.S. Open and 2009 Open, and another time thwarted by an outrageous piece of magic from Phil Mickelson at Augusta

A new century strikes

118

2002

Ernie Els Open Championship, Muirfield At the 13th hole in the final round, Els was in an awkward spot in a greenside bunker, but produced a remarkable shot that finished inside a foot from the hole.

The par maintained his lead but he later collapsed and needed a playoff to win, with another fine bunker shot at the 18th - the fifth extra hole - to four feet securing his first Claret Jug. “The one on 13 was more difficult,” he said. “On 18 I had more room to work the ball but the one on 13, I was amazed I got it out there and almost holed it. It reminded me a lot of the Road Hole Bunker at St Andrews and I felt I had a shot at getting it out. I was in the same bunker on the second day and left it in but that was obviously my practice.”

2003

Photos by Phil Sheldon

Shaun Micheel PGA Championship, Oak Hill After a bogey at the 17th hole at Oak Hill, 34-year-old journeyman Shaun Micheel led by one stroke as he attempted to become the seventh player to win a major championship on his first appearance.

Chad Campbell, his nearest rival, put his approach at the last to 18 feet, giving himself a chance of a birdie, but Micheel, from 175 yards from the first cut of rough, launched a seven-iron that never left the flag and finished two inches from the hole. His third and last professional victory was assured. “I was in a pretty good spot, a little bit into the wind and left-to-right, a perfect lie and the absolutely perfect number,” he said. “I knew it was pretty close. I had to ask someone how close. When I saw it was two inches, I figured I could make that one.”

2006

Tiger Woods Open Championship, Hoylake On the baked fairways of Hoylake during the heat wave Open of 2006, Woods’ strategy eschewed his wayward driver and laid back off the tee to keep the ball in play.

It worked because of his supreme iron play all week and notably at the dangerous 14th hole on Friday. His second shot was from 212 yards and his six-iron pitched ten yards short of the flag and ran into the hole for an eagle. A huge roar went up from the gallery surrounding the green. “I had 194 yards to the front of the green and was trying to land the ball on the front edge and let it chase on,” he said. Woods took the lead that night and never relinquished it, claiming a third Open title and first major since the death of his father, with emotional scenes on the 18th green on Sunday.

2005

Tiger Woods Masters, Augusta National Woods won the 2005 Masters in a playoff against Chris DiMarco after bogeying the last two holes. That he had a two-shot cushion with two to play was down to a miracle chip-in at the short 16th hole. Over the green and facing a 30-foot shot with 20 feet of break, Woods was merely trying to “throw the ball up on the slope, have it feed down there, hopefully get a makeable putt.” As the ball swung inexorably towards the hole, it stopped momentarily on the lip - the Nike logo visible as if this were the perfect commercial - and then toppled into the hole. “It’s one of the best shots I’ve ever hit because of the turning point involved,” Woods said. “If Chris makes his putt and I make bogey, I’m one back.” Famously, U.S. television commentator Verne Lundqvist exclaimed: “In your LIFE, have you ever seen anything like that?”

120

2007

Photos (clockwise from top-left) by Harry How, Stuart Franklin, Doug Pensinger and John D McHugh

Padraig Harrington Open Championship, Carnoustie On the final hole of the final round at Carnoustie, Harrington was “doing a Van de Velde”. The Frenchman had taken a seven on the 72nd hole in 1999 and after going in the water twice, and Harrington was just short of the Barry Burn in four. He then played a 47-yard pitch to five feet - the sort of shot he practices every day to his chipping green at home - and holed the putt to get into a play-off with Sergio Garcia. “It was a lovely pitch but to hole the putt was a great boost. I didn’t want to make a seven. It crossed my mind that Jean had made a seven to lose the Open and I was slipping down that slippery slope.” Unlike Van de Velde, Harrington won in extra time. “I took comfort from getting up and down and was really happy with the way I handled myself.”

U.S. Open, Torrey Pines With a snapped anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and a fractured left tibia, Woods was barely able to walk, let alone play 91 holes to win his 14th major. The pain got worse each day but somehow Woods got to the 72nd hole, the par-five 18th at Torrey Pines, with a 12-foot birdie-putt to tie Rocco Mediate. He seemed to hole it on willpower alone. “It was about two and a half balls outside the right and the green wasn’t very smooth but I made a pure stroke, hit it exactly where I wanted it, and it went in.” Woods said it was similar to the putt he made at Valhalla in the 2000 PGA Championship to make a play-off. “If I don’t make it, I don’t get to keep playing.” Woods won at the 19th hole the next day. “This is the greatest tournament I’ve ever had,” he said.

Tiger Woods 2008

121

Open Championship, Royal Birkdale Two clear of the clubhouse leader and three in front of his playing partner, the veteran Greg Norman, Harrington had 249 yards for his second shot at the par-five 17th hole.

From a hanging lie, he hit a five-wood that set off low, rose slowly, drifted from left-toright on the wind, found the green, ran up the ridge onto the top tier and curled off the shoulder of a bunker to three feet. The eagle made a successful defence of the claret jug a certainty and Harrington was able to enjoy a triumphant stroll up the 18th fairway. Such was the quality of the strike with the five-wood that Harrington’s caddie, Ronan Flood, did something he does not usually do with the ball still in the air - he said: “Good shot”. Harrington said: “That’s the first time I’ve heard him say that before the ball has finished.”

Padraig Harrington 2008

Lee Westwood 2009 Open Championship, Turnberry Amid the anguish of 59-year-old Tom Watson just failing to become the oldest ever major champion, Lee Westwood also had a chance to win. His drive at the last was sucked into one of the bunkers that guards the inside of the dogleg on the right-to-left hole and with Watson birdieing the 17th to lead by one, his hopes appeared stymied by the steeped walled hazard. Somehow his nine-iron shot not only escaped the bunker but found the green. He had a 45-footer for birdie and seeing Watson on the 18th fairway, he thought he needed to hole it.

Inevitably he ran it six feet past and threeputted. When Watson also bogeyed, it meant Westwood had missed out on the play-off by one. “Gone from frustration to sickness now,” he said. “I hit a great shot out of the trap but didn’t finish it off.”

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PGA Championship, Hazeltine For the first time ever, Tiger Woods lost a major when he had been leading with a round to play. As he scattered shots around the course, Yang first made up the two-shot deficit and then came to the last one ahead.

While Woods missed the green from the middle of the fairway, Yang was in the first cut of rough on the left, his view of the green partially obstructed by trees. From 210 yards, his hybrid shot soared into the air and landed softly, 12 feet from the hole. While Woods bogeyed, Yang made the putt for a threestroke victory. He celebrated becoming the first Korean man to win a major by lifting his golf bag over his head. “This is such a big thing that is happening to me right now,” he said. “Tiger’s good but he could always have a bad day.”

2009

Y.E. Yang

Phil Mickelson Photos (clockwise from top-left) by Leon Harris, David Cannon, David Cannon and Stuart Franklin

2010 Masters, Augusta National Leading by two strokes, the obvious thing to do after driving into the trees on the right of the 13th fairway was to chip out. Mickelson had other ideas and produced a shot described as “foolhardy, reckless, brazen, unnecessary, driven, brilliant and glorious”.

That’s Phil. Off the treacherous pine needles, he had to thread his shot between two trees and make the 207-yard carry over the tributary of Rae’s Creek in front of the green.

Against the urgings of his caddie, and everyone else, Lefty got out a six-iron and hit the shot to four feet, converting for eagle.

Typically, Mickelson explained: “I was going to have to go through that gap if I laid up or went for the green. I needed to trust my swing and hit a shot.” He went on to win by three strokes from Lee Westwood for a third green jacket.

23

Photgrapher/Agency

The life of Lauren

David Lauren, son of fashion icon Ralph Lauren, gives Majors an exclusive interview as the Ralph Lauren company looks forward to its close involvement in the remaining majors of 2015. Lauren speaks to Karen Kay

“My father always looked to golf as one of the truly iconic sports,” says David Lauren, 43, of patriarch Ralph, Chairman and Chief Executive of the eponymous business he founded in 1967. “He recognised that golf has history, elegance and refinement, all of which are notions he embraces in the Ralph Lauren philosophy, so alongside equestrianism, it was one of the first sports he embraced in a really big way as inspiration within his collections.”

When Ralph Lauren – born Ralph Lifshitz in the USA to Belarusian immigrants – changed his name and began selling ties under the Polo label, it was a sign that the sporting world was at the foundation of his vision for a brand.

“That European elegance that is conjured when you think of Polo, both on and off the field, is what is at the heart of the Ralph Lauren lifestyle,” explains Lauren Jnr, Executive Vice President, Advertising, Marketing & Corporate Communications of the now multi-million dollar lifestyle empire. “It’s not about replicating a look, but about capturing the mood of the athletes’ and the spectators’ style. That philosophy still defines the company today: lacing in the traditions of a pastime, extracting some of the signature details and putting it together with modernity that’s relevant for today’s customer.

“We create clothes that we love, that are personal, with our interpretation of good taste, refinement and timeless quality that gets better with age. We want our clothes not only to stand the test of time, but to stand out in time.”

From the Savile Row-inspired tailoring of the brand’s Purple Label, which defines a certain calibre of worker on Wall Street, to the polished preppy style that translates comfortably from the mountains of Colorado to the clapboard houses of Connecticut, Ralph Lauren’s aesthetic prevails across the globe, with millions buying into his distinctive style. And, with his aspirational vision of a life in the great outdoors, golf was a natural pastime for the lifestyle he promoted. First, there were nods to fairway fashion in his mainline collections, then it became apparent that Ralph Lauren’s customers were seeking to take their everyday sartorial style from the clubhouse to the tee.

Trend setter: Ralph Lauren in the 1970s (left) and the athletic RLX label (above)

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Ahead of the game “My father got into the golf business about thirty years ago, long before it was fashionable,” says Lauren Jnr. strolling through the streets of Manhattan, near the Ralph Lauren Corporation headquarters, on a sunny spring morning. “He created clothing inspired by the great players he admired, then went on to create dedicated golf collections. When we do that, we have to address the technical needs of participating in a sport, so the garments not only have to look and feel great, and create an identity for the athlete, but they have to deliver from a performance perspective, too.”

So it made sense to go to the top of the game, and collaborate with icons of the fairways to deliver collections that met all those criteria. Tom Watson was the first professional tour player to form a relationship with Ralph Lauren, back in 1993, creating one of the longeststanding partnerships in sport.

“Tom Watson has been with us forever: he lives and breathes what he does – he loves the game of golf and is iconic in the sport because of his true passion for the game.

Over the past four decades he has helped shape the game into what it is today. Tom has been a natural fit for us: we respected him and he had an elegance and was iconic – even 30

“We want our clothes not only to stand the test of time, but to stand out in time”

Slim fitting: the athletic styling of Ralph Lauren’s RLX collection

years ago we recognised that in him. It was a perfect match.

“Watson famously states that he gets into the shower in his clothes for 45 minutes, to recreate the rainy environment he has to play in at the Open, to test the ultimate functional gear,” laughs Lauren, clearly imagining the spectacle of one of the world’s most revered and much-loved sporting icons standing fullyclothed in the shower. “Taking our style and their know-how as to what they need on the field helps push us into new technical gear that really delivers. Twenty years ago, we brought in the high-tech RLX, using the most cutting-edge technologies and patterns, and the athletes were the first to really embrace it – and today we work very closely with the likes of Luke Donald, Tom Watson and Billy Horschel to continue to take that range to new levels.”

“The RLX Golf brand has a more European

and sporty style,” explains former world number one Luke Donald, who was the first tour player to sign up to wear the range. “I am just fortunate that they think I’m the right guy for RLX. I love the brand and all my competitors are jealous that I get to wear it.

It makes me look good and when you look good, you play good.”

In 2015, Polo Ralph Lauren will have a presence at all the Majors, dressing Tom Watson, Davis Love III, Jonathan Byrd, Justin Thomas, as well as RLX Golf Ambassadors Luke Donald, Matteo Manassero and Billy Horschel. The brand also serves as an Official Outfitter of the United States Golf Association and the U.S. Open Championship, and as Official Outfitter of the PGA of America, PGA Championship and U.S. Ryder Cup Team.

In St Andrews this July, the brand

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“We work closely with the likes of Luke Donald, Tom Watson and Billy Horschel”

Bound for St Andrews: Ralph Lauren ambassador Tom Watson (above, left), and items from Ralph Lauren’s 2015 Open collection (above, right)

“Golf and history are so intertwined.

We are always delving into the history of the game for inspiration”

continues its partnership with the R&A as Patron and Official Outfitter of The 2015 Open Championship, outfitting all R&A officials at The Open, including club marshals, in a selection of Polo Golf apparel for men and women, and RLX Golf for men. Ralph Lauren has also created a dedicated Polo Golf men’s collection celebrating the St Andrews 2015 Open, which will be sold in the merchandise pavilion.

“The collection has a wonderful story, inspired by the argyles, tweeds and plaids that are so intrinsic to Scotland as the home of golf,” explains David Lauren. “The colours are inspired by the palette of the Scottish landscape and that brings an authenticity that we, as a brand, love and that golfers love. All that iconography is so steeped in history and a timeless style. What we are responding to is not just the clothes but what it meant in its day and to which it continues to resonate now.

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Golf and history are so intertwined. We are always delving into the history of the game for inspiration. There is a certain craving for what the game started as, and bringing that to current day – reflecting a spirit that is in the game. A love of the game that every new athlete comes with – what it means and what it has meant for 100 years.”

“Polo Golf represents excellence in the world of golf apparel,” summarises eighttime major winner Tom Watson, playing this year in his fortieth and probably final Open Championship. “Functional yet classic, Polo Golf meets every need of the modern player while staying true to the rich design tradition of Ralph Lauren. One of the wonderful things about Ralph Lauren is the feel it has for how fashion comes and goes and for the history of clothing, reintroducing classic pieces for modern times.” H

The annals of calamity W

Arnold Palmer’s Guide to the Majors is accustomed to celebrating golfing feats that inspire and enthrall, but beneath ever y radiant blossom lies a shrivelled bud.

Clive Agran, never the radiant blossom, sheds some light on the majors’ most horribly played holes

hereas pars are very welcome occasional visitors, bogeys are altogether more reliable and consequently I have come to regard them as my friends. Through familiarity I have learnt to embrace them as one would a dependable pal who is practically always there for you. Walking off the green of a tricky par four and marking down another creditable five gives me such huge satisfaction that it often prompts an involuntary smile. “Job done,” I say to myself and secretly pray for a solid six at the following par five.

Tour pros, strange creatures that they are, have an altogether different attitude and are rather contemptuous of my friend bogey. They don’t smile, they frown whenever he comes calling. And whereas fives are my staple diet, the pros really don’t like them at all, not even on par fives because these are holes they feel they should birdie. Twos, threes and fours adorn their scorecard where fives, sixes and sevens are liberally scrawled on mine.

Perhaps the only area of the game where I could honestly claim to have an edge over the game’s greatest exponents is the stoical manner with which I cope with adversity.

Double and triple bogeys, sevens and eights, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

bounce off me like a thinned wedge off the clubhouse terrace. Pros, on the other hand, look thoroughly perplexed whenever the numbers edge inexorably upwards. Practice is so important in golf and clearly these guys have insufficient experience of disaster.

There have been a number of notable occasions when a pro has encountered the sort of horror most of us are inured to. What augments the agony is when it occurs during a major championship, thereby shattering dreams as it ruins the scorecard.

Golfing hell on Golden Bell A couple of years before he had that epic battle with Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, Rocco Mediate was in with a real chance of grabbing a Green Jacket at Augusta. The 43-year-old from Pennsylvania had a share of the lead going into the back nine on Sunday afternoon in 2006 but, as we all know, this is where the Masters really begins or, in Mediate’s case, where it ended.

To be precise, it was right in the heart of Amen Corner on the famous par-three 12th - Golden Bell - that his dreams were drowned.

Despite suffering a sore back and dropping a shot on the previous hole, Mediate was managing his round rather well when

Practice is so important in golf and clearly these guys have insufficient experience of disaster

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Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto

Blushing beauty: Tom Weiskopf considers his weekend plans after carding 13 on Augusta’s par-three 12th

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he stepped onto the 12th tee. However, his tee-shot landed on the bank just shy of the green and rolled agonizingly back into Rae’s Creek. Having taken a drop, Mediate promptly shunted his second ball into the water, swiftly followed by a third. By the time he had found dry land, a shaken Mediate was lying seven and on his way to a nerve-shredding 10.

Understandably, his round fell apart and from a share of the lead on 10 he plunged down the leaderboard and shot a career-high 80 to finish in a miserable tie for 36th.

It will have been of precious little comfort to Mediate to know that his 10 did not qualify as the worst score ever recorded at the US Masters on the 12th. That dubious honour was, and still is, held by Tom Weiskopf who ran-up an ugly 13 in 1980. A four-time runnerup in the event, he took a seven-iron off the tee in his opening round in 1980. The ball spun back into Rae’s Creek. From the drop zone, he demonstrated extraordinary consistency when splashing four more into the water.

He eventually reached the green, somehow managed to recover his composure and twoputted for a 13.

Weiskopf demonstrated extraordinary consistency when splashing four more into the water Had he three-putted, Weiskopf would have been able to claim the Masters’ record high score outright but, as it is, he had to settle for a share of that honour with Tsuneyuki ‘Tommy’ Nakajima, who amassed his 13 at the 13th in 1978. But that was only a mere eight over par while Weiskopf’s 13 was 10 over, so the American pips Nakajima on a sort of ‘count back’. (By the way, we discount Billy Casper’s 14 at the par-three 16th hole at Augusta in 2005 simply because, at 73, he was not a serious competitor. By way of consolation, we could give him the record for the most balls dumped in the water - five - on any one hole.)

Sands of time: ‘Tommy’ Nakajima (above) buries his Open chances in the Road Hole bunker, while Jean Van de Velde (below) emerges from Carnoustie’s Barry Burn

Wreckage on the Road Hole 1978 was evidently an auspicious year for Nakajima. He reinforced his reputation for major disasters a few months after Augusta when putting off the green and into the notorious Road Hole bunker protecting the 17th on the Old Course at St Andrews, in the third round of the Open. He took a while to emerge. In a tie for the lead at four under par when he drove over the corner of the Old Course Hotel, a nine effectively buried his chances. Since then, the bunker is frequently referred to as the ‘Sands of Nakajima’.

To relinquish a share of the lead towards the end of the third round is one thing, to blow a three-shot lead on the very last hole of a major is something altogether more regrettable. And so, even though it was a comparatively modest triple-bogey seven, Jean Van de Velde’s disastrous 72nd hole at Carnoustie in the 1999 Open deserves a place in the annals of calamity.

It all began to go pear-shaped when an unfortunate ricochet off a grandstand sent the Frenchman’s second into thick rough. Whether it was heroic, foolhardy or just plain daft, Van de Velde tried to carry the Barry Burn with his third. And failed. Thankfully he eventually decided against trying to hit his ball out of the water and took a drop, before knocking it into a greenside bunker from where he bravely got up and down. However, he lost the play-off to Paul Lawrie, who was 10 shots off the pace going into the final round and never led the championship during regulation play.

But who holds the unenviable record of having the very worst score on a hole in a major? Let’s spread the glory around a little

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by instituting two awards, one on either side of the Atlantic.

The U.S. award goes to Ray Ainsley for his efforts on the final hole at Cherry Hills during the second round of the 1938 U.S. Open. His approach to the par-four hole fell short and landed in a creek. Rather than take a drop, the hapless Ainsley bravely attempted to play his ball but failed multiple times before eventually holing a gutsy putt for 19.

Appropriately, the oldest major of them all can claim the highest score of all time. It was at the very first Open at Prestwick in 1860 that one unfortunate competitor had what we can reasonably assume was a fairly horrible 21. Possibly through kindness, the organisers failed to record his name. A pity really as one suspects many would be willing to subscribe to a fund to build a statue to a man who is the original, genuine hackers’ hero. H

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Sweet ‘16 Three of golf ’s most challenging layouts will play host to major championships inside seven weeks in 2016. The U.S. Open will be staged at Oakmont Countr y Club in Pittsburgh for a record ninth time while the Open takes place over the Old Course at Royal Troon on the west coast of Scotland, also for the ninth time. Less than a fortnight later, the Lower Course at Baltusrol in New Jersey will be honoured with the centenar y PGA Championship. Paul Trow charts the histor y and highlights of this trio of venerable venues Photography by Stonehouse Golf

(stonehousegolf.com)

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The pride of Pittsburgh

When asked by an average golfer how he might post a good score at Oakmont Country Club, Arnold Palmer replied: “Well, I suggest you start by playing some place else.”

The King, who grew up an hour’s drive from this monumental test of golf in suburban Pittsburgh, knew what he was talking about.

Twice the sentimental favourite to land the U.S. Open in his own back yard, Palmer twice came up agonizingly short.

Yet it had all started so promisingly. “I was just a kid when I beat Jack Benson there to win the Western Pennsylvania Amateur,” he recalls. “Oakmont is so full of tradition, from the locker room to the men standing and laughing in the wooden-floored bar room.

The course is always in excellent condition. It resonates with all that’s great about golf. At 18, it was such a thrill to win there.”

Dan Murphy

Top of the pile: Oakmont Country Club is preparing to host the U.S. Open for a record ninth time

But the thrills turned to spills once that kid from Latrobe Country Club had matured into a man, the man to generations of golf fans.

In retrospect, it was at Oakmont where a symbolic changing of the guard took place when 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus defied a fiercely partisan ‘Steel City’ crowd to win the 1962 U.S. Open. After losing the playoff to the Golden Bear, Palmer ruefully reflected: “I used to putt those greens pretty well when I was younger, but Nicklaus beat me on the greens by 17 shots… 17!”

At the 1973 U.S. Open, Palmer, seeking a last Major hurrah, stood on the 12th green as the final-round leader following an overnight rainstorm, only to be eclipsed by Johnny Miller’s stellar, pin-seeking 63 - arguably the greatest round of the 20th century.

The postscript to the old warrior’s bittersweet relationship with Oakmont came in 1994 when he laid down his U.S. Open sword

for the final time with tears flecking his cheeks.

Indeed, tears tend to be the main water hazard at Oakmont, the only golf-design project ever undertaken by its founder Henry Clay Fownes. With a crew of 150 men, Fownes converted a plot of disused farmland into a links-style course that opened in 1904.

Oakmont has since hosted eight U.S. Opens (the first, in 1927, won by Tommy Armour), three PGA Championships, two U.S. Women’s Opens and five U.S. Amateur Championships; a tally of blue-ribbon events that comfortably outranks any other club.

Straddling the Allegheny River valley as well as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which separates holes two to eight from the rest of the layout, it has almost no trees, a leniency balanced by 210 sand traps - many perilously deep - narrow fairways and lightning-fast, undulating greens.

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Had it not been for Oakmont’s greens, the word “stimpmetre” would never have entered golf’s lexicon. It was here at the 1935 U.S. Open that the only man to display the requisite touch, Sam Parks, Jr., a professional at nearby South Hills Country Club, was duly rewarded with a two-stroke victory. As a result, respected amateur Edward Stimpson created a device to measure the speed of greens that golfers could use before future championships. Voilà, the stimpmetre!

Many rounds have also come to grief in Oakmont’s most famous hazard, the 100-yardlong Church Pews bunker - distinct in being traversed by 12 grassy ridges - that divides the third and fourth fairways.

After just four rounds below 72 across the 1927 and 1935 U.S. Opens, there were 20 in 1953 when Ben Hogan won by

Short and sweet: Royal Troon’s eighth hole, the ‘Postage Stamp’, is the shortest hole on the Open rota

six shots. The most recent Oakmont champions - Larry Nelson (1983), Ernie Els (1994) and Angel Cabrera (2007) - had a rougher ride with the modern-day par of 70 for more than 7,250 yards representing a curmudgeonly benchmark.

Darin Bevard, the USGA’s director of championship agronomy, said: “We loved how Oakmont played for the 2007 U.S. Open. No significant changes are planned apart from eliminating the rough-height grass between the fairways and bunkers to allow balls to enter the bunkers instead of getting caught in the rough.”

The words ‘devil’ and ‘deep blue sea’ spring readily to mind.

Where Palmer ruled Arnold Palmer has distinctly fond memories of the Old Course at Royal Troon Golf Club, the scene of one of his greatest triumphs.

It was here on the Ayrshire coast in the summer of 1962 that he lifted the Claret Jug for the second consecutive year, by a margin of six shots from the late Kel Nagle.

Known then as plain Troon (the club didn’t receive its royal charter until 1978), its fairways and greens had been baked by an unusually hot summer. However, this didn’t prevent Palmer from giving a dazzling exhibition of long, straight hitting and, following a tip from wife Winnie at the halfway stage, deadly putting.

During his final round, the giant dunes, dense bushes and tangled whin grasses that menace Troon’s fairways were a minor concern compared to the intrusions of an unruly, 15,000-strong gallery. Throughout the back nine, Palmer was engulfed on every hole and it took a phalanx of policemen to usher him onto the 18th green. When he finally made it, he staggered and stumbled in mock exhaustion.

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Afterwards he said: “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced crowds like this one today. We had to wrestle with them the whole way.”

Inevitably, the Glaswegian division of Arnie’s Army forced the R&A into a radical rethink about security at the Open and ever since fairways have been roped off and course boundaries fenced.

Palmer’s winning total of 276 was an Open record, not matched until fellow American Tom Weiskopf won over the same course 11 years later, and not beaten until Tom Watson pipped Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 ‘duel in the sun’ at Turnberry, just down the road from Troon.

Weiskopf’s sole Major title, claimed by three shots from Johnny Miller and Neil Coles, was followed by four successive U.S. victories at Royal Troon; by Watson (1982), courtesy of Nick Price’s late collapse; Mark Calcavecchia (1989), following a playoff with Australians Greg Norman and Wayne Grady; Justin

Patrick Drickey

Leonard (1997), with a closing 65; and Todd Hamilton (2004), after a playoff with Ernie Els. The decision to form a golf club in Troon was made in 1878 at a meeting in the town’s Portland Arms Hotel. The following year the first six holes were designed by Charles Walker, the professional at nearby Prestwick Golf Club, scene of the first 12 Open Championships. By 1888 the links had been extended to 18 holes in the classic, out-and-back style of the Old Course at St Andrews by Troon’s first two club professionals, George Strath and Willie Fernie, the 1883 Open winner.

Royal Troon has recently been in the limelight as one of two Open Championship clubs without female members, even though Troon’s Ladies Golf Club has enjoyed unfettered use of the Old Course since 1882 and the 18-hole Portland Course from its advent in 1895. It seems likely that Royal Troon will head off any controversy by admitting

women members before the Open returns in July 2016, having announced at the beginning of this year a review of its membership policy.

Indeed, the other remaining all-male Open club, Muirfield, has also announced a review, so by the time the Open arrives at Troon, allmale clubs hosting the Open are likely to be consigned to history.

As it happens, the first significant golf event to be held at Troon was the British Ladies’ Amateur Championship in 1904. It took another 19 years before the Open made its entrance, when the winner was English club professional Arthur Havers. The British Ladies’ Amateur returned in 1925 and the [British] Amateur Championship (won by Augusta National stalwart Charles Yates) was staged there for the first time in 1938. But the Open did not make its second appearance at Troon until 1950, when Bobby Locke beat Roberto de Vicenzo by two shots.

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Famously, Royal Troon is home to the longest and shortest holes on the Open roster; the 123-yard Postage Stamp eighth, scene of 71-year-old Gene Sarazen’s famous hole-inone during the 1973 Open, and the 601-yard, par-five sixth.

The R&A is unwilling at this stage to divulge its plans for the par-71 course’s set-up next year, but it seems certain to exceed 7,200 yards for the first time.

American classic Named for Baltus Roll (1769–1831), who farmed 500 acres in Springfield Township, New Jersey, 20 miles west of New York City, Baltusrol is one of America’s oldest golf clubs.

Louis Keller, publisher of the New York Social Register, purchased the site in the late 19th century and built nine rudimentary holes that were expanded into a full 18, the Old Course, in 1895. Willie Anderson (1903)

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Green Glory features stunning pictures and paintings from renowned photographer Patrick Drickey and esteemed landscape and course artist Linda Hartough.

Stonehouse’s photographs are always popular with readers of Arnold Palmer’s Kingdom Magazine and many of the upcoming Major courses— Chambers Bay, the Old Course at St Andrews, Whistling Straits and Oakmont— feature prominently.

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Aging gracefully: the par-three fourth on the Lower Course at Baltusrol, which opened for play in 1922

and Jerome Travers (1915) were the first two U.S. Open champions at Baltusrol while the 1904 U.S. Amateur was won there by Henry Chandler Egan.

Immediately after World War I, Keller commissioned A.W. Tillinghast - whose anthology includes Winged Foot, Oakland Hills and Bethpage Park - to scheme a second full-length layout. But Tillinghast, obviously unimpressed with the original design, insisted the Old be ploughed over and instead created two new courses, the Lower and Upper, which both opened for play in 1922.

Tillinghast designed these contrasting layouts as “Dual Courses” which were to be “equally sought after as a matter of preference.”

The Lower is spread across rolling parkland while the Upper runs along a ridge known locally as Baltusrol Mountain.

The first national championship held on the Lower was the 1926 U.S. Amateur, with

George Von Elm beating Bobby Jones in a close final, while the Upper waited a further decade before staging a Major, the 1936 U.S. Open, won, improbably, by the unheralded Tony Manero.

From that point onwards, the Lower became the preferred tournament layout and out of the nine championships held at Baltusrol since, the Upper has hosted just two, the 1985 U.S. Women’s Open, won by Kathy Baker, and the 2000 U.S. Amateur, won

by Jeff Quinney.

Following the 1946 U.S. Amateur, Robert Trent Jones, Sr. was retained by the club to update and lengthen the Lower, an exercise the USGA asked his son, Rees Jones, to repeat prior to the 1993 U.S. Open, when Lee Janzen prevailed after a Herculean tussle with Payne Stewart.

Three other U.S. Opens have been staged over the Lower; the first to be

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nationally televised in 1954, when seasoned professional Ed Furgol held off rookie Gene Littler by a solitary stroke; in 1967, when Nicklaus outpaced runner-up Palmer by four shots; and in 1980, when Nicklaus’s margin of victory over Japan’s Isao Aoki was two. Completing the set, Mickey Wright romped to a six-shot victory over Betsy Rawls there in the 1961 U.S. Women’s Open. More recently, it staged the PGA Championship for the first time in 2005, when the winner at the end of a storm-affected week was Phil Mickelson.

Next year, the Lower will host the centenary staging of the PGA of America’s flagship event, though occupying a new slot on the calendar, two weeks earlier than normal due to the imminence of the golf tournament at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

From the black tees, the Lower measures 7,400 yards but is likely to be a par-70 for the

Patrick Drickey

2016 PGA Championship with the first and seventh, normally par-fives for the members, being played as long par-fours.

The three signature holes are, perhaps, the fourth, a par-three of just under 200 yards, where the tee shot must clear a pond to catch a two-tiered green; the 647-yard, par-five 17th which only John Daly (in 1993) has ever reached in two (although Tiger Woods actually hit his second shot over the green in 2005); and the 18th, a challenging right-to-left dogleg par-five of 553 yards.

The closing hole has justly earned fame for showcasing spectacular major finishes by Nicklaus, whose one-iron into the green in 1967 is commemorated by a fairway plaque, and Mickelson, who lifted the Wanamaker Trophy for the first and, to date, only time with a brilliant flop shot to two feet from thick rough.

The mercurial left-hander, for one, will surely relish a return to this happy hunting ground. H

Majors in waiting Dates and venues for future major championships Year

Major

Dates

Venue

2015

U.S. Open The Open PGA Championship Masters U.S. Open The Open PGA Championship Masters U.S. Open TheOpen PGA Championship Masters U.S. Open The Open PGA Championship

June 18-21

Chambers Bay Golf Course, Tacoma, WA

July 16-19

Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland

August 13-16

Straits Course, Whistling Straits, Kohler, WI

April 7-10

Augusta National GC, GA

June 16-19

Oakmont CC, Pittsburgh, PA

July 14-17

Old Course, Royal Troon GC, Ayrshire, Scotland

2016

2017

2018

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July 28-31

Lower Course, Baltusrol GC, Springfield, NJ

April 6-9

Augusta National GC, GA

June 15-18

Erin Hills Golf Course, Hartford, WI

July 20-23

Royal Birkdale GC, Lancashire, England

To be decided

Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, NC

April 5-8

Augusta National GC, GA

June 14-17

Shinnecock Hills GC, Southampton, NY

July 19-22

Carnoustie Golf Links, Angus, Scotland

To be decided

Bellerive CC, St. Louis, MO

Roll of Honor The Major Winners

“What would be wrong with a professional Grand Slam involving the Masters, both Open championships and the PGA Championship?�

Arnold Palmer in 1960

Reflected glory: the 15th hole at Augusta National during the 1947 Masters

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The Masters

Played every year at Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia

Year

Winner (From USA unless stated)

Score

Horton Smith 284 Gene Sarazen 282 1936 Horton Smith 285 1937 Byron Nelson 283 1938 Henry Picard 285 1939 Ralph Guldahl 279 1940 Jimmy Demaret 280 1941 Craig Wood 280 1942 Byron Nelson 280 1943-45 NO CHAMPIONSHIP (Second World War) 1946 Herman Keiser 282 1947 Jimmy Demaret 281 1948 Claude Harmon 279 1949 Sam Snead 282 1950 Jimmy Demaret 283 1951 Ben Hogan 280 1952 Sam Snead 286 1953 Ben Hogan 275 1954 Sam Snead 289 1955 Cary Middlecoff 279 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. 289 1957 Doug Ford 283 1958 Arnold Palmer 284 1959 Art Wall, Jr. 284 1960 Arnold Palmer 282 1961 Gary Player (South Africa) 280 1962 Arnold Palmer 280 1963 Jack Nicklaus 286 1964 Arnold Palmer 276 1965 Jack Nicklaus 271 1966 Jack Nicklaus 288 1967 Gay Brewer, Jr. 280 1968 Bob Goalby 277 1969 George Archer 281 1970 Billy Casper 279 1971 Charles Coody 279 1972 Jack Nicklaus 286 1973 Tommy Aaron 283 1974 Gary Player (South Africa) 278 1975 Jack Nicklaus 276 1976 Raymond Floyd 271 1977 Tom Watson 276 1978 Gary Player (South Africa) 277 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller 280 1980 Seve Ballesteros (Spain) 275 1981 Tom Watson 280 1934 1935

Captain Hook: Bubba Watson pitches to the 10th green in a playoff to decide the 2012 Masters

1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Craig Stadler Seve Ballesteros (Spain) Ben Crenshaw Bernhard Langer (Germany) Jack Nicklaus Larry Mize Sandy Lyle (Scotland) Sir Nick Faldo (England) Sir Nick Faldo (England) Ian Woosnam (Wales) Fred Couples Bernhard Langer (Germany) Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) Ben Crenshaw Sir Nick Faldo (England) Tiger Woods Mark O’Meara

139

284 280 277 282 279 285 281 283 278 277 275 277 279 274 276 270 279

1999

Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)

2000 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 2001 Tiger Woods 2002 Tiger Woods 2003 Mike Weir (Canada) 2004 Phil Mickelson 2005 Tiger Woods 2006 Phil Mickelson 2007 Zach Johnson 2008 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 2009 Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 2010 Phil Mickelson 2011 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 2012 Bubba Watson 2013 Adam Scott (Australia) 2014 Bubba Watson 2015 Jordan Spieth

279 278 272 276 281 279 276 281 289 280 276 272 274 278 279 280 270

U.S. Open Championship Year

Winner (From USA unless stated)

Score

Course

1895

Horace Rawlins (England)

173

Newport Golf Club, RI

1896

James Foulis (Scotland)

152

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY

1897

Joe Lloyd (England)

162

Chicago Golf Club, IL

1898

Fred Herd (Scotland)

328

Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, MA

1899

Willie Smith (Scotland)

315

Baltimore Country Club (East), MD

1900

Harry Vardon (Jersey)

313

Chicago Golf Club, IL

1901

Willie Anderson (Scotland)

331

Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, MA

1902

Laurie Auchterlonie (Scotland)

307

Garden City Golf Club, NY

1903

Willie Anderson (Scotland)

307

Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, NJ

1904

Willie Anderson (Scotland)

303

Glen View Club, Cook County, IL

1905

Willie Anderson (Scotland)

314

Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, MA

1906

Alex Smith (Scotland)

295

Onwentsia Club, Lake Forest, IL

1907

Alex Ross (Scotland)

302

Philadelphia Cricket Club (St. Martin’s), PA

1908

Fred McLeod (Scotland)

322

Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, MA

1909

George Sargent (England)

Larger than life: NBC’s promotional poster for the 1960 U.S. Open

290

Englewood Golf Club, NJ

1910

Alex Smith (Scotland)

298

1917-18 NO CHAMPIONSHIP (First World War) 1919

Philadelphia Cricket Club (St. Martin’s), PA

1911

John McDermott

1920

John McDermott

294

1921

Francis Ouimet {Am}

304

1922

Walter Hagen

290

1923

Jerome Travers {Am}

297

1924

Charles ‘Chick’ Evans {Am}

286

1925

Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, MN

1929

Cyril Walker (England)

1930

Willie MacFarlane (Scotland)

1931

Worcester Country Club, MS

140

294

Bobby Jones {Am}

294

Bobby Jones {Am}

287

Billy Burke

292

Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

1932

291

Johnny Farrell

Interlachen Country Club, Minneapolis, MN

297

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

301

Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

296

Inwood Country Club, NY

Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, NJ

1916

Bobby Jones {Am}

Tommy Armour

Olympia Fields Country Club, Matteson, IL

288

Skokie Country Club, Glencoe, IL

Midlothian Country Club, Blue Island, IL

1915

Gene Sarazen

293

Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

1928

Columbia Country Club, Chevy Chase, MD

The Country Club, Brookline, MA

1914

1927

289

Jim Barnes

Bobby Jones {Am} Scioto Country Club, Columbus, OH

295

Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

Country Club of Buffalo, NY

1913

Ted Ray (Jersey)

1926

301

Brae Burn Country Club (Main), West Newton, MA

307

Chicago Golf Club, IL

1912

Walter Hagen

Gene Sarazen Fresh Meadow Country Club, Flushing, NY

286

1933

287

Johnny Goodman {Am}

1963

North Shore Country Club, Glen View, IL

1934

Olin Dutra Sam Parks, Jr.

293

1964

299

1965

Tony Manero

1966

281

1967

Baltusrol Golf Club (Upper), Springfield, NJ

1937

Ralph Guldahl

284

1968

Byron Nelson

1940

284

1969

287

1970

284

1971

Lawson Little Craig Wood

Lew Worsham

282 276

Ben Hogan Cary Middlecoff

286 287

Ben Hogan

287

Ben Hogan Julius Boros Ben Hogan

281

Ed Furgol

283

Jack Fleck

284

Cary Middlecoff

287

1957

Dick Mayer

281 282

1958

Tommy Bolt

283

1959

Billy Casper

282

1960

Arnold Palmer

280

Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO

1961

Gene Littler

1962

Jack Nicklaus

281

Scott Simpson Curtis Strange The Country Club (Composite), Brookline, MA

Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

277 272 276 280 285 285

Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

283

Torrey Pines Golf Course (South), San Diego, CA

276

Bethpage State Park (Black), Long Island, NY

284

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey, Peninsula, CA

2011 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)

268

Congressional Country Club (Blue), Bethesda, MD

281

Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

281

Merion Golf Club (East), Ardmore, PA

2014 Martin Kaymer Pinehurst Resort (No.2), NC

141

276

Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

2013 Justin Rose

278

272

Pinehurst Resort (No.2), NC

2012 Webb Simpson

277

Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

1988

283

279

279

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY

2010 Graeme McDowell (N. Ireland)

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY

1987

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

Raymond Floyd

280

Olympia Fields Country Club (North),Matteson, IL

2009 Lucas Glover

276

276

Bethpage State Park (Black), Long Island, NY

2008 Tiger Woods

280

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

1986

278

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

2007 Angel Cabrera (Argentina)

279

Andy North

280

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

2006 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)

273

Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

1985

Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

Fuzzy Zoeller

279

Pinehurst Resort (No.2), NC

2005 Michael Campbell (New Zealand)

272

Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

1984

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

Larry Nelson

Payne Stewart

2004 Retief Goosen (South Africa)

282

Tom Watson

Lee Janzen

2003 Jim Furyk

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

1983

Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

David Graham (Australia)

Ernie Els (South Africa)

2002 Tiger Woods

278

Merion Golf Club (East), Ardmore, PA

1982

Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY

Jack Nicklaus

Steve Jones

2001 Retief Goosen (South Africa)

284

Hale Irwin

Corey Pavin

2000 Tiger Woods

285

Andy North

Ernie Els (South Africa)

Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

1999

277

Hubert Green

272

Congressional Country Club (Blue), Bethesda, MD

1998

287

Jerry Pate

Lee Janzen

Birmingham, MI

279

Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, NJ

1981

Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

1956

1996

290

Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

1980

Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, NJ

1955

1995

1997

287

Lou Graham

285

Oakland Hills Country Club (South),

Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO

1979

Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

1954

281

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

1978

Northwood Club, Dallas, TX

1953

1994

280

Hale Irwin

Tom Kite

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Long Island, NY

Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA

1977

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

1952

281

Orville Moody

Johnny Miller

282

Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL

1976

Merion Golf Club (East), Ardmore, PA

1951

1993

Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

1975

Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL

1950

275 275

Jack Nicklaus

Payne Stewart

Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, NJ

Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino

280

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

Jack Nicklaus

Oakmont Country Club, Ardmore, PA

1974

Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA

1949

1992

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

1973

St. Louis Country Club, MO

1948

1972

284

Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, OH

1947

278

Merion Golf Club (East), Ardmore, PA

1942-45 NO CHAMPIONSHIP (Second World War)

Lloyd Mangrum

Billy Casper

Tony Jacklin (England)

Hale Irwin

Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN

Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN

Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, TX

1946

1991

Champions Golf Club (Cypress Creek), Houston, TX

Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, OH

1941

282

Gary Player (South Africa)

Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY

Philadelphia Country Club, PA

278

Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL

Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, NJ

Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO

1939

1990

Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco, CA

Ralph Guldahl Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

1938

278

Ken Venturi

Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, MO

282

Curtis Strange Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY

Congressional Country Club (Blue), Bethesda, MD

Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

1936

1989

The Country Club (Composite), Brookline, MA

Merion Cricket Club (East), Ardmore, PA

1935

293

Julius Boros

271

The Open Championship

Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, Scotland

1887

Winner (From USA unless stated)

1911

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1888 Year

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

161

Willie Park, Jr. (Scotland)

Score

Course

171

Jack Burns (Scotland)

1912

(1860-1870 Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland)

1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870

Willie Park, Sr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Sr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Sr. (Scotland) Willie Park, Sr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Sr. (Scotland) Andrew Strath (Scotland) Willie Park, Sr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Sr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Jr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Jr. (Scotland) Tom Morris, Jr. (Scotland)

1890

174 163 163 168 167 162 169 170 154 157 149

155

Willie Park, Jr. (Scotland)

1913

The Belt, contested from 1860-70, was thrice won consecutively

Tom Morris, Jr. (Scotland)

1894 1895

Mungo Park (Scotland)

1896 1897

Willie Park, Sr. (Scotland) Bob Martin (Scotland)

179

1898

Jamie Anderson (Scotland)

159

1899

166

1900

Jamie Anderson (Scotland)

176

1901

Jamie Anderson (Scotland)

160

1902

Bob Ferguson (Scotland) Bob Ferguson (Scotland) Bob Ferguson (Scotland)

169

Willie Fernie (Scotland)

1884

Jack Simpson (Scotland)

1904 1905

170

1886

David Brown (Scotland)

Harry Vardon (Jersey) J. H. Taylor (England) James Braid (Scotland) Sandy Herd (Scotland)

Harry Vardon (Jersey) Jack White (Scotland) James Braid (Scotland)

171

James Braid (Scotland)

158

Arnaud Massy (France)

307

James Braid (Scotland)

310

1909

157

1910

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

J. H. Taylor (England)

1928

142

301

Jim Barnes

300

Bobby Jones {Am}

291

Bobby Jones {Am}

285

Walter Hagen

292

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1929

309

Walter Hagen

292

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1930

307

Bobby Jones {Am}

291

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England

1931

300

Tommy Armour

296

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

1932

296

Gene Sarazen

283

Prince’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1933

318

Denny Shute

292

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1934

300

Sir Henry Cotton (England)

283

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1935

312

Alf Perry (England)

283

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1936

Alf Padgham (England)

287

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

291

Merseyside, England

1937

295

Cinque Ports, Deal, Kent, England

James Braid (Scotland)

Walter Hagen

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

309

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

171

295

Lancashire, England

1927

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

1908

Arthur Havers (England)

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club,

Merseyside, England

160

300

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1926

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1907

Walter Hagen

Merseyside, England

314

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1906

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

Bob Martin (Scotland)

1924

1925

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, Scotland

1885

1923

316

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

162

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1883

Harry Vardon (Jersey)

296

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

Merseyside, England

1903

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1882

1922

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

157

Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, Scotland

1881

322

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1880

Harold Hilton (England) {Am}

Jock Hutchison

Troon Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1879

326

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, Scotland

1878

Harry Vardon (Jersey)

303

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1877

322

Merseyside, England

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1876

J .H. Taylor (England)

George Duncan (Scotland)

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, Scotland

1875

1921

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1874

305

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

The Claret Jug was awarded for the first time in 1873

Tom Kidd (Scotland)

J. H. Taylor (England)

306

Royal Cinque Ports, Deal, Kent, England

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

166

1920

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1873

Willie Auchterlonie (Scotland)

Harry Vardon (England)

1915-19 NO CHAMPIONSHIP (First World War)

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1893

304

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

and entry money was charged

time in 1872

1872

166

Hugh Kirkaldy (Scotland)

Harold Hilton (England) {Am}

J. H. Taylor (England) Merseyside, England

1914

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

by Tom morris, Jr., and thence became his property. There was no competition in 1871 and a medal was awarded for the only

164

John Ball, Jr. (England) {Am}

After 1891, the Open Championship was extended to 72 holes

1892

295

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1891

Ted Ray (Jersey) Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

Musselburgh Links, Midlothian, Scotland

1860

303

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1889

Harry Vardon (Jersey)

290

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

1938

299

Sir Henry Cotton (England) Reg Whitcombe (England)

295

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

1976

Johnny Miller

279

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

1977

Tom Watson

268

Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1978

281

Jack Nicklaus St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1979

Seve Ballesteros (Spain)

283

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

1980

271

Tom Watson Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1981

276

Bill Rogers

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1982 1983 1939

Richard Burton (England)

290

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1961

1940-45 NO CHAMPIONSHIP (Second World War) 1946

Sam Snead

1947

Fred Daly (Northern Ireland)

293

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England

1948

Sir Henry Cotton (England)

1949

Bobby Locke (South Africa)

283

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1950

Bobby Locke (South Africa) Max Faulkner (England)

279

Bobby Locke (South Africa)

285

1966

287

1968

282

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

1954

Peter Thomson (Australia)

1969

283

Peter Thomson (Australia)

1957

Peter Thomson (Australia)

1970

286

1971

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport,

Merseyside, England

Lancashire, England

Peter Thomson (Australia)

279

1972

278

1973 1974

284

Kel Nagle (Australia)

1991

Tom Weiskopf Gary Player (South Africa)

1975

280

143

273 275

Mark Calcavecchia Sir Nick Faldo (England)

270 272

Ian Baker-Finch (Australia)

272

Sir Nick Faldo (England)

1993

267

Greg Norman (Australia) Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

1994

283

Nick Price (Zimbabwe)

268

Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1995

John Daly

282

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1996

Tom Lehman

271

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

1997

276

Justin Leonard

272

Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

1998

282

Mark O’Meara

280

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

1999

279

Tom Watson

Seve Ballesteros (Spain)

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

Lancashire, England

278

1992

278

Lee Trevino

279

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club,

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1960

289

Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

Lancashire, England

Gary Player (South Africa)

278

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club,

1959

1990

278

Lee Trevino

Sir Nick Faldo (England)

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1958

Jack Nicklaus

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

Bobby Locke (South Africa)

282

Lancashire, England

281

280

Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club,

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1956

1989

Roberto de Vicenzo (Argentina)

Tony Jacklin (England)

Greg Norman (Australia)

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

1955

1988

285

Jack Nicklaus

Gary Player (South Africa)

282

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside, England

Lancashire, England

Ben Hogan

1987

279

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1967

Sandy Lyle (Scotland)

Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

Lancashire, England

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club,

1953

1986

Tony Lema Peter Thomson (Australia)

276

Seve Ballesteros (Spain)

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

277

Bob Charles (New Zealand)

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport,

Royal Portrush Golf Club, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

1952

1985

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1965

Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

1951

1984

276

Arnold Palmer

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

1964

275

Tom Watson

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

1963

284

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

284

Lancashire, England

1962

284

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport,

290

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

Arnold Palmer

Tom Watson Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

Triple crown: Gary Player lifts the Claret Jug for the third time, at Royal Lytham in 1974

Paul Lawrie (Scotland)

290

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

2000 Tiger Woods

269

PGA Championship

274

Year

1926

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

2001 David Duval

(From USA unless stated)

Lancashire, England

Course

283

1919

Merseyside, England

1920

277 283

Turnberry Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland

1922

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

1923

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

273

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lancashire, England

1932

1924

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

1933

4&3

1925

1934

At 38th 1935

At 38th

Johnny Revolta

5&4

beat Tommy Armour Twin Hills G&CC, Oklahoma City, OK

Walter Hagen

1936

6&5

Olympia Fields Country Club, Matteson, IL

Paul Runyan beat Craig Wood

2 Holes

beat Bill Mehlhorn

5&4

Park Club of Buffalo, Williamsville, NY

Walter Hagen

Merseyside, England

Gene Sarazen Blue Mound G&CC, Milwaukee, WI

Gene Sarazen

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

4&3

beat Willie Goggin

French Lick Springs Resort (Hill), IN

271

Olin Dutra Keller Golf Club, St. Paul, MN

Gene Sarazen

beat Jim Barnes

2&1

beat Frank Walsh

Pelham Country Club, Pelham Manor, NY

281

Tom Creavy Wannamoisett Country Club, Rumford, RI

3&2

beat Walter Hagen

1 Hole

beat Denny Shute

Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

275

2011 Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland)

2014 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)

1931

1 Hole

Walter Hagen

beat Emmett French

Tommy Armour beat Gene Sarazen

Inwood Country Club, New Rockaway, NY

272

6&4

Fresh Meadow Country Club, Flushing, NY

Jock Hutchison

beat Jim Barnes

278

2010 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa)

2013 Phil Mickelson

6&5

Flossmoor Country Club, Chicago, IL

1921

Leo Diegel Hillcrest Country Club, Los Angeles, CA

1930

beat J. Douglas Edgar

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England

2012 Ernie Els (South Africa)

1929

beat Johnny Farrell

Jim Barnes beat Fred McLeod (Scotland)

Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship), Angus, Scotland

2009 Stewart Cink

1 Hole

Engineers Country Club, Long Island, NY

2007 Padraig Harrington (Ireland)

6&5

Five Farms Country Club, Baltimore, MD

1917-18 NO CHAMPIONSHIP (First World War)

270

Leo Diegel beat Al Ispinosa

Jim Barnes beat Jock Hutchison

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake,

2008 Padraig Harrington (Ireland)

1928

Siwanoy Country Club, Bronxville, NY

St Andrews (Old), Fife, Scotland

2006 Tiger Woods

1 Hole

beat Joe Turnesa

were contested in a match play format

1916

274 274

Walter Hagen Cedar Crest Country Club, Dallas, TX

Royal Troon Golf Club (Old), Ayrshire, Scotland

2005 Tiger Woods

Salisbury Golf Club (Red), Long Island, NY

1927

From 1916-57, the latter stages of the PGA Championship

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

2004 Todd Hamilton

Score

278

Muirfield Golf Course, East Lothian, Scotland

2003 Ben Curtis

5&3

beat Leo Diegel

Result of 36-hole Final

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club,

2002 Ernie Els (South Africa)

Walter Hagen

Denny Shute

3&2

beat Jimmy Thomson Pinehurst Resort (No.2), NC

1937

Denny Shute

At 37th

beat Harold McSpaden Pittsburgh Field Club, Aspinwall, PA

1938

Paul Runyan

8&7

beat Sam Snead Shawnee Country Club, Shawnee on Delaware, PA

1939

Henry Picard

At 37th

beat Byron Nelson Pomonock Country Club, Flushing, NY

1940

Byron Nelson

1 Hole

beat Sam Snead Hershey Country Club (West), PA

1941

Vic Ghezzi

At 38th

beat Byron Nelson Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO

1942

Sam Snead

2&1

beat Jim Turnesa Sea View Country Club, Atlantic City, NJ

1943 10 years already: Phil Mickelson wins the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol

144

NO CHAMPIONSHIP

(Second World War)

1944

Bob Hamilton beat Byron Nelson

Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, PA

1 Hole

1963

Manito G&CC, Spokane, WA

1945

1964

4&3

Moraine Country Club, Dayton, OH

1946

6&4

1966 1967

5&4

Plum Hollow Country Club, Detroit, MI

1948

1969 1970

3&2

Hermitage Country Club, Richmond, VA

1950

1971 1972 1973

7&6

Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

1952

1974

1 Hole

1975 1976

2&1

Birmingham Country Club, MI

1954

4&3

1978 1979

4&3

Meadowbrook Country Club, Northville, MI

1956

1981 1982

3&1

Miami Valley Golf Club, Dayton, OH

1984

276

Llanerch Country Club, Havertown, PA

1959

Bob Rosburg Jay Hebert

277

Jerry Barber

1986

Gary Player (South Africa)

Larry Nelson

277

275

Hubert Green

Larry Nelson

Oak Tree Golf Club, Edmond, OK

145

278

Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN

276

Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY

280

Whistling Straits (Straits), Kohler, WI

276

Baltusrol Golf Club (Lower), Springfield, NJ

270

Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL

272

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

277

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

277

Whistling Straits (Straits), Kohler, WI

272

Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA

2012 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)

275

Kiawah Island (Ocean), Charleston, SC

2013 Jason Dufner

287

280

Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, MN

2011 Keegan Bradley

278

270

Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY

2014 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)

272

Jeff Sluman

265

Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA

2010 Martin Kaymer (Germany)

276

Bob Tway

270

Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, KY

2009 Y-E Yang (South Korea)

273

Lee Trevino

Medinah Country Club (No.3), Chicago, IL

2008 Padraig Harrington (Ireland)

274

Hal Sutton

277

Tiger Woods

2007 Tiger Woods

273

PGA National Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

1988

278

Raymond Floyd

1999

2006 Tiger Woods

274

Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

1987

Olympia Fields Country Club, Matteson, IL

1962

272

Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver, CO

281

Firestone Country Club (South), Akron, OH

1961

Jack Nicklaus

Sahalee Country Club, Sammamish, WA

2005 Phil Mickelson

Shoal Creek Golf & Country Club, Birmingham, AL

1985

Minneapolis Golf Club, MN

1960

276

Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA

After 1957, the PGA Championship was converted to 72 holes of

Dow Finsterwald

David Graham (Australia)

271

Vijay Singh (Fiji)

2004 Vijay Singh (Fiji)

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

1983

stroke play

1958

John Mahaffey

269

2003 Shaun Micheel

282

Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Duluth, GA

Lionel Hebert beat Dow Finsterwald

Lanny Wadkins

Davis Love III

2002 Rich Beem

281

Oak Hill Country Club (East), Rochester, NY

3&2

Blue Hill Country Club, Canton, MA

1957

Dave Stockton

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

1980

Jack Burke Jr. beat Ted Kroll

276

Oakmont Country Club, Pittsburgh, PA

Doug Ford beat Cary Middlecoff

Jack Nicklaus

277

Mark Brooks

2001 David Toms

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA

Keller Golf Club, St. Paul, MN

1955

276

Lee Trevino

267

Steve Elkington (Australia)

2000 Tiger Woods

Congressional Country Club (Blue), Bethesda, MD

1977

Chick Harbert beat Walter Burkemo

1998

277

269

Winged Foot Golf Club (West), Mamaroneck, NY

281

Firestone Country Club (South), Akron, OH

Walter Burkemo beat Felice Torza

Jack Nicklaus

Nick Price (Zimbabwe)

Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, KY

281

Tanglewood Park (Championship), Clemons, NC

Big Spring Country Club, Louisville, KY

1953

Gary Player (South Africa)

1996 1997

Canterbury Golf Club, Cleveland, OH

Jim Turnesa beat Chick Harbert

Jack Nicklaus

272

Paul Azinger

Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA

279

Oakland Hills Country Club (South), Birmingham, MI

Sam Snead beat Walter Burkemo

1995

PGA National Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

3&2

Scioto Country Club, Columbus, OH

1951

Dave Stockton

278

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

276

Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK

Chandler Harper beat Henry Williams Jr.

1994

National Cash Registers Country Club (South), Dayton, OH

Sam Snead beat Johnny Palmer

Raymond Floyd

Nick Price (Zimbabwe)

Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

281

Julius Boros

276

John Daly

Bellerive Golf Club, St. Louis, MO

1993

Pecan Valley Golf Club, San Antonio, TX

7&6

Northwood Hills Country Club, St. Louis, MO

1949

280 281

Don January

282

Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, IN

1992

Columbine Country Club, Denver, CO

1968

Ben Hogan beat Mike Turnesa

Al Geiberger

Wayne Grady (Australia) Shoal Creek Golf & Country Club, Birmingham, AL

1991

Firestone Country Club (South), Akron, OH

Jim Ferrier beat Chick Harbert

1990

280

Dave Marr

276

Payne Stewart Kemper Lakes Golf Club, Hawthorn Woods, IL

271

Laurel Valley Golf Club, Ligonier, PA

Portland Golf Club, OR

1947

Bobby Nichols Columbus Country Club, OH

1965

Ben Hogan beat Ed Oliver

1989

279

Dallas Athletic Club (Blue), TX

Byron Nelson beat Sam Byrd

Jack Nicklaus

Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, KY

268

Defining moment: Nick Faldo raises his arms in triumph on the 18th green of the Old Course in 1990, and on the Swilcan Bridge (below)

Faldo to make final bow Sir Nick Faldo will play in the Open for the last time in 2015, 25 years after he won his second Open title at St Andrews

S

ir Nick Faldo MBE (to be exact) has confirmed the 2015 Open will be his last. An Open champion three times, and winner of three Masters titles too, Faldo is England’s greatest postwar golfer and it will be fitting for him to bid farewell to the Open at St Andrews, not only because it is the ‘Home of Golf’ and spiritual home to the Open, but it is also where Faldo enjoyed the crowning glory of his career in winning his second Open title in 1990. Twentyfive years ago, that was Faldo at the height of his dominance.

“The Open and St Andrews will forever hold a significant place in my heart,” says Faldo, who will turn 58 during the 2015 Open.

“My fondest moments on my journey with this great sport are woven with pictures and emotions in this setting."

Faldo’s form was menacing, shooting 6765 to share the halfway lead with world number one at the time, Greg Norman (66-66), the two matching the record low for 36 holes set by Henry Cotton in 1934. Norman’s putting went ice cold on the Saturday though, and while Faldo held his composure to shoot another 67, Norman fell out of contention. Faldo’s 54-hole total of 199 was another Open record and he led by five from Payne Stewart and Ian Baker-Finch.

Stewart got to within two shots of Faldo midway through the final round but Faldo remained his blinkered, uncompromising best, posting a controlled 71 for a total score of 270, to win by five and set a new Open scoring record.

“As I crossed the Swilcan Bridge I deliberately scratched my spikes on the stone,” recalls Faldo - who has accepted honorary

146

membership of the R&A - of the moment he walked up to the 18th fairway with the Claret Jug all but won. “I wanted to leave my mark next to the scuffs of both Tom Morrises and all the other past St Andrews champions. I soaked up every second. To stand in the middle of the fairway, facing a straightforward wedge to the 18th green at St Andrews, surrounded by the packed grandstands, and gazing towards the magical clubhouse knowing you have won the Open Championship, is an experience to be savored.” H

A D V E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E

From F1’s slip stream

T

he evolution of the golf club has seen many innovations since the first ever clubs were put into use by golfers many centuries ago. 1932 saw Gene Sarazen take matters into his own hands when he invented the sand wedge. Hickory shafts were succeeded by steel, and leather grips gave way to rubber.

Engineer Karsten Solheim revolutionised putters in the 1960s, and fast forwarding another 30 years, a stainless steel Big Bertha rocked the golf world.

2015 sees the Williams Formula 1 team bring research, technological expertise and aerodynamic capabilities into the equation to shape the way golf clubs are designed and manufactured.

In F1 racing, the aim is to reach the maximum for a given power.

Using aerodynamic designs, technical alloys such as titanium, exotic composites of carbon-fibre and with a grip related to rubber, F1 engineers achieve maximum speed, stability and consistent predictability, and all with as little energy consumption as possible. Such fundamentals can also be applied to designing a driver and is what the new Williams Modulus Rebound is all about: speed and manoeuvrability, for longer and more consistent shots.

“We are a world-class engineering company that happens to go racing,” says Sir Frank Williams CBE. With evolved aerodynamic features, the second F1 generation driver introduces hi-tech alloy treatments to deliver the proper tensile strength to every clubface, for the maximisation of the spring-like effect per loft related to swing speed; a sort of fine tuning to target golfers’ real swing velocity.

Through Williams Racing Golf, British technology is again at the pinnacle of golf club design. Thanks to the new Williams MR Driver, golfers can now take to the links and benefit from the same hi-tech support the world’s fastest drivers rely on.

www.williams-racing-golf.com