11 minute read
Open Championship
Home sweet home
Scott MacCallum visits St Andrews, venue for the 150th Open Championship, and talks with unflappable Course Manager Gordon McKie about “the biggest golf tournament on the planet…”
Iwas brought up just nine miles from St Andrews, so the town was, and is, very much a part of my life. We enjoyed the glorious West Sands beach when I was a young boy, while I very much enjoyed the hostelries when I became a little bit older.
Oh, and I also enjoyed the odd round or two on one of the four St Andrews courses. Yes, I know there are more nowadays, but they have since added to the Old, the New, the Eden and the Jubilee, as well as adding some fabulous facilities – preventing the necessity for golfers about to experience the round of their lives, having to change shoes in the car park.
I’ve also been to many St Andrews Open Championships. More recently, I’ve attended dinners in the R&A Clubhouse, an iconic place where I also had the privilege of interviewing Sir Michael Bonallack, the then R&A Secretary.
I’ve got particularly fond memories of those Opens though. My first was in 1978 when Jack Nicklaus overcame a valiant challenge from little known New Zealander, Simon Owen, to claim his second St Andrews Open.
Six years later, I was there again when Seve Ballesteros joyfully fist pumped on the final green, as a birdie sealed his win. As Seve celebrated, I was 500 yards away, watching Tom Watson try, unsuccessfully, to get up and down from beside the wall on the Road Hole 17th. Want proof? See Page 36...
My wife and I watched Greg Norman and Nick Faldo set out on rounds of differing fortunes – 76 to 67 – from the stand at the back of the 18th on the Saturday of the 1990 Open; while I was feet away from Costantino Rocca when he first duffed his chip and then, remarkably, holed his huge putt to force a play-off with John Daly in 1995.
I was also there when Tiger Woods completed the full set of Major titles in 2000, and watched Jack Nicklaus being photographed on the Swilken Bridge, like every golfing tourist before or since, on his final appearance in The Open in 2005.
Memories are made and cherished at St Andrews.
But, if I think I’ve got some good memories, I am distinctly second best to Gordon McKie, who has been Course Manager of The Old Course for the past two St Andrews Opens and who has been on the Links team for another two before that. Gordon’s Open memories }
around many to remain closely guarded secrets extend beyond St Andrews and cover a ringside seat at one of the most memorable Open conclusions in history.
We caught up with Gordon a couple of months out from what will be the 150th Open Golf Championship.
Gordon is a man who might just be the most laid back person in the game – or, at the very least, extremely good at disguising any stress he might be carrying. Either way there is very little that seems to faze him.
“We’re just looking for a little bit of heat to get some growth to provide the definition we are looking for, as it’s been a cold, dry spring,” he explained, in answer to the opening question as to how things were shaping up.
In previous Opens the issue of the length of the Old Course, which was more than decent for the world’s top pros in decades past, but which leaves the course a little vulnerable in the modern game where 350+ yard drives are commonplace, was dealt with by using every spare inch (and more) that could be found to extend the course.
This saw a new tee being located in the field at the back of the aforementioned Road Hole – in a bid to maintain its reputation as the toughest hole in the world.
“In truth the Old Course hasn’t changed much since it was first laid out by Mother Nature. We don’t want to mess with history, and we want to keep it like it was when Old Tom Morris was the very first Head Greenkeeper.
The other main man-made defence of the Old Course is the ability to stick the pins behind bunkers, which ensures even the most gifted wedge player struggles to get the ball within 20 feet of the hole.
But it is something even Gordon himself can’t control, that offers the real protection to the course.
“We do rely on the weather and we need the wind to blow to help defend the golf course.”
But that’s not say that there are not other things that can be done to ensure that it is the very best player of the week who is presented with the Claret Jug, in front of the most famous building in the game.
“We are looking more at strategy this year and we’ve done a bit of work to toughen up the rough so it impacts upon the strategy that players use. To achieve this we’ve roped off areas of rough for the last three years to protect it from traffic, trolleys etc.”
In previous years, an avoidance of bunkers was a sure-fire way to climb the leaderboard, a point proven by Tiger Woods who won the 2000 Open by not going into any bunkers during any of his four rounds. The other approved method of playing the Old Course is to keep left for safety, and aim right from the tee if you want to create birdie opportunities but risk more trouble. If it were that simple we’d all have a St Andrews Open on our CV, but it is regarded as the notso-secret secret of how to play this most unique of golf courses. Gordon is a local man and incredibly proud of being tasked with maintaining the Old Course. Remarkably, since Old Tom was Head Greenkeeper in the mid to late 1800s, only nine people have
A youthful Scott MacCallum (top, circled) sees Tom Watson in action in 1984. Maintaining his penchant for sunhats, Scott is pictured above at the same spot, on the 17th, this summer
held the position Gordon has now.
Other legendary St Andrews greenkeeping figures, including Walter Woods BEM, were Links Superintendents and had a wider brief than just the Old Course, so are not included among the nine.
“It’s a huge honour and was something I’d not realised until I took on the position. I’m only the ninth since Old Tom,” said the man who could be described as Middle-Aged Gordon.
“I’ve been doing it for a few years now and it is still one of the best jobs in the world. There is nothing else I’d want to do, and nowhere else I’d want to be,” he added, while also paying tribute to the current Links Superintendent Sandy Reid, who crossed the Firth of Tay a couple of years ago from his previous role as }
Toro electric triple at St Andrews Carnoustie Links Superintendent..
“Sandy has been a brief of fresh air. I worked with Gordon Moir for many years and that was good, but Sandy has come in and been very supportive of what we do and has brought a lot to the table.
“Even today he’s out doing a bit of work for us on the course. He lets us get on with the job.”
But getting back to the man who was first to be Old Course custodian. What does the current holder of the post think is the piece of equipment he currently uses that would blow Old Tom’s mind?
“Electric mowers are something which would probably have blown his mind… and rollers, although they are something that we are backing away from now as, according to the data we collect, they give inconsistent green speed. Oh, and the GPS technology which is around now. We have sprayers which are applying product through GPA technology. And then there are the moisture meter readings, which have been brought in to assist the decision making process.
“So a lot of that technology side of things would probably blow his mind, but I don’t think he would agree with much of it!”
But there is one aspect to the 150th Open that will see a return to a previous practice that is now not see at many regular members clubs on big competition days.
They will be using electric Toro triple mowers to cut the greens, taking over from the traditonal hand mowing which had previously been seen as the benchmark for the highest possible standard.
“We are going to be a little different this year in that we are looking to be a lot more sustainable in the manner in which we set up the golf course.
“In 2015 we had around 65 to 70 staff working on the course. This year we will have a maximum of 55 and we will be using triple mowers on the greens.
“Our greens are huge, particularly the double greens, and total two and a half hectares. It takes 12 members of staff to hand cut them once and we will be double cutting them for The Open. To get that done in the time available each day would have meant going to silly numbers in terms of manpower and machinery.
“We at St Andrews have always been conscious of sustainability and the environment and working with our machinery partners in Toro and the R&A this approach is a message we are trying to get out. There are sustainable ways in which you can maintain your golf course, not just for Major tournaments, but for any Club Championship or Captain’s Day at clubs around the world.”
All the cutting units on the St Andrews Links are kept sharp by three Foley grinders. The first two are the 653 Accu-Master cylinder spin and relief grinder, the 673 Accu-Pro bedknife grinder, and were installed around three years ago. The latest addition was installed by Ian Robson, UK and Ireland Distributor for Foley, in May, and is a 622 AccuPro spin only cylinder grinder.
Gordon is very much a lover of The Open full stop, and was a long time regular member of the BIGGA Open Support team, which provides support to the home greenkeeping team at every course on the Open rota. In fact, until he ended his time on the team he had worked at every venue apart from Royal St George’s.
His last Support Team Open was 1999 at Carnoustie, after which he felt it was the perfect time to hang up his bunker rake.
“I was privileged to be the man assigned to the final match on the final day – Jean Van De Velde and Craig Parry, while I also did the four hole play-off, and was able to see first hand Paul Lawrie become the last Scot to win an Open on Scottish soil.”
For those without long golfing memories, that was The Open in which Frenchman Van de Velde carried a three shot lead into the final hole but, through a combination of poor judgment and bad luck, found himself standing in the Barry Burn minus shoes and socks contemplating attempting a miracle shot. Common sense prevailed and he eventually took a penalty drop, while he finally made a six footer to limp his way into the play-off. It’s widely regarded as one of the biggest meltdowns in sport.
“Jean was here doing a documentary for French television a couple of years ago and asked to play a couple of holes with me. At the time he didn’t know who I was, but I told him off camera that we’d met before and told him. We had a chat and a chuckle about what happened on that afternoon. He’s put it in the past, and now has the ability to laugh about it himself.”
It’s unlikely the 72nd hole will produce such dramatics at St Andrews this year, although the Valley of Sin, and a tricky to read green can cause heartache. Whatever happens, Gordon and Sandy will be a part of the presentation party on that 18th green to present the winner with the Jug.
“At that moment there is pride and there is also relief. Pride, as you look down the 1st and 18th fairway at your golf course, and relief that we have got to the end without a major problem. It will be doubly so this time because it is the 150th Open and it means so much to so many people.
“According to those who know these things, this is going to be the biggest golf tournament on the planet, surpassing Ryder Cups, particularly with the news that Tiger Woods intends to play.
“It’s a huge honour to be Course Manager at the moment and I’m looking forward to it… and also looking forward to when it’s all over.”
For me, I’m not sure whether I will find my old spot beside the wall at the 17th, but if I do I’ll no doubt be wearing a silly hat!
