Waiting for the real thing

Extract from article, Scottishgolf.com, 9 October 2001

.........The Tournament players will be subjected to something altogether different when they wash up on the banks of the Tay and Forth Firths next week. Links golf requires a little bit more than their usual weekly target practice.

The links courses of Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and St Andrews collectively play host to the Dunhill Links Championship from the 18th to the 21st October. This event has the biggest pot of the European Tour year with a first prize just a pittance short of the big one in the Open itself. Needless to say it has attracted every big name in Europe but, alas, failed to entice a single American onto an aeroplane. This is a pity for the format of the tournament as a rotating course pro-am is an interesting innovation. Also, the introduction of the much-lauded Kingsbarns Links to the big boys in the game should be informative if only to hear their comments.

Certainly it will be interesting to see what the best in Europe make of it, especially if the wind blows. Kingsbarns sits tight on a mile-and-a-half of coastline, all of which is in play. In anything more than a mild zephyr it can be testing. The course has gained much acclaim from the golfing world at large - but how will it play relative to the Old at St Andrews and the tough track at Carnoustie?

For sure the golf played on these links will have to be altogether different from that played on the target venues of the Continent and the USA. It will even be different between the courses themselves although the common denominator will remain the same - after hitting the short grass, placing the ball on the green relative to the flag will be the premium. Trying to get it close could be disastrous for the banks and braes of these links greens can be routes to ruin.

I cannot understand that the best in America are not prepared to travel to such a challenge. That celebrities like Michael Douglas and Samuel L Jackson are prepared to do it says little for the American pros and even less for their contribution to their fans and to the game itself.