UNDERESTIMATE THE OLD COURSE AT YOUR PERIL
St Andrews can still bare its teeth, Rose tells critics
WITH the mercury not expected to drop below 20 degrees all week and breezes no more than moderate, there’s every chance that the 150th Open will be marked with a winning score for the ages.
With so many younger, longer hitters in the field — and up to six drivable holes — it’s hard to escape the notion that many will have the Old Course at their mercy.
Might we see a number to match the 63 that Rory McIlroy carded here in 2010 — equalling the score of Paul Broadhurst in 1990? It would seem eminently possible.
As for the chances of one of the field coming home in less than 60 blows? If it’s ever going to happen at an Open, this might just be the one.
Justin Rose is familiar enough with the humps, bumps and hollows of this hallowed turf, though, to know that you still underestimate it at your peril.
Even in benign conditions, it remains — as Tom Watson once said — a hard course to understand.
Asked if a 59 at the Home of Golf would almost feel like sacrilege, Rose said: ‘I think so, but I actually think, though, that it has an amazing way of defending itself.
‘Just playing there in practice rounds, it makes you aware that angles are so important and the weather as well. It is very hard to get the ball three feet from the hole there, it really is.
‘On a lovely day, you can play it feeling you are not going to make too many bogeys — but to get the ball in the hole is not that easy at St Andrews.
‘The greens are subtle enough that making putts isn’t that easy, either, so it has its defences.
‘This week of weather is going to brown it out and if they do put pins near the bunker edges where there is a little bit of tilt, 15-20 feet is going to be a good shot a lot of the time.’
Now aged 41, the Englishman still clearly has time to get his hands on the Claret Jug but with eight of the current world’s top ten in their 20s, it scarcely gets easier by the year.
It’s now 24 years since the fresh-faced teenager qualified to finish as the best amateur in a tie for fourth place at Royal Birkdale. A tied second-place finish as Francesco Molinari won at Carnoustie four years ago remains the closest he has come to the game’s greatest honour. For all the success of the 2013 US Open champion, 29 victories all told, The Open feels like the missing link in his career. ‘I think it would be a nice kind of rounding off,’ he added. ‘I sort of came to people’s attention in The Open and it would be a full circle from that point of view.
‘From that brilliant childhood performance at Birkdale to a nearly-42-year-old with lots of grey hairs winning it would be a nice bookend kind of moment.
‘I still feel I have a little more in the tank and that’s what I am fighting for at the moment, trying to get my game relevant enough where I can still contend in the major championships.
‘You know, my level was not where it needed to be a few years ago and there have been a lot of reasons for that, but I think I still can contend and that’s what gives me hope.
‘For me to win this week, a lot of things have to go right, but I still think it is possible.’
He can only hope that there’s something to be said for an indifferent preparation. Having played his way into contention at the Scottish Open with level par going into the weekend, rounds of eight over and one over to finish in 69th place were far from ideal.
Asked what the week at the Renaissance Club gave him, Rose smiled: ‘A sair heid! You know what, it was perfect to get my links golf work in.
‘A couple of days the wind was a little bit stronger than you would probably have liked but, at the same time, it was good to face the challenges of how short the ball goes into the wind and also putting in the wind. There was a lot of valuable work done. Obviously from a result point of view, I didn’t get much out of it, but I actually played pretty good golf.
‘I shot 71 (on Sunday), but especially on the back nine I started hitting some shots that I know are going to be valuable at St Andrews.
‘Some shots I had been struggling with earlier in the week and I started to get the hang of them, so you have got to take those little victories with you down the road.’
Even after all these years, he still arrives in town a little wiser for his travails in North Berwick.
‘I didn’t maybe have my patience last week for some reason,’ he admitted. ‘So that’s going to have to be something that I’m going to
have to step up next week because links golf can frustrate you at times.’
Two weeks ago, Rose opted to give himself a refresher course on the track where he tied for sixth last time out in 2015.
‘I went there to get inspired,’ he explained. ‘St Andrews is an amazing place that gets the juices flowing.
‘I got a lot out of it. It’s a golf course we all know well, but things change so much in different winds and you’ve to have really clear parameters on your lines off the tees.
‘It was a valuable couple of days. I was going through all The Open placements we’ve had in the past and also trying to imagine where new ones might be and putting some time into those little sections.’