Positive Ramsay will give it a go

Late call means the Scot tees up with a plan to enjoy the experience

I’ve learned – especially this year – that the biggest thing about golf is the mental side

There will be 156 golfers competing in the Open Championship.

And all 156 of them will know that when standing over a six-footer a healthy mind is as important as a healthy putting stroke.

For all the talk of a positive mental attitude, an out- of- bounds or a duck-hooked drive will test the instructions of the best sport psychologists, and the negative mental attitude often wins out.

Richie Ramsay, well-known as one of golf’s deepest thinkers, is determined that won’t happen to him at St Andrews this week.

And the Scot has got more reason than most to practice what they all preach, and ask himself ‘well, what’s the worst that can happen?’

Because, as third reserve for the Open just a few weeks ago, the worst that could have happened to him would have been not teeing it up on Thursday at all.

After learning on social media on Sunday night that Tim Clark’s visa problems had opened the Old Course door for him, Ramsay is determined to cast off the shackles.

He said: “In a way it’s harder to get in like this, because you don’t know if it’s going to happen.

“But when you do get in, it’s probably easier. It can be like ‘I’m just happy to be in it’.

“If your mate phoned you up and said ‘we’re going to play Augusta in four weeks’, you’d be thinking about it all the time.

“But if he phoned you up a couple of days before and said ‘get on a flight, we’re going to play Augusta’, you’d just enjoy it. You wouldn’t build it up and think about it so much.

“I’m not going to place any expectations on myself.

“I’m going to play as if I would with my mates and take the attitude that I’m going to try and make a few birdies and stay aggressive.

“I’ve learned – especially this year – that the biggest thing about golf is the mental side.

“There are so many people willing to knock you down that you have to surround yourself with positive people and with people who will help you day in and day out.

“I have to have the attitude that if I wasn’t playing here I’d be spending the week practising.”

Ramsay added: “I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes it’s the fundamental things you do wrong that can be the issues.

“You have to try to go out there as if you’re a kid, just enjoying it, free-flowing it, picking a target and hitting it.

“It sounds simple but you have to try to stick to those fundamentals and not fall away from them.”

The ‘let’s give this a go and see what happens’ Ramsay mindset will be tested by the enormity of the event, the fact that it’s at the home of golf and with a bit of luck, his name appearing on a leaderboard.

The Aberdonian knows his way around the Old Course, and nearly won the Dunhill Links here last year.

But executing your shots in front of the Dunhill’s sprinkling of hardened golf fans is an entirely different proposition to trying to do it at an Open.

“It’s not going to be easy to block that stand out on the 17th,” he admitted.

“It will be tough in here with the grandstands – and the R&A have put up a lot, especially on the first and 18th – but I want to try to just enjoy it and not put too much pressure on myself to play well.

“My job is to execute every shot the best I can and if I do that then I’ll walk away happy.”

Even though Ramsay knows the Open and the Dunhill are incomparable in many ways, his St Andrews experience last autumn won’t be wasted.

He pointed out: “The 17th tee shot is a great one to have when you’re in contention as you can hit as many drivers as you like on the range but until you stand up on 17 and there’s pressure on you to win a tournament at the Old Course, it doesn’t get any better.

“So being in contention coming down the stretch was the big thing for me.

“The experience I’ve had form the Dunhill will help me plot my way round the course.

“And it’s going to be the same goal this week. Do the same things, be aggressive, and try to make birdies.”

For Ramsay, there have been logistical problems to sort out for Open week, like where to sleep for (hopefully) four extra nights.

He said: “I’ve got to go home to Edinburgh on Tuesday and then I’ll be back from Wednesday.

“I’m obviously delighted to get in, especially after the sucker-punch of not making the cut last week.”