The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
A four iron in Paul’s soul
11 Stephen Dundas
The “dry-run” for the return of the Open was the Amateur Championship of 1992, which turned out to be historic in itself. Stephen Dundas, from the Haggs Castle club in Glasgow, became the first Scot in 35 years to win the unpaid game’s oldest prize. On a tough weather week – the media tent was blown down – Dundas defeated future Ryder Cup stars Padraig Harrington and Stephen Gallacher on his way to the final where he bested Wales’ Bradley Dredge. Unlike those he beat that week, Dundas never became a Tour player, and is now a teaching professional in Russia.
12 Alan Tait
64 was the Carnoustie course record for 23 years, and set in the most unlikely of circumstances. The Championship and Burnside courses hosted the Daily Express Scottish National Pro-Am, a Tartan Tour event, and Cawder’s Alan Tait shot a seven-under 64 on the second day, having opened with a 61 on the short Burnside. However back on the Medal with tightened pins and back tees in play on the final day, he managed a 76 – still good enough to win, but a hint that perhaps the great links didn’t show all its teeth when the record was set.
13 Gordon Sherry
At 6ft 6in and 20 stone, you could hardly miss big Gordon Sherry, and he wasn’t the shy and retiring type anyway. The gallus 20-year-old from Barassie was Amateur champion in 1995, and got an invite to play in the Scottish Open at Carnoustie, where he played out of his skin on the weekend, shooting two-under – only Nick Faldo could match him over those two days – and finished in a tie for fourth. One Tiger Woods, in his British debut, was tied for 48th, but the great future rivalry some hoped for never quite materialised.
14 “Monty, was the wind a factor?”
Colin Montgomerie was Scotland’s leading player of the 1990s, with huge pressure on him to win the Scottish Open. He shot a record-equalling 64 at Carnoustie in 1995, and then had the famous “36 putts!” frustration when he hit every fairway and green in regulation but shot 71. However the final round in 1996 was the nadir. Four off Ian Woosnam’s lead on a breezy final day with the greens like glass, Monty shot 81 – the field average was 79 – and a reporter’s (mischievous?) question provoked an incredulous response from the angry Scot. Thankfully, he finally won the Scottish at Loch Lomond in 1999.
15 Jean
It’s now the benchmark image for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory – Jean van de Velde, a philosophical Frenchman, standing ankle-deep in the Barry Burn in the pouring rain contemplating his ball sinking in the silt. Needing a six to win the Open up the last in 1999, he took seven via a drive to the wrong fairway, a rebound off a spectator stand, a duff into the burn, a penalty drop, a pitch into a bunker, a sand escape to six feet and (incredibly) one putt – then lost the four-hole play-off that followed.
16 Lawrie’s four-iron
Criminally overshadowed for years after van de Velde’s collapse in 1999 was what Paul Lawrie did to claim the Claret Jug – shoot a best round of the week 67 in the final round, keep his cool for nearly two hours waiting, and staying focused in the play-off. The trophy was probably his before he hit his second shot into 18 – Justin Leonard had just hit into the burn and van de Velde was understandably spent – but Lawrie hit one of the classic Open shots, arrowing a four-iron to four feet for a certain birdie to the vociferous acclaim of the Carnoustie crowd.
17 Tiger’s tee shot
In which Carnoustie makes even the greatest ever to play the game look hopeless. With fans hanging from all vantage points, defending champion Tiger Woods teed off the first in 2007 with a fully-fledged duck hook, travelling barely 150 yards and the ball landing in a sweep of the Barry Burn not usually visited even by rank amateurs. A Courier reader retrieved it and we made a nice story of it the next day, much to the annoyance of one London newspaper whose representative bought up as many copies as he could and delivered them to the rental house of their reporter who failed to get the story.
18 Ladybirds
Coming off the 18th in the final round in 2007 after two visits to the burn and a double-bogey, Padraig Harrington believed for the first time in his life that he had choked. But the first to greet him was his then four-year-old son Paddy “who didn’t know or care I’d lost the Open, he was just happy to see his dad”. His son’s joy (and apparent obsession with ladybirds as we discovered as he looked into the Claret Jug after his Dad won it later) served to refocus the Irishman’s resolve for the play-off against Sergio Garcia that followed.
19 Sergio’s press conference
Not witnessed by the hordes who had watched him just an hour previously fail to par the 18th twice and lose the Claret Jug to Harrington, Sergio Garcia conducted a remarkable press conference where he seemed to suggest that “something” (the fates? ghosts? aliens?) was against him. It was, of course, simply acute frustration as well as playing the last too conservatively both times. The Spaniard had to bear it for 10 more years until last year’s playoff triumph at Augusta brought him much deserved glory at last.
20 Tommy Fleetwood’s record 63
Only 10 months ago, the famous old mark of 64 – held simultaneously by 10 players – finally fell to Fleetwood at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. For a whole day, the young Englishman held both the course records at Carnoustie and St Andrews before Ross Fisher snatched away the Old Course record with a 61. “I think I hit it in some places you probably can’t go when the Open comes around, but it’s a brilliant thing to have the record on a golf course like this,” said Fleetwood. We’ll see if anyone gets anywhere close this week.