Koepka blown off course – by 100 miles

A bout of amnesia or simple geographic ignorance caught out double US Open champion Brooks Koepka yesterday when he was asked a seemingly simple question by a reporter: Where did you win the Scottish Hydro Challenge? This was one of his early titles propelling him on to the European Tour. “Aberdeen, I believe.” In actual fact it was Aviemore, only five years ago. What’s 100 miles or so between friends?

J ustin Rose, pictured, has already picked up something of note from his return to the area before his bid to clinch the Claret Jug begins tomorrow. The English golfer has been honoured by Scotscraig Golf Club in Tayport, where his Open career began in earnest in 1995 when he competed in Open qualifying at the course as a 14-yearold-schoolboy. He didn’t quite make it to St Andrews, where the Open was held that year. Rose is now synonymous with Royal Birkdale, where his breakthrough occurred when finishing fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998. “A lot of people think my Open story started at Birkdale,” he said when he visited the course earlier this week. “But my love affair started right here at Scotscraig.”

Scottish Olympic curler Eve Muirhead was one of the celebs spotted around the course yesterday. Perhaps not too surprising since she has a job here for the week, one involving swapping her broom for a microphone. Along with English golfer Rick Shiels, Muirhead has been recruited to be a presenter across all the Open’s official social media channels. Hence why Muirhead was gallivanting around the links yesterday chasing players to interview and gathering behind-thescenes content.