700-year-old Swilcan Bridge at St. Andrews will remain
What was shaping up as one the biggest controversies in golf this year also turned out to be the shortest one.
The Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole at St. Andrews will be left alone.
The outrage, bordering on horror, began with social media images of the St. Andrews Links Trust extending the start of the bridge to include a circular patio of stones that did not look like they had been there for 700 years.
“The ongoing works are solely focused on the turfed approach area to the bridge, which regularly falls into disrepair due to the significant foot traffic by tens of thousands of golfers and countless other visitors seeking to have their photograph taken at the landmark,” St. Andrews said in a statement issued Sunday.
Golf Digest met with Links Trust officials on Monday. Laurie Watson, the external relations and media manager, told Digest the area in front of the bridge was a quagmire just three months after the British Open. Watson said the Links Trust has tried using artificial turf, rubber rocks and turf seeding, and yet nothing has worked.
“So this is the next step in trying to find a potential solution,” Watson told Golf Digest.
And then it wasn't. A few hours later, the Links Trust, which oversees the Old Course and six other public courses in the Scottish town, said it was abandoning
the plan.
“The stonework at the approach and exit of the bridge was identified as one possible long-term solution, however while this installation would have proved some protection, in this instance we believe we are unable to create a look which is in keeping with its iconic setting and have taken the decision to remove it,” said an updated statement issued Monday.
The bridge, regarded as the most famous landmark in golf, originally was built to allow shepherds get across the small stream. In recent years, shepherds have given way to the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods, all of whom have been photographed crossing it for the final time at the home of golf. BACK TO HER ROOTS >> Few other LPGA Tour players touch so many parts of the
world as Albane Valenzuela from Stanford.
Born in New York, she moved to Mexico when she was 3 and then to Geneva three years later. She became a Swiss citizen at age 14 and was a Phi Beta Kappa when she graduated from Stanford with a degree in political science. She speaks four languages.
And now she has a Ladies European Tour card.
Valenzuela, a two-time Olympian, turned pro in the fall of 2019 and has spent the last three years on the LPGA with incremental success. She locked up her LPGA card for 2023 by finishing 68th in the Race to CME Globe.
And then she went to Spain in December to earn an LET card. She tied for sixth in Q-school, making it easily. Part of the appeal is the strongest LET schedule in history, and a big part is
the Solheim Cup.
“There's so many events worldwide and I think it's great as a professional golfer to have options to play globally,” Valenzuela said. “I obviously play a lot on the LPGA Tour and that will be my focus, but to be able to play a few events on the LET will be really fun.
“One of my big goals is to eventually play in the Solheim Cup, so I would love to make the team and that's part of the process.”
She starts her season this week in Morocco and is in the field for the Saudi Ladies International the following week.
STAT OF THE WEEK >> Justin Rose has 11 wins on the PGA Tour. Seven were at courses that have held either a major or a Ryder Cup — Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, Colonial, Congressional, Merion, Aronimink and Muirfield Village.