Colin admits to being stumped by Prestwick’s top ranking
Colin Montgomerie is a proud Ayrshireman, but even he is slightly bemused as to how Prestwick was named Scotland’s Best Course at the recent World Golf Awards.
Scotland itself was declared to be the No. 1 golf destination on the planet, and why not with so many memorable courses in all corners of the country?
“It was quite a surprise that Prestwick was announced as the best course in Scotland,” Monty told The Sunday Post.
“Just down the coast, Turnberry is a better course, while there are a number on the east coast that could be considered as the best.
“Prestwick has never been in the top25! It’s quite weird. I’m not sure who was voting for that.”
With this year marking the 150th staging of The Open, Prestwick recreated the 12 holes that were used for the first staging of the game’s most-famous championship.
And that trip down memory lane must have been enough for the Ayrshire links to receive votes from tour operators, members of the golfing media and golf fans, who shape the World Golf Awards.
Back in 1860, it was Willie Park Sr who pipped Old Tom Morris by two strokes over three rounds over the 12-hole links.
Park became the inaugural Champion Golfer, and The Open had taken its first step on the way to becoming the huge international event we love today.
Monty has never played that original layout, and he is not sure how he would have coped with the hickory shafts and stuffy dress-codes of golf all those years ago.
“I have enough problems with modern clubs,” he joked.
“When you think how far the game has come in those 160 years or so, in terms of technology, some of the scores back then were quite astonishing.
“The ball was basically made of feathers, and clubs were ill-suited to getting it off the ground.
“But you see pictures of the guys like Old and Young Tom Morris, or Jamie Anderson, and they came through the ball well.
“That’s not easy doing a full swing wearing a three-piece tweed suit!
“And we’ve gone from wearing your Sunday best on the course to now, where golfers are wearing T-shirts and hoodies!”