Mention Carnoustie and the 1999 British Open, and, almost invariably, the reaction of PGA Tour players is the same. There may be a raised eyebrow, some involuntary twitch or perhaps a throbbing vein in the neck. Eventually, when words come, denial is a common theme.
“I’ve kind of suppressed those memories,” Phil Mickelson said.
“It was very difficult to get the ball in play,” Jim Furyk said. “I really like the golf course – I just wasn’t extremely fond of the setup.”
The image of the event that most readily comes to mind, of course, is the 72nd-hole collapse of Jean Van de Velde, whose series of physical and mental blunders threw away Europe’s most cherished title. But even before that, Carnoustie – or, as some call it, “Car-nasty” – had a reputation for being the world’s toughest course.
That honor could also go to Oakmont Country Club, site of this year’s U.S. Open.
Or maybe the brawnier, weather-toughened Augusta National Golf Club, which slapped players silly during the 2007 Masters.
Even before the first shot has been struck in Scotland, players thinking about the British Open (as well as the idea of dealing with Southern Hills in the stifling, humidity-driven heat of August) are wondering, how did golf’s major championships become so hard?
“I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be, because they are majors and everything, but they’re definitely two-for-two so far,” Vaughn Taylor said.
A native of Augusta, Taylor finished in a tie for 10th at this year’s Masters, where Zach Johnson’s winning score of 1-over-par 289 matched the highest in tournament history. At Oakmont, Angel Cabrera took the national championship with a score of 5-over on a course that had players spewing invectives at its difficulty – which still wasn’t enough to satisfy some locals.
“I still can’t believe the members were complaining that it wasn’t hard enough,” 2006 champion Geoff Ogilvy said.
Ogilvy is among those who feel that 2007 is representative of an ongoing trend, where major championship venues are configured to create two days of unmitigated torture – or four if you’re unlucky enough to make the weekend cut. The USGA, which runs the U.S. Open, makes no bones about its desire to recognize the game’s best golfer, which in its opinion entails more than hitting wedges from fluffy lies onto flat greens. Similarly, under the reign of Hootie Johnson, the Masters, which has increased the length at Augusta National more than 500 yards in recent years, has shown it wants to exceed the birdie-fest reputation it formerly embraced.
But Ogilvy argues that such thinking is a bit off-line.
“It’s the ‘harder is better’ concept,” he said. “Every course is going to that, but to me, ‘hard’ and ‘good’ are two different arguments. It’s fine for a course to be difficult, but it’s not a better course just because it plays harder.
“It’s getting to the point where, with the way they’re setting up courses, that players are walking away from majors thinking that they didn’t have any fun at all out there.”
Taylor says the weather in Georgia this spring, where Saturday’s third round was played in winter-like conditions, was the main culprit behind the high scores at Augusta.
“I don’t think it was what they wanted or expected,” he said. As for Oakmont, where he shot 74-78 to miss the cut, the fourth-year tour player said he had some of the feelings of inadequacy Ogilvy referred to.
“I really started wondering if I wasn’t good enough or something,” he said. “I just felt like I had to hit a perfect shot just to even get a glimpse at birdie.”
But others say that type of thinking is where the problem lies for players.
“I knew I wasn’t going to make perfect shots all the time. Once you become more accepting of that, I think it frees you to play better,” said Englishman Justin Rose, who finished in a tie for fifth at the Masters and a tie for 10th at the U.S. Open. “Oakmont wasn’t as tough as it could have been. The majors are more of a mental week – you’re not going to hit it flush every time, you’re going to have three-putts – I think the players who know that are the ones who end up doing well now.”
In 1999, the fairways at Carnoustie were super-skinny. Furyk and Ogilvy both said they don’t expect that to be the case this week. Ogilvy said he expects that play should be similar to last year’s British Open, which Tiger Woods won by bunting his golf ball around a dry and wispy Royal Liverpool.
Even if that’s the case, and Carnoustie isn’t as horrific as eight years ago, or the British isn’t the massacre-in-waiting that was the Masters or U.S. Open, Furyk said the event will still serve the same purpose as the others: separating players who can only dream of winning a major from those who have the skills to actually do it.
“We want to separate the guys who are playing well from the ones who aren’t, but we also want good shots to be rewarded,” Furyk said. “But if you look at Cabrera, he’s obviously a good player. And you’ve got Tiger winning them and being in the mix, and there’s Mickelson and Ogilvy. You’re looking at some pretty good players coming down the stretch.”
Glance
Facts and figures for the 136th British Open:
When: Thursday-Sunday
Site: Carnoustie, Scotland
Length: 7,421 yards
Par: 36-35-71
Purse: $8.46 million. Winner’s share is $1.51 million.
Defending champion: Tiger Woods
Television (all times MDT): Thursday-Friday, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., TNT; Saturday, 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., TNT; 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., KMGH-7; Sunday, 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., TNT; 6 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., KMGH-7
Staff writer Anthony Cottoncan be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
