Get Set for More Drama

Call it tough, call it  monstrously tough, call it Car-nasty, call it whatever you damn well like. But the facts are that this year’s Open venue, Carnoustie, provides Hollywood-style nail-biting drama like you wouldn’t believe.

Eight years on from the last time the Angus links took the spotlight on the global sporting stage, Carnoustie is back and the R&A says it is better than ever. The course may be 24 yards shorter than Augusta National was for this year’s Masters but it is still the longest course in Open history at 7,421 yards, 140 yards short of being the longest in ‘Major’ history.

But the course, at least according to the R&A, will not hog the headlines this time round, certainly not in the same manner it did back in 1999 when the scoring was the highest in an Open since 1947 and the highest in a ‘Major’ since 1963. Peter Dawson, the R&A chief executive, has been at pains to rid the venue of its Car-Nasty tag while at the same time admitting it deserves its reputation as “the toughest course we use”.
It certainly is, yet he says golf’s governing body is not “seeking carnage”; it’s looking to reward the best player.

That man eight years ago was Scotsman Paul Lawrie. The Aberdonian charged through the field on the final day, making a mockery of a
ten shot difference between himself and overnight leader Jean Van de Velde, who had a five-shot advantage going into his last 18 holes. “What can happen?” said the Frenchman to a horde of media on the Saturday night. Not one person could have predicted what would happen.

Standing on the 18th tee with a three-shot lead, Van de Velde needed a double-bogey six to become the first Frenchman since Arnaud Massy in 1907 to win the Open. But he signed for a triple-bogey 7, having found the rough, the huge 18th grandstand, the Barry Burn and even the greenside bunker. It was car-crash TV and, sadly from Lawrie’s point of view, it clouded a well-deserved victory. “It doesn’t sit kindly with me,” said Lawrie recently, when reminded that his personal success is always mentioned alongside Van de Velde’s personal disaster.

The Frenchman has not been given automatic entry to repair the damage that fateful day as the R&A refused to offer an invitation in case it set a precedent. Like many others, Van de Velde will have to qualify for the right to tee up. It would be a fine sight to see his return, that’s for sure.