Getting Ready For Three Weeks Of Links Golf

Thursday's kick-off of the Ricoh Women's British Open and the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open will be followed by The Open and finally, the Senior British Open.

With the Ryder Cup headed to an inland Jack Nicklaus design, this is our first and only chance to soak up links golf. I set up the next three weeks in this Loop post and add some pithy lines from the great Bernard Darwin to whet your appetite. I also added this short post on the wackiest entrance drive I've ever seen, the one-lane road to Royal Aberdeen's next door neighbor, Murcar.

As for Royal Aberdeen's Balgownie course, it's a sensational links with a brutal outgoing nine and a more reasonable incoming nine that is marred slightly by a modified 12th green (Martin Hawtree) and a bland 17th hole. The penultimate hole is not poor, it's just that the club's shorter Silverburn course's sporty 17th sits next to the Balgownie 17th and easily could be confused as the hole you are supposed to go to after the 16th. I've included it at the tail end of this slideshow from 2012 when the course was especially lush from spring rains.

Coverage of the Scottish Open starts Thursday on Golf Channel in the U.S., with 90 minutes each weekend day airing on NBC.

2022 Ryder Cup "Bidding Process" Requirements Named

The European Tour put out the For Sale sign on the 2022 Ryder Cup and it's great fun to see what they have in mind for the one major event in golf where the highest bidder wins, regardless of locale or course quality.

Bids are due in August, with a chance to beef up the offer in February 2015. A winner will be named in fall, 2015.

From the official Ryder Cup site, notes on the "Bidding Process."

It is expected that bids will be submitted from a wide range of countries whose players are eligible for selection to The European Team and who are sure to benefit in a similar manner to previous host countries from the unique sporting eminence of The Ryder Cup.

That would seem to rule out Dubai, mercifully.

KEY BID CRITERIA FOR THE 2022 RYDER CUP

1.       Demonstrable Government, Political, Institutional and Golfing Community support

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

2.       Commitment to the development of a world-class golf facility (new or existing) to host The 2022 Ryder Cup

God forbid we'd use one that's proven itself worthy, like The Old Course.

3.       Provision of ancillary facilities, suitable access and infrastructure commensurate with the staging of an international sporting event, including proximity to a major international city

4.       Commercial opportunities available to The Ryder Cup

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

5.       Contribution of the Bid Country to the development of golf, for example:
Ø  Legacy
Ø  Contribution to the professional game
Ø  Integration of golf within tourism and business communities
Ø  Development of levels of golf participation
Ø  Professional tournament golf at all levels
Ø  Contribution to The Ryder Cup: eg Player eligibility and participation

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Video: Rory Turns Off Phone, Gives Away Laptop, Holes Shot

Formerly engaged Rory McIlroy revealed after an opening 68 at Wentworth that he's turned off his cell phone and given away his laptop, reports James Corrigan.

McIlroy revealed that he has taken what other youngsters may consider radical steps to stay in a bubble. “I haven’t put my phone on for two days and have given away my laptop,” he said. “It’s sort of like living in the Sixties and Seventies.

"It’s part of life, it’s s----y, but it is the way it is. I made a commitment to be here. It’s the European Tour’s flagship event. I’m very proud to be part of the European Tour. The European Tour have been very good to me over the last number of years.”

Ewan Murray offered this reflection on McIlroy's shocking about face on his engagement to longtime girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki.

Albeit it contradicts the fact McIlroy is single-minded, there has always been a theory that he felt almost obliged to settle down due to the advice of elder statesman. The legendary Gary Player, for example, previously insisted that McIlroy has “got to find himself a wife that’ll help him, actually almost dedicate her life to him being a success”. Such old-fashioned logic is not in touch with modern reality for a global star such as McIlroy who has always displayed a tendency to live life to the full.

Because we're still apparently living in the 20th century, footage of McIlroy's retro high-spin approach shot is not available through, say, the European Tour's YouTube account.

However, GolfCentralDaily thankfully put the shot up: