"ST ANDREWS TO HOST 2015 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP"

For Immediate Release:

ST ANDREWS TO HOST 2015 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

11 October 2011, St Andrews, Scotland: The Open will return to the Home of Golf in 2015 when the 144th Championship is played at St Andrews from 16-19 July.

It will be the 29th time that golf’s oldest Major has been held over the Old Course.

South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen won by seven shots with a 16-under par total of 272 when The Open was last held at St Andrews in 2010.

The R&A’s Chief Executive Peter Dawson said: “We are delighted to announce that The Open will be returning to St Andrews and the historic Old Course in 2015.

“St Andrews has proved time and again that it is perfectly equipped to host The Open and I am certain we will yet again see a worthy winner lift the Claret Jug.

“Players, spectators and officials alike will welcome a return to the game’s spiritual home and I fully expect that we will witness another thrilling Championship.”

Euan Loudon, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming The Open Championship back to the Links.

“There is always a special sense of anticipation when The Open is played on the Old Course and it promises to be no different in 2015.

“Almost every great champion in the game has played here and there is no more fitting celebration of the rich heritage of the Home of Golf than hosting golf’s oldest Major Championship.”

In the course of its 28 Opens, St Andrews has often produced Champions who are the best of their generation. Tiger Woods won by eight and five shots in 2000 and 2005 respectively, joining past winners that include J. H. Taylor (1895, 1900), James Braid (1905, 10), Bobby Jones (1927), Peter Thomson (1955), Bobby Locke (1957), Jack Nicklaus (1970, 78), Seve Ballesteros (1984) and Sir Nick Faldo (1990).

DVR Alert: First Wheelchair Golfer To Play Old Course

7 ET Tuesday on ESPN's E60. The story:

After Mike Reeder lost both legs in Vietnam, he returned to the U.S. looking for purpose and direction – and found them during a chance encounter in a golf pro shop. Years later, as a devoted golfer, he’s chasing a different dream: to be the first wheelchair golfer to play the Old Course at St. Andrew’s. E:60 follows him to Scotland.

The preview:

World's Most Famous Course To Get Its Very Own Luxury Apartments; Duke's Course Tee Times Thrown In To Seal Deal!

Start saving up, the Hamilton Hall Grand will be providing all of the amenities for select mega-wealthy folks to look down on the Home hole at St. Andrews. Kohler plumbing included!

Our goal is to restore Hamilton Grand and create a dwelling that will make the people of St. Andrews proud, said Debbie Taylor, President Hospitality and Real Estate Group, Kohler Co. We have been honored to work with community members throughout this process. With their support, we are pleased to unveil our plans to the rest of the world.

Hamilton Grand will offer a total of 26 private residences ranging from two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments, including a penthouse with expansive 360-degree views and a private balcony. Residents will experience award-winning hospitality with butler service, valet parking and a golf concierge.

It's a job creator!

Hamilton Grand will also feature a Grill Restaurant and Bar, open to the public, and a Members Library on the ground floor. For an added premium, a private chef and sommelier is available to cook in the comfort of resident s apartments. Residents will have exclusive membership of The Duke s Course, Kohler Waters Spa and all the amenities of the Old Course Hotel including 4 distinct dining experiences.

Featuring unparalleled views of the Old Course, The West Sands Beach and the Bay of St. Andrews, the residences are available unfurnished or fully furnished with handcrafted furniture from Baker, a Kohler-owned company. Signature KOHLER plumbing products will be included in each residence.

Hamilton Grand will be a unique real estate opportunity for those who want to own a home in the birthplace of golf and a premier destination that is rich in history the holy grail of golf, said Taylor. We are looking forward to restoring the building using our restoration expertise, and returning a piece of Scottish history to its landmark status.

Third Open Championship Question: Could The R&A Get More Out Of The Old Course?

Okay the Open coverage will be winding down, but another question that's been on my mind involves the topic of course setup.

In my piece for Golf World summing up the Old Course's week, I get into the unnecessary rough throughout the course that eliminates key areas needed to attack certain hole locations. It appears to be a product of three things:

-Someone intentionally narrowing the place down

-Overall overwatering, leading to overspray unintentionally hitting native roughs

-Subtle mowing pattern changes over time

Because of space considerations, I also just mention but not detail the combination of some really edgy hole locations with redundancy of placements over the four days on some holes. The R&A theory on keeping holes bunched in small areas is due to the double greens and the desire to keep players moving. However, even with this situation carried out as planned, players still wait for their peers on the neighboring green.

The 7th (left) and (11th). Imagine swapping the hole locations one day to give players a fresh look? (Click to enlarge)So with that in mind, I'm wondering if the R&A is really getting the most out of the Old Course with their setup? This year things were not helped by a consistent wind direction over four days, but why not throw so major twists into the setup? Say, play the seventh hole to the eleventh green area and move eleven down nearer the seventh (this would require moving the scoreboard).

Or perhaps play the second hole to the sixteenth green one day and the sixteenth to the second? In other words, maximize the looks that players get over four days? After all, if there's any place you should be doing varied day-to-day setup, isn't the Old Course the one?

I did see one stellar mixing up move, when the 5th was played up front all three days, usually 12 to 15 paces from the front. Sunday, the hole was cut 85 paces deep into the green!

So should the R&A do more of that or would players and media howl when they fail to use the "traditional" hole locations?

Gigapan And Time Elapse-Video Of The Home Hole

Darren Carroll's Gigapan shot of the Home hole is up and while it's spectacular, I can't help but wonder how fun it would be to put one of these cameras up on a crane and shoot down on the Old Course's key holes so that we could zoom in and study the features.

Golf.com offers an alternative in the form of time-elapsed video. As great as it is, I think it'd be more fun to have one of these in the media lunch room to watch us scribes work the free buffet provided by the R&A (and it was quite good too).

"I think it's a good thing for St. Andrews so long as it does not stifle progress. I would want to be very satisfied that that was the case before being a supporter of it."

The sacred contours of the second hole should be protected from "progress." (Click to enlarge)Lost in the R&A press conference talk over changing the Old Course boundaries, the last minute rough mowing and the overall jaw dropping wackiness that is a the R&A trying to set up their home links course, was a question and Peter Dawson answer in today's presser. Steve Elling reports:

The Old Course has reportedly been listed as a nomination candidate for World Heritage status, a program run by the United Nations to help ensure that cultural icons remain protected, if not unmolested, for enjoyment by future generations.

Sounds like a perfect match for the so-called Home of Golf, yet Dawson said he only conditionally supported the notion -- providing that it must still allow some wiggle room for further R&A tinkering.

"I think it's a good thing for St. Andrews so long as it does not stifle progress," Dawson said. "I would want to be very satisfied that that was the case before being a supporter of it."

Of course, his definition of progress is a lot different than the way others see it!

"It's unfortunate because you're trying to get drama. It's a TV sport. The 17th has given them some great drama over the years. The change nearly has the opposite effect."

I'm sure we'll all be exhausted by the Road hole talk this week, especially since most centers on the new tee and not the narrowness of the landing area. But in reading Mark Reason's account, it's still a wonderful topic because of the golf-ball-goes-too-far element going mainstream in prominent UK papers like the Telegraph. (See post below.)

Also interesting is Graeme McDowell's view that many players will play the hole more conservatively and therefore have the opposite effect of the R&A's intent.

Players like McDowell have also warned that much of this week's field will now be more conservative and lay up to the front right edge of the green. They fear 'The sands of Nakajima' to the left or the path and wall to the right.

McDowell said: " It's unfortunate because you're trying to get drama. It's a TV sport. The 17th has given them some great drama over the years. The change nearly has the opposite effect. It's certainly a pretty significant change."

The R&A argues that if Tom Watson had the bottle to hit a 2-iron in his iconic battle against Seve Ballesteros in 1984, then the modern golfer should be able to cope with a 4-iron. Peter Dawson, the R&A chief executive, points out that the hole's length had not changed since 1900 and that players were coming in with very short irons.

The R&A hope that the extra length will force players to use a driver off the tee and a mid to long iron coming in. That will increase the risks of mistakes and bring the hazards more into play, particularly the infamous Road Hole bunker, nicknamed 'the sands of Nakajima' after the Japanese player who took five shots to get out.

Andrew Coltart was even more eloquent on the topic in a Scotland on Sunday piece by Paul Forsyth.

Andrew Coltart is another who fears that rolling back the years will lead to more conservative, even boring golf for the galleries. "I'm not sure it's going to be harder. In a way, it's going to be easier because you are going in there with a longer club. Part of the difficulty before was the temptation to go for a tight pin tucked behind the bunker. Now, if you're going in with a 4 or 5-iron instead of a 9-iron or wedge, that temptation is gone. You're just going to play short and right, and run it up the slope. You're going to see fewer guys in the bunker."

Coltart, who came through International Open Qualifying at Sunningdale, is rather a student of St Andrews. A member of the Scotland team that won the Dunhill Cup there in 1995, he loves the Old Course and everything it stands for. It has its faults - such as the pace of play, and the limited view it affords spectators - but the historic challenge it presents ought not to be tinkered with. "When Usain Bolt keeps breaking the 100-metre world record, they don't stick another couple of yards on his line to level it up. What's wrong with low scores? Let's make it attractive, make it exciting."

"OK, things change, time moves on, but people still look at art in the same way they did before. They still marvel at them. They don't touch them up to go with the flow. They should have left the 17th as it was. It's a gorgeous golf course, a wonderful place to play, but if you start making changes, it's not the same golf course. It's not the one played by the legends whose footsteps you are trying to follow."