Photos: Day One Scottish Open At Gullane

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With little breeze, excellent turf and crisp (light sweater) weather at Gullane, opening day scoring in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open was excellent.

Thorbjorn Olesen opened with a 7-under-par 63 and leads a lost of players including a trio of Americans--Jimmy Walker (65), Rickie Fowler (66), Matt Kuchar (66)--along with a resurgent Graeme McDowell. I watched Fowler for a few holes and he looked particularly relaxed, as if the U.S. Open never happened (a short write up here at The Loop). Ewan Murray's Guardian game story also focused on the fine scoring by the Americans along with Olesen's hopes to qualify for The Open.

As hoped, the tournament setup at Gullane captured the essence of this special course and town. It never hurts to have an Archie Baird sighting either! He held court at his museum just off the pro shop, receiving a visit from European Tour Chief Executive George O'Grady while giving a few tours to impressionable lads who got their first lesson in golf and clubmaking history before heading out to find, who else, Rickie.

That, plus Nike's special Scottish/Open Championship logo and some scenes from a well-attended Thursday at Gullane:

Trump! What Will The Golf Bodies Do Next?

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Brendan Prunty's New York Times story quotes The Donald, who is not backing down in the face of losing the Grand Slam of Golf at Trump National. 

From Tuesday's story:

 “I’ve been very loyal to golf,” Trump said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “I own 17 clubs. They all do great. We will see whether or not golf is loyal to me.”

Former PGA President Ted Bishop noted his lack of surprise that the PGA stopped at the Grand Slam.

“I think a lot of people are surprised that it wasn’t all or nothing,” said the former P.G.A. of America president Ted Bishop. “I don’t know what kind of statement the P.G.A. of America makes by saying, ‘We’re not going to do this for one year, but we’re going to go back for all these others.’ ”

Which leaves us with the future and also questions now about why golf got so heavily invested in Trump properties knowing the man's proclivity to generate controversy.

Alex Miceli reveals in Golfweek that the previous PGA of America regime was not interested in working with Trump, but that changed with the Bevacqua and Bishop.

“When Pete came to me about Trump, I was 100 percent in favor of working with him,” said Bishop, recalling the beginnings of the relationship. “Under former CEO Joe Steranka, the PGA was not interested in working with Trump. It was just a non-starter with Joe.”

For his part, Steranka, who retired in 2012 and now leads the charitable arm of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic, was unwilling to discuss his dealings with Trump.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Steranka said from his office in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. "The PGA is sorting through this, and looking back about what was going on when I was there doesn’t address today’s things they have to focus on.”

Up next and much grander on the big ticket item list: what happens to the 2017 U.S. Women's Open at Trump Bedminster, the 2022 PGA at the same venue, and of course, rumored Scottish Open's at Trump International or Open Championship at Turnberry.

Gullane Must: Archie Baird's Heritage Of Golf Museum

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Any golfers who have been to Scottish Open host Gullane only get the complete experience by visiting Archie Baird's Heritage of Golf museum.

While I'm not on the grounds yet at Gullane and am unsure what the museum's status is within the tournament setup, this Brandon Tucker story gives a nice synopsis of Archie's tribute to the game.

Baird especially enjoys talking about the golf ball, which went from an expensive, feather-core ball to a cheaper, more mass-produced ball made of a black, gum-like Gutta-Percha, just after 1850. This allowed the number of golf clubs in the world to go from just a handful to thousands by 1900.

The tour ends rather abruptly, as Baird notes:

"Then the modern, rubber-core ball came along in the 1920s, courses had to adapt to it, and I lost interest. Any questions?"

That's our man!

Here's a video taken by some American visitors...

Architecting A Plan For The Old Course In A Day And A Half

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I wasn't surprised to read Jordan Spieth making an eloquent case for playing the John Deere Classic over getting to Scotland sooner to prepare for The Open. (Though a "good feels" reference was jarring to see in this Ryan Lavner piece. Then again, feels travel according to the feels maestro his ownself.)

More interesting was coach Cameron McCormick's assertion that a plan for attacking the most complicated course on the planet should be "architected" by Tuesday afternoon. Considering the number of players over time who have said they could never fully know grasp all there is to know about the Old Course and its changing winds, surprise bunkers and intricate contouring, dare I say this sounds a bit presumptuous?

From John Strege's report for The Loop:

“The other side of that is developing a game plan and acclimating to both time and weather conditions. Jordan’s always been a quick study — developing tactical intelligence, where the right places to be on the course — and with [caddie] Michael [Greller] amplifying that, I see no reason why he can’t have the right plan architected by Tuesday afternoon.”

Holly Sonders "Reassigned" To Postgame Show Role

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I always thought Holly Sonders was hired by Fox Sports to be their Erin Andrews in the studio and sidelines, and after tough reviews for her U.S. Open interviews along with the horrible effort by Curt Menifee, the former Golf Channel star is headed back to the studio. Where she was always meant to be?!

Aaron Kasinitz reports.

"We're not reassigning Holly because she did a bad job," Fox's coordinating producer Mark Loomis said. "I think Holly's been great for us. It's just that she can't do both the postgame show and the interviews."

The show Sonders is set to host will be on-site at the Lancaster Country Club.