Tiger Shocked To Find Old Course Soft And Slow

Bob Harig of ESPN.com on Tiger's first practice round at the 2015 Open Championship, his first appearance there since 2010.

From Harig's story:

"I was shocked," Woods said. "I had seen photos of it a month ago. It was bone dry. It looked like it was going to be one of those dust bowls again; hard, fast, like the years I've played St. Andrews. It's changed. They got big rain and a lot of sun. It's totally changed.

"I'm going to have to do a little bit of feel around the greens, my putting. I wasn't expecting the firmness to be that soft. We made ball marks on the greens. I don't ever remember making ball marks around this place."

Video: Old Course Eleventh And Twelfth Hole Flyovers

One of the most emulated par-3s in the way of greenside bunkering schemes has otherwise not been very well replicated by architect who have been inspired by the Eden. (Unlike the Redan, which has been improved on and which this golfer posted a nice five on today.)

The 11th features a softened green to make a portion over the sand more pinnable during The Open. Next week we'll find out if the effort succeeded.

The flyover:

Outside of the finishing holes, this stretch

The short 12th is one of the lesser known influences on the modern driveable par-4 movement and probably continues to live in a form of architectural anonymity due to its location in the round and the lack of spectating options during The Open. Nonetheless, it's a fascinating hole and one when, played with a helping wind, may be best approach from over the green.

The flyover:

St. Andrews Videos: Bobby Jones Wins In 1927

The Open's official highlights from Bobby Jones winning in 1927 includes some great shots on the course and era-approprirate music. What a time and place!

The weather wasn't so hot in 1927, so if you're going this year this ought to be a reminder to pack that umbrella:

Check out this Critical Past footage and note the crowd stampeding over the Road green.

Finally, and my favorite of the clips, the footage of the crowd rushing the Home green after Jones clinches. If you watch carefully at the 0:49 mark you can see the epic moment when the crowd lifts Jones and carries him away. That moment produced quite possibly the greatest golf image ever, and it leads off this GolfDigest.com slideshow.

The AP game story from the time (unbylined) makes for fun reading because it describes the reaction to Jones finishing his round and says he was in the ninth of 27 pairs to go out (yikes playing behind that stampede). The story that ran in papers across America includes this epic description of the R&A clubhouse when pointing out how Jones was leaving the Claret Jug behind for safe keeping. Someone had WiFi issues! Excuse me, typewriter ribbon problems...

The announcement was made before a crowd of several thousand persons jamming the spacious St. Andrews eighteenth green and terraces around the drab old stone pile which houses the potentates of the royal and ancient game, awaiting the presentation ceremony.

Jones posted a 285 total to beat Aubrey Boomer and Fred Robson by six strokes.

"All are welcome at the home of golf on Sundays. Except golfers."

I haven't a clue why, on the eve of the U.S. Open with St. Andrews hosting The Open in a month, the New York Times felt compelled to run Sam Borden's piece on Sundays at The Old Course. Even ill-timed, it's an enjoyable read.

Borden writes:

Sunday activities on the Old Course over the years have run the gamut. A local woman named Marie-Noel, who declined to give her surname, said she recalled members of her family laying out their laundry on the course some weeks and added, with a mixture of sheepishness and pride, that she and her friends used to participate in an on-course drinking game known as Port Golf when she was attending a university nearby.
Matheson, one of four guides handling the daily tours, recalled seeing fishermen spread their nets on the fairways so they could mend them. He shook his head when relating a story about a woman in high heels trying to walk across one of the greens.

“That happens more than you would think,” he said. “Then you sometimes see some of the boys out with a football trying to have a proper game before they get chased away.”

Matheson said he had never heard of any serious discussion about changing the Sunday rule. He noted that Old Tom Morris, the legendary player and greenskeeper who revitalized the Old Course in the mid-1800s, was said to have preached, “Even if the golfers don’t need a rest, the course does.”

Old Course Snags Another One: Add Rory To The Converted List

Add Rory McIlroy to the long list of elite golfers who have found the Old Course at St. Andrews lacking ("hated it" in McIlroy's case), only to play it more and more and fall in love.

From Doug Ferguson's AP notes column:

"Thought it was the worst golf course I've ever played," he said. "I just stood up on every tee and was like, 'What is the fascination about this place?' But the more you play it and the more you learn about the golf course and the little nuances, you learn to appreciate it. Now it's my favorite golf course in the world."

Links Trust Ups The Ante In Fight Over St. Andrews Name

The operators and caretakers of the world's most important course continue to take their eye off the ball and focus on suing those using the St. Andrews name.

The Scotsman's Shan Ross reports on their serving citations on St Andrews International Golf Club and Feddinch Developments over the new 18-hole private Tom Weiskopf course on the outskirts of St. Andrews.

The claim is that the private companies, operating on the outskirts of St Andrews, are passing off and taking benefit from the internationally-renowned activities and reputation of the St Andrews Links Trust (SALT), the charitable trust which runs seven courses, of which the Old Course is one.

The citation centres round the issue that the private companies have been incorporated to deceive or confuse the public, or to induce the belief that their golf-related goods and services are connected with those belonging to Salt.

Ewan McKay, a director with SAIGC and Feddinch Developments Ltd, said that this was not the first time that local businesses had been pursued by the trust over use of the St Andrews name.

“The fact is that they [Salt] are in dispute with several local companies over the same issue and I find the whole thing abhorrent,” he said.

“What right has a body established in 1974 got to deny people who have businesses in St Andrews to use that name?”