It is one of British golf’s hoariest clichés, tritely trotted out whenever meteorological conditions veer into something substantially worse than ideal: “The winner this week was the golf course.”

But it is a cliché for a reason. And the reason is Senior Open weeks like this one at cold, wet and windy (gusts up to 40 miles per hour) Royal Porthcawl on the shores of an endlessly choppy Bristol Channel. In short, this wonderful but often wild Welsh links, aided and abetted by mother nature, kicked some experienced butt.

The moment Alex Cejka claimed his 3⃣rd Senior Major Championship title ?#SeniorOpen | #Rolexpic.twitter.com/HnmRE2LRBM

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 30, 2023

The winning score is revealing of a tortuous four days. At the end of a final round that began with only one player, Alex Cejka, not already over par, the German eventually emerged as the new champion after closing with a five-over 76 that included a lost ball off the first tee and only three birdies. Cejka’s five-over-par 289 total was matched Padraig Harrington, who somehow got himself around in 75. Four-over after only four holes, the Irishman played the last 14 holes in a remarkable even par.

It took two playoff holes (both the par-5 18th) to separate the pair. The first was halved in birdies before Harrington failed to match Cejka’s second two-putt 4. Ironically, the owner of one of the best short games in golf, no matter the age, ended what had been a brave effort to secure the title by duffing a chip from a “cuppy” lie just behind the putting surface.

It was a sore one for the ever-persistent Harrington, who lost by a shot to Darren Clarke in this event at Gleneagles last year and was bidding to become only the fifth player, after Bob Charles, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Clarke, to win both the Open Championship and the Senior Open.

All of which was no concern for Cejka, who led for most of the final round and now owns three senior majors. It was somehow appropriate — and eminently predictable — that the destination of the title be decided more by a mistake than a decisive thrust. Indeed, the playoff was an appropriate postscript to what was, for all concerned, a test of survival as much as golfing skill.

All but two holes (the downwind sixth a par 5, and the 18th) averaged over par. The average 18-hole score was just over 78.5 and only two men, former PGA champion YE Yang and American Rob LaBritz, matched the par of 71. Yang, tied for 55th place after 54 holes, eventually rose as high as T-11. Another American, Mario Tiziani, had the distinction of making the day’s lone eagle.

Carnage.#SeniorOpen | #Rolex pic.twitter.com/Zd247FX1wR

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 30, 2023

It was carnage really. Or at least something not far short of it. Former PGA champion, Rich Beem, needed 84 shots to get around. Eight-time European Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie shot 88, six strokes more than former US Senior Open and Senior PGA champion Roger Chapman. Even renowned foul weather expert, former Open champion Paul Lawrie, took 81, as did last year’s Schwab Cup winner, Steven Alker, who played the last six holes in seven-over. In all, 26 members of the 70-strong field failed to break 80, with Swede Patrik Sjoland’s 89 the worst example.

Amid that plethora of sizable statistics, lower numbers were just about possible to achieve, especially during those brief periods when the almost horizontal rain abated and the relentless wind assumed the role of primary hazard.

Cejka, armed with a short game that time and again turned three shots into two, proved to be the best of a bedraggled bunch. That said, Harrington will surely rue, as well as that fluffed chip shot, the short putt he missed on the 16th green. Had that three-footer fallen, the gap between the two protagonists would have shrunk to a single shot.

“What a week,” said Cejka at a prize presentation conducted during yet another heavy downpour. “What a day. I still can’t believe I am here and have beaten Padraig in a playoff. He is such a great player. It’s been a really tough two days. I can’t believe I’m standing with the trophy here. Seeing all those great names on the trophy, coming in here with all the pictures and everything, all the guys who won it before me, now holding it myself, it’s surreal.

“I tried to make good shots, but it was almost impossible in conditions like today,” he continued. “In the end, I lost it a little bit. I didn’t really make good shots coming in, but I made some beautiful par saves. I didn’t want a playoff, especially against Padraig, but I’m glad it’s over and I’m just super happy.”

He should be. For those keeping score, Germany now has 15 senior major wins to its name, 12 of those attributable to Bernhard Langer. Ever consistent, the two-time Masters champion pulled up T-7 this week. But the spoils, of course, always go to the winner.

Congratulations Royal Porthcawl.

The post Sideways rain and 40mph gales: Alex Cejka emerges as Senior Open’s weathered winner appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Senior Open returns to Royal Porthcawl in Wales for a third time this week and several stars have spoken to the European Tour website about the challenge the historic Welsh links course poses.

Europe’s only Senior Major Championship is back at the venue following memorable events in 2014 and 2017 in which Germany’s Bernhard Langer won on both occasions.

When Royal Porthcawl hosted its first Senior Open in 2014, two-time Masters Champion Langer stormed to a wire-to-wire victory as he finished 13 shots ahead of runner-up Colin Montgomerie — a record margin that still stands.

Royal Porthcawl, which offers stunning views across Swansea Bay to the Gower Peninsula and offers a true test of golf, has hosted The Amateur Championship and the Walker Cup.

Once again the members’ 18th hole will be used as the first this week, but what are players making of the test?

Bernhard Langer. European Tour

Two-time Masters Champion Langer admitted both his triumphs were achieved in vastly different conditions and the German believes mentality will again be vital if he is to win his 13th senior Major title and fifth at this event.

“It is a typical links course and a very demanding one,” he told EuropeanTour.com. “The last two times we have played here were totally opposite. One time it was bone dry, the ball was running 100 yards — that was a challenge in itself because you couldn’t stop it.

“The second time we played it the rain came sideways, the wind was howling, and it was wet and miserable. But I am used to making the best of it. It seems to bring the best out of me.”

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good golf course.”

Colin Montgomerie. Getty Images

Colin Montgomerie, one of many European greats of the game in the field, believes Royal Porthcawl ranks highly among the best UK links courses.

The Scot revealed how new fairway bunkering since it last played host in 2017 will provide an even greater complexity.

“The greens have got a lot of undulation to them,” he said. “Most links greens don’t, the trouble is really off the tee with most links courses but here it is actually everything.

“They have put in a number of new fairway bunkers in the last five or six years since we were last year and it has made it much tighter off the tee.

“You will see a lot of people having to think more on their tee shots rather than just hit a driver aimlessly and try to find it.

“Now there are bunkers in the way and you know with links golf — Brian Harman proved it at The Open — if you stay out of the bunkers, drive the ball well you can score.

“You can always move it forward from the rough but you can’t move it forward from the bunkers, you have to come out sideways.

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good hole and golf course overall.”

Royal Porthcawl boasts a stunning setting sloping down to the seashore, with impressive views of the coastline from every hole.

Ian Woosnam. European Tour

The second to fourth holes can play particularly difficult when played into a freshening wind, something Ian Woosnam attests to as he highlighted the challenge of approach shots onto undulating greens.

“If the wind is off the left playing those first few holes, trying to get it on the green is a challenge,” he said. “You have got to try and hug the right hand side to get a better shot into the green.

“Once you get on the green it is hard to get it close and you have got to try and two putt.”

Padraig Harrington. Jared C. Tilton

But it isn’t just the greens that Pádraig Harrington is focusing on as he targets a strong performance off the tee in his bid to complete The Open-Senior Open double.

“The course is well designed,” the 15-time DP World Tour winner said. “There is a staggering number of bunkers. You can take some trouble out but you can’t take it all out. Avoiding trouble off the tee will be my goal for the week.

“Sometimes I will play cautious, sometimes I will play a little more aggressive. If I can avoid those bunkers and any of the major trouble I think that will set me up enough.

“The greens are difficult, there are slopes, but if I hit it straight you will create so many opportunities that you will overcome the odd lack of knowledge or the odd mistake around the greens.”

Darren Clarke. Mark Runnacles

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke is this week’s defending champion having won his first Senior Major at Gleneagles last summer.

On his first return to Royal Porthcawl since the 1988 European Team Amateur Championships, the 2011 Open Champion is excited and alert in equal measure of its challenges.

“Conditions-wise, holes, everything, it’s pristine,” he said. “But no, there are some very strategic bunkers positioned out there.

“Sometime you’ve got to play in between bunkers, carry one and not reach the next one.

“And then obviously with the contours on the greens, there are a few you’ve got to miss in the right place.

“The wind is going to get up a little stronger and that’s fine.”

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Walk into the clubhouse at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland and just about the first things you see are two trophies on proud display. One is instantly recognisable, the other is similar but distinct. Sitting alongside a replica of the Open Championship claret jug Darren Clarke won at Royal St George’s in 2011 is another not quite the same, this time commemorating the native son’s victory in the Senior Open at Gleneagles a year ago.

“Winning the Senior Open last year ranks pretty high on my list of achievements,” says Clarke, who this week will defend his title at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. “I really wanted to complete the pair if you like. And when you set a goal then actually achieve it, it’s a pretty nice feeling. I’m not sure where the Senior Open ranks exactly, maybe just behind my two World Golf Championships. All I can say is it meant a lot to me.”

One thing not working in Clarke’s favour at Porthcawl will be local knowledge. Although rightly renowned for his prowess on courses adjacent to oceans, the 54-year-old has not seen what’s universally acclaimed as Wales best links since 1989. Back then, Clarke was a member of the six-man Irish team that failed to defend its title in the European Amateur Team Championship. Although Clarke and his compatriots finished second in the stroke-play section of the competition, Scotland proved too good for them in the match-play semi-final. In the end, Ireland had to settle for third place.

“That’s a long time ago, but I remember it well,” says Clarke, whose best finish since beating fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington by a shot at Gleneagles a year ago is a tie for second in the PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai back in January. “And I’ve heard nothing but good reports about how the course is looking now. It’s just a really good venue and a proper test of every aspect of the game.”

Clarke appreciates the fact he’s often considered a favourite when he’s playing in a big event on a links course. “That’s my favourite form of the game,” he said. “But I’m going through a spell at the moment where I go to the range and flush every shot. Then I go to the putting green and make just about everything. Then I go on the course and it’s just not happening, which is frustrating. And it’s golf. And I know it’s a stage that usually leads to playing well. I’d be more worried if I wasn’t hitting good shots on the range and not making putts in practice.”

Clarke will arrive at Porthcawl on the back of a missed cut in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. Rounds of 73 and 77 added up to five shots too many for the former champion to make the cut. All in all, the two days he spent in the company off Thomas Pieters and Victor Perez was a frustrating experience, much as Clarke enjoyed the company and chat of the younger men. The passing years, however, are no friends of any golfer.

“I’m shorter off the tee than I was at the top of my game,” Clarke says. “But not a lot shorter. I seem to struggle mentally more than I did. I’m still winning on the Champions Tour, so I can still play. But my mind wanders sometimes. And I still try too hard. I still beat myself up too much. I can’t help myself. I so want to play well I get in my own way sometimes. I hit a couple of shots I shouldn’t hit, and I struggle to put those behind me. And the putter is cold at the minute, too. If I short-side myself, chip to six-feet and miss the putt, it’s like: ‘Here we go again.’”

All of which sounds more than familiar to long-time Clarke watchers. As well as he has done throughout his career, the recurring thought is that, with a little more tolerance of his own shortcomings, he could, would and should have won more often.

“I haven’t changed,” he admits. “Although I am a little more understanding and a little bit calmer than I was. It’s the old story: I love the game and I hate the game. But I still know how to get it done when I get a chance. Coming down the stretch last year was so much fun. Padraig put in a very strong finish, and I knew what I had to do. There was no coasting in. I had to birdie the last hole and I did, which was the most satisfying part of it.”

Still, the differences between Royal Liverpool and Royal Porthcawl are, at least where Clarke is concerned, more than marked. Both mentally and physically, it is a contrast he is well aware of.

“What was interesting last week was the location of the bunkers,” he says. “On the Champions Tour, I find I can carry most of the fairway bunkers, bunkers others struggle to reach. That situation was reversed at Hoylake. Victor and Thomas were flying bunkers I was struggling to reach. I still found a few of them though. I have no ego problems when I go to the Open now though. The only disappointment was what I shot, especially on the second day. If I thought I was going to do that, I wouldn’t have gone.”

That’s not to say Clarke lacks ambition. Given his state of play, he’s not so much over the hill as still having a bit to go before reaching the top.

“I’m going to Porthcawl to win,” he says. “Yes, I’ll have to hit the ball better than I did at Hoylake. Yes, I’ll need to putt better. But if I do those things I’ll be right there in contention. A decent week on the greens will give me a chance.”

Fighting talk. Let’s hope Royal Portrush has room for one more trophy.

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The 53-year-old entered the third round with a two-stroke lead but, despite giving himself chances, could only post a one-under 69 as England’s Broadhurst went three strokes better to share the lead on nine-under.

The Englishman, who won the Senior Open in 2016, responded to a bogey at the 12th with a trio of birdies from the 13th to card his four under round of 66 and put the pressure on Clarke with the rain getting heavier as the day went on.

Clarke dropped back-to-back shots on the 12th and 13th but steadied the ship to par his way in before his closing birdie ensured he would take a share of the lead into the final round where he will bid to add The Senior Open trophy to the Claret Jug he won in 2011.

The duo is one stroke clear of New Zealand’s Steven Alker and American Jerry Kelly, both Senior Major Champions, who share third place on eight-under. Eight-time European No. 1 Colin Montgomerie is the leading Scotsman in a share for fifth place on six-under, alongside Australian Stuart Appleby, Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and major champions Ernie Els and Pádraig Harrington.

Four-time Senior Open winner Bernhard Langer is a shot further back in a tie for 10th place alongside South Africa’s James Kingston.

“I’ve gone out there and I’ve played nicely all day,” said Clarke. “I’ve given myself chance after chance. I’ve hit good putts. They just haven’t gone in. I’ve hit 17 greens leading the tournament and played lovely. At least one decided to go in at the last.

“Everybody has practised and we got some rain today and I lost my speed. It was difficult with the moisture but it’s the same for everybody.

The 2011 Open champion added: “It would be pretty cool to have both of them sitting beside each other, you know what I mean. I would love to win the Senior Open as well as the main Open.

“Tomorrow I give myself an opportunity again. I did it last year, and I gave myself an opportunity. Felt like I didn’t quite play well enough on the Sunday. Doddy came through and played great. Hopefully hit a couple more putts and give myself a better chance coming down the last few holes.”

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The post Senior Open: Paul Broadhurst and Darren Clarke set for final day battle at Gleneagles appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Northern Irishman leads on eight-under at Gleneagles, two strokes clear of American Scott Parel, after four back-nine birdies saw him set the target before the temperature dropped in the afternoon and made it difficult for anyone to challenge his lead.

The 2011 Open Champion made the turn in one-over after bogeys at the second and seventh sandwiched a birdie at the fourth, before going on to mirror his back nine from the opening day with birdies at the 10th, 14th, 15th and 18th.

Clarke, who has three wins on the PGA TOUR Champions since turning 50, is in pole position to claim his first Senior Major Championship with two rounds to play, but he will need to fend off a star-studded leaderboard if he is to become only the fourth man to win both The Open Championship and The Senior Open.

Fellow former Champion Golfers of the Year Ernie Els and Pádraig Harrington, who will also bid to join Bob Charles, Gary Player and Tom Watson in completing the historic double, are three strokes back in a share for third place on five-under, alongside four-time Senior Open Champion Bernhard Langer, 2016 winner Paul Broadhurst, American duo Kent Jones and Jerry Kelly, Canadian Stephen Ames and South African David Frost.

“Around the front nine today, I was so-so,” said Clarke. “I slipped. My right foot slipped a couple of times. But apart from that, I played really nicely. I’m trying to hit a lot of fairways and give myself decent looks. All the way around the back nine, I kept hitting nice shots. And could have been a few better. But, you know, it’s the way it is.

“There’s a few flags that were out there today as well that you just cannot go after. You’ve got to hit away from those as well. So they’re a little bit linksy as well.

“With the fairways being as good as they are, as tight as they are, you can really nip one. I got a little bit too much spin on the second shot into 17. But if you’re striking the ball, you can still spin it quite a bit.

“So it gives you opportunity. If you keep it in the fairway around here, you can score. But if you start missing the fairways, it’s going to be a struggle because you’re playing for fliers and the ball is releasing as much, you never know how far or short of the green or whatever. But the fact is so far I’ve done a decent job to get them on the fairways.”

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The post Classy Darren Clarke claims Senior Open lead at Gleneagles appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

On Monday, the NBC/Golf Channel analyst swapped his microphone for his golf clubs and qualified for this week’s Senior Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club. Chamblee earned his spot in the field by shooting a one-under-par 72 at Fairhaven. Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch snapped this photo after of his happy friend:

pic.twitter.com/3l85HhZxN1

— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) July 22, 2019

It wasn’t quite the performance as last year when Chamblee shot 69 and was medalist at his qualifier. This time, he finished tied for eighth among the 133 golfers who finished their rounds. And if we’re nitpicking his play—as Chamblee does (well) of others at his day job—he bogeyed a par 5 to finish his round. Not very clutch, Brandel!

All kidding aside, this is an impressive accomplishment for a part-time golfer. Even if Chamblee, 57, happens to be a part-time golfer who once won on the PGA Tour.

Chamblee’s next goal? Play better than he did at St. Andrews last year, where he shot 77-75 to miss the cut. After, he bluntly assessed his own golf game.

“It was tougher than I thought it would be,” Chamblee said following the second round. “Yesterday I wasn’t sharp hitting the ball, and I putted atrociously. Today, I was pretty sharp hitting the ball, but I found my way into a couple of pot bunkers. And continued to putt like a buffoon.”

In other words, no matter how he plays this week, it should be entertaining.

The post Brandel Chamblee qualifies for Senior Open for the second year in a row appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Three years on from his emotional farewell to an Open Championship he had graced for four decades, Tom Watson is back in St. Andrews. The 68-year-old, five times a winner of the game’s most historic event, has returned to the Auld Grey Toon in search of a third Senior Open title. It is an occasion for much sentimentality and nostalgia, even if the Old Course is the only Scottish venue on the Open rota where Watson did not hoist the claret jug skyward.

“Ask any golfer what course first comes to mind and it’s St. Andrews,” he said. “It is recognized around the world as a very special place to be. People make sojourns here from all over the world.”

Watson himself has been visiting the East Neuk of Fife since 1978 when he played his first Open at St. Andrews. In that time he has seen many things, including much change on and off the ancient links.

“Every now and then I go over to the cemetery to see Tom Morris Jr.’s gravesite,” he continued. “And being honoured by St. Andrews University several years ago with Arnold Palmer was a very special event. Walking by always evokes some really strong memories.

“Back in ’78 there actually wasn’t much here in the town. The restaurants pretty much closed down at night. There wasn’t a lot going on. Now there’s a lot going on and it’s fun. But St. Andrews is my favourite venue because the town is right on the 18th hole. At 10 p.m. in 2015, they all came out of the pubs to see some old has-been finish up his Open Championship career. My last four shots were a shank and 3-putts. I hope I do a little bit better this week.”

On the course, many things have altered just as much over the last 40 years, most notably the location of the tees in relation to the previous greens. Where once golfers stepped off a putting surface onto the next tee, now there is a long walk before teeing-up on the following hole. The explosion in driving distances is behind all those footsteps, of course. But Watson has a solution, for which he credits NBC commentator and former Ryder Cup player David Feherty.

“It’s really different here now,” Watson said. “Now then we finish, say, the 14th hole the next tee is way back there. But that has to happen and they will move them back even farther. That’s just the way that the game is.

“The biggest change in the [professional] game has been the golf ball. You can say players swing faster because they work out and they are stronger. Yeah, that’s an element. But when they changed the golf ball in 2001 it was 29 yards different. Let’s say you hit drives on 14 holes, that’s over 400 extra yards. Add the extra distance you get with the irons and that’s maybe another 100 yards. So the course is 500 yards shorter.”

And the solution? It is actually one that has been used before. Thirty-five years or so after the world of golf outside the United States switched from the 1.62-inch diameter ball to one 0.06 inches bigger—and so lost maybe 20 yards from drives as a result—Watson and Feherty approve of a repeat.

“You could have one ball for the pros and let the amateurs play with anything they want,” Watson said. “Or you could play one ball in major amateur championships, as well as the professional tours. Yeah, we could do that. But I like Feherty’s response to it. I was talking to David at the Masters. He said: ‘Just make the ball bigger. That will make up the difference in distance.’”

Problem solved. Next.

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