Turnberry Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Contrary to Trump’s claims, R&A says its stance on avoiding Turnberry for Open hasn’t changed

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 12:03:36 +0000

By Evin Priest
The R&A has rejected claims made by former President Donald Trump that the governing body is looking to take the Open Championship back to the Trump-owned Turnberry course in Scotland.

After the Thursday pro-am at LIV Golf’s team finale outside Miami, Trump told reporters “the Open wants to come back” to the 116-year-old Scottish course he has owned since 2014. Turnberry has been among 10 courses on the Open rota used by the R&A, which organises the championship.

But after Trump took over the ownership, the R&A showed less interested in holding an Open there — the last time being 2009 — and after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, the R&A’s chief executive, Martin Slumbers, said his organisation “had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances”.

Despite this, Trump said on Thursday, “I can tell you they want to come back. I think [the ongoing feud between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour] will have to be sorted out first. We did a big surgery [redesign] on Turnberry and it has gotten great reviews, even from people who hate me. They [the R&A] want the Open to go back.”

On Friday, when contacted by reporters, a spokesperson from the R&A said: “There is no change to our position on this.”

Turnberry, located in Ayrshire, Scotland, has hosted four Opens: 1977, won by Tom Watson; 1986, won by current LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman; 1994 (Nick Price); and 2009 (Stewart Cink). The 2009 edition was special because Cink famously defeated a then-59-year-old Watson in a playoff.

Trump bought the resort in 2014 and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars renovating the hotel and redesigning the course. The renovation was done by Martin Ebert in 2016.

Trump properties have played host to two LIV events among its eight-event inaugural series — at Bedminster in New Jersey in July and this week’s team finale at Trump National Doral. Doral’s Blue Monster course hosted a PGA Tour event from 1962 to 2016 and it was won by the likes of Norman, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The tour left Trump’s Doral property in 2017 for a new venue and sponsor in Mexico.

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R&A has no plans to hold Open Championship at Trump Turnberry for ‘foreseeable future’

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 05:54:27 +0000

The par-3, 11th hole on the Ailsa Course at the Trump Turnberry, with the course’s famed lighthouse and the Ailsa Craig in the background. David Cannon

By John Huggan
Not since 2009 has the Open Championship been played over the Ailsa links at Turnberry on Scotland’s Ayrshire coast. And the prospects of golf’s oldest major returning anytime soon—long far-fetched given President Donald Trump’s controversial ownership of the resort—now appear even more distant. In the wake of the PGA of America’s decision to move next year’s PGA Championship away from Trump National Bedminster, the R&A has underlined its reluctance to grant what is now Trump Turnberry the opportunity to host the Open for a fifth time.

“We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future,” said Martin Slumbers, R&A chief executive, in a statement. “We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.”

The sites of the Open Championship have already been announced through 2024, Royal St. George’s hosting this summer, followed by the Old Course at St. Andrews, Royal Liverpool and Royal Troon. The earliest then that Turnberry could have conceivably hosted was 2025, although the R&A typically returns to St. Andrews roughly every five years, which would squeeze out any other Scottish courses until closer to the end of the decade.

Trump purchased Turnberry from Leisurecorp in 2014. He attended the last major tournament played over the Ailsa, the 2015 Women’s British Open won by Inbee Park. At the time, that event was run by the Ladies Golf Union. But since 2017, when the LGU merged with the R&A, the championship has, like its male counterpart, fallen under the auspices of the St. Andrews-based organization. So it would seem equally unlikely that Turnberry will host the WBO.

Or that Trump will see Turnberry in the foreseeable future. Just last week, in the wake of rumours that the president was planning to fly to Scotland at the same time as his successor’s Jan. 20 inauguration, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was quick to warn against any such visit.

Sturgeon said that the lockdown travel restrictions currently in place applied to the president as much as anyone else. “We are not allowing people to come into Scotland without an essential purpose right now, and that would apply to him just as it applies to anybody else,” Sturgeon said. “Coming to play golf is not what I consider to be an essential purpose.”

Trump attended the Women’s British Open at Turnberry in 2015 before becoming the president. Getty Images

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of these latest developments is that the Ailsa course is much improved since Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson in a four-hole playoff for the claret jug 12 years ago. In particular, the revamping by architect Marin Ebert of the ninth, 10th and 11th holes along the shores of the Firth of Clyde and in the shadow of the iconic lighthouse has greatly enhanced what was already one of golf’s most dramatic settings.

Sadly, however, that view will be reserved only for those prepared to pay a green fee that varies between £100 and £500 depending on the time of year. Seemingly as long as the Trump name is attached—the soon-to-be former president also owns the Trump International Golf Links just north of Aberdeen—no one in authority appears willing to play his game.

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Ten years later, Tom Watson reflects—but doesn’t dwell—on what could have been

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 04:55:36 +0000

By John Feinstein
Ten years later, Tom Watson remembers the days following the 2009 Open Championship more vividly than the four remarkable days that came before.

“You’re taxing my memory,” he said with a laugh in response to specific questions about that weekend at Turnberry when he came within a few inches of what arguably would have been golf’s most remarkable achievement. “I’ll be 70 in September, so some of my memories aren’t as clear as others.”

Watson is modest about his memory; it’s actually still very good.

But his most vivid memories are of what happened after he lost to Stewart Cink in a four-hole playoff at Turnberry that July.

“I really shook the disappointment off the day after—on Monday—when we got to London,” he said. “We flew right there because the Senior Open was that week (at Sunningdale) and I needed to play a practice round. I think I’d only seen the golf course once. When we got to the hotel, I was still kind of moping around, thinking, ‘I don’t want to go practice, I just want to stay here and do nothing.’ But then I sort of gave myself a kick in the butt and said, ‘Come on Tom, you have to move on. Go practice.’ I did and, after that, I really was OK.”

He finished T-7 that week, largely because he putted poorly. “I’d found a gimmick the week before that had helped me,” he said. “But it didn’t work for me the next week. I must have three-putted seven or eight times. I hit the ball well. I just couldn’t putt.”

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Watson had one seven-foot putt that would have decided the Open.

Watson had discovered the “gimmick” the previous Wednesday at Turnberry. Throughout his career, Watson always tinkered with his swing, with his putting stroke, with everything about his golf game—even on the day before a major championship.

“I putted horribly in the practice round on Tuesday,” he said. “So, I decided to try something different. I started rotating my shoulder as opposed to dropping my front shoulder. Wasn’t a huge change but, all of a sudden, everything started going in. I decided to stick with it. Right then, the thought occurred to me that I was capable of winning on this golf course. At that point there were a lot of places where I couldn’t hit the ball far enough to compete. But not Turnberry. I knew I had a chance.”

Watson loved the fact that the wind changed on Friday, coming from the northwest—unusual for the golf course. “It was my sixth major championships there,” (four Opens, two Senior Opens, winning one of each) Watson said. “I not only knew the golf course but I knew the winds better than anyone. Most of the guys had never played the golf course in a northwest wind. When I heard the weather report for the weekend, I figured that would help me.”

So did the putting gimmick. Watson shot a five-under-par 65 the first day in calm conditions and was tied for second, one shot behind leader Miguel-Angel Jiminez. Then the winds came and the low scores disappeared. Only seven players broke par on Friday. Watson shot an even-par 70 and was tied for the lead with Steve Marino.

The winds stayed up through the weekend. Watson’s one-over-par 71 was good enough to put him into the lead at four-under going into Sunday. A number of players were close behind—one of them Cink, three shots back at one-under.

“By then I knew I was playing well enough and putting well enough to win,” Watson said. “I got off to a shaky start Sunday (two early bogeys) but then made a couple of birdie putts and there we all were, coming down the stretch with a chance.”

Cink made a 15-foot birdie putt at 18 to finish off a one-under par 69, the best round of any of the leaders and was the clubhouse leader at two-under-par. Lee Westwood, thinking he needed a birdie to have a chance, three-putted the 18thto drop to one-under.

Watson had a tricky six-foot par putt at 16 and made it to stay at two-under-par. “Funny thing is I hit a bad putt and it went in,” he said. “Sometimes you hit a good putt and it doesn’t go in, sometimes it’s the other way around. I got lucky. ‘NOW, I thought, this is in my hands.’ When I walked to the 17thtee, I really felt like it was my tournament to win because it was a par 5 and if I could make a birdie, I’d have the lead with one hole to play.”

He did just that and walked to the 18th tee needing a par to become the oldest man ever—by more than 10 years—to win a major championship.

“The hole was playing downwind,” he said. “I knew if I could get my tee shot in the fairway, I should have a pretty reasonable second shot in.”

His tee shot found the fairway. Watson DOES remember the next few minutes in detail. He and Neil Oxman, who had caddied often for him since 2003 when Bruce Edwards was first stricken with ALS, walked briskly to the ball.

The day before, walking up 18 with the lead and everyone in the place on their feet cheering, Watson had looked at Oxman and said, “You know he’s up there watching don’t you?” a reference to Edwards, who died in 2004.

Oxman, who had been friends with Edwards since 1973, the year Edwards first caddied for Watson said, “Don’t make me cry.”

Both men had tears in their eyes as they walked onto the green.

Now though, with the championship one more good swing away, they were all business.

“I didn’t ask Ox what he thought on club selection very often,” Watson said. “But this time I did. I said, ‘What do you think?’ He paused a moment and then said, ‘I think it’s an eight.’ That’s what I thought too.”

Watson thought he had hit the shot perfectly when it came off the club. “I could see it was right down the stack. I thought, ‘If this lands in the right spot, I’ve got this.’”

He couldn’t see the ball land, but saw the high hop it took, which sent it bouncing and rolling through the green. “Andy (North, who was walking with the group for TV) told me later it landed on the downslope,” Watson said. “I’ve really never second-guessed anything about the shot. That’s golf. Sometimes you get lucky like I did on 16, sometimes you don’t.”

To this day, Oxman does second-guess himself. “I should have told him to hit nine,” he said. “Even if he’d come up just short, it’s an easier shot than the one he ended up with over the green.”

Oxman is too tough on himself. The bounce was a result of the vagaries of links golf. As Greg Norman often says, “There’s a reason why golf is a four-letter word.”

Watson’s ball nestled up against high grass and he tried to putt it from there, the ball going about seven feet past the hole.

“And then I hit an awful putt,” he said—always direct.

The putt, to win the championship, was a classic decel and it came up short and right.

Warren Little/Getty Images

I have often said that at that moment, Watson looked like Joe Hardy in “Damn Yankees,” when the devil turns him into an old man again. All the adrenaline and energy seemed to drain out of him.

“I was fine,” he insisted. “You miss a putt that badly, you aren’t going to look very good at that moment.”

Cink made two birdies in the playoff and won by six shots.

Watson “moved on” to the Senior Open. It was only a week later when he got home that he first understood the impact his performance had on people.

“Honestly, that’s what I remember the most,” he said. “The reaction was overwhelming. Thousands of letters; e-mails; texts—everything you can imagine. They came in for months. The theme of them was simple: you made me believe in myself again. You helped me try something that I thought I couldn’t do anymore. You inspired me to believe anything is possible. Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for that. It really touched me in ways I couldn’t have imagined.”

A year later, at St. Andrews, Watson and Cink played a practice round together. “I’ve always liked Stewart, he’s a very good guy,” Watson said. “We weren’t on the same tour anymore so I didn’t see much of him. I just thought it was something I wanted to do.”

Watson has only played Turnberry once since 2009, a Sunday morning outing with friends on the final day of the 2016 Open Championship, held down the road at Troon. The golf course has been redesigned since then (Watson loves the changes) but there were still plenty of memories for Watson that day.

“Most of them good,” he said. “I DID win twice there (1977 in his classic duel with Jack Nicklaus and 2003 in the Senior British) and I feel very good about the way I played in ’09. I was one lousy putt away.”

Watson will be in Northern Ireland this week for the Open Championship, which he last played a St. Andrews in 2015. Next week he will play in the Senior Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

He always loves returning to the UK. Having won the Open Championship five times—and the Senior Open three times—he has been an adopted son there for years.

“That’s the other thing I remember from that weekend,” he said. “Every time we walked on a tee or on a green, the people were unbelievable. I still get chills now thinking about that.”

And we all still get chills thinking about the miracle that might have been.

Should have been. Dammit.

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The Open 2019: What Tom Watson learned from Turnberry

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 03:13:17 +0000

Shortly after just missing out on a sixth Open Championship title in 2009, at age 59, Watson offered some lessons you can take from his experience

By Bob Verdi

Editors’ note: Tom Watson’s recollections of his near-miss at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry first appeared in the October 2009 issue of Golf Digest, shortly after he lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink and his bid, at 59, to be a six-time Open champion and the oldest winner of a major came to an end.

• • •

WHAT I TOOK AWAY from the British Open at Turnberry, among a lot of different emotions, is a real hurt that I did not finish the job. That’s the bottom line in any game you play. I hit two good shots on the 72nd hole, and it didn’t work out. That can happen in links golf. What I took away between the British and U.S. Senior Opens is bad plumbing. I had a meal over there, and my caddie, Neil Oxman, had warned me: Don’t eat Chinese or pizza in the United Kingdom. I went Chinese.

NEIL WAS WORKING for Labron Harris Jr. when he introduced me to Bruce [Edwards, Watson’s longtime caddie who died of ALS in 2004] in St. Louis in 1973. Neil pointed Bruce my way, and we formed a long-lasting relationship. Bruce was looking down on Turnberry. I know that. That was part of the spiritual experience over there: Let’s give it one more ride, Tom. One more ride they won’t forget, boss, before you head off into the sunset.

SERGIO GARCIA was in our threesome on Thursday and Friday. In the second round, after a first round when there was no wind, I knew going out on the front nine would be difficult. I didn’t handle it real well. Sergio came over and said, “C’mon, old man”—in a nice way—right when I was struggling. That helped get me going.

EVEN WITH THE LEAD Saturday, I wasn’t jumping out of my skin. I kept my tee ball in play, which you have to do over there. I’m not as good off tight lies as I used to be. I hit it thinner sometimes now. But my go-to punch was my tee ball, and I felt confident about that during practice rounds. I’ve always been a good wind player. You don’t lose that. You lose other things maybe, not that.

I REMEMBERED what Greg Norman had done the year before, when he led the British Open by a stroke at the turn Sunday [at age 53]. I was telecasting for ABC. I said there was no reason he couldn’t do well. I was supposed to do the same TV job at Turnberry on the weekend but was otherwise occupied. When you’re in the last group, there’s not a lot of chance to be in the booth.

I SLEPT FINE Saturday night, before the final round. My game plan was to make one more birdie than bogey over the last 18 holes. I thought that would have done the job, and it would have, but I didn’t pull it off. I made two more bogeys than birdies. I was nervous on Sunday, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was a good nervous. Saturday was the day that was interesting. As gentle a round as I’ve ever played in a major, as far as what I felt inside. I made a joke after the round that my nerves were fried, but that’s just what it was, a joke.

I’VE HEARD that on Sunday, Mathew Goggin was clapping for me as we came to the 72nd green in the last twosome. Then, apparently, Stewart Cink did the same on No. 18 in the playoff. Didn’t see it. Just heard about it. That just tells you, it’s all about the game, not me. Our sport is unique in that way, the conduct of our players and the respect for the game. Jack Nicklaus has always had the reputation of being a great loser—in the good sense. If you get beat, you tip your hat to the guy who beat you, just as he did with me in 1977 at Turnberry. If you can’t do that, there’s something wrong with you. A lot of sports are dog-eat-dog, but golf is different. This is our job—we try to whip the other guy—but it’s different.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Watson just misses his par putt for victory on the 18th green at Turnberry.

PEOPLE SAID I was smiling a lot, maybe more than any other player. How could you not, with the reception I was getting at every green?

ONE DO-OVER? I’d probably hit the 8-iron easier to the 72nd. I had 170 yards to the front, 164 to the right front, where you didn’t want to go because the green runs out to the right. So I hit it at the flag. Didn’t really see it because I can’t see anymore, but Andy North [ABC commentator] said it hit one foot on the green. You’d think I could stop it, but that crest was probably the driest part of the green.

FROM THE COLLAR behind the 18th hole on Sunday, I went with the theory that your worst putt is better than your worst chip—even with the success I’ve had chipping. The ball was sitting down; I could have stubbed a sand wedge and left it short. It was uphill and into the wind; the grain was against me. Problem is, the ball started bouncing. It came out of that lie bouncing, and hot.

MOST DISAPPOINTING was the putt to win in regulation. During Monday’s practice round, I made a slight adjustment in my putting stroke. I wanted to make sure I went more square to square. For the most part, I kept that thought throughout the week, and that’s what I was trying to think on the eight-footer on Sunday: Square to square; do what you’ve been doing; think what you’ve been thinking. But I took the club a little inside and never did get it in position. I blocked it with my left hand. Never released. Went right. Awful. I said I didn’t want to see a replay, but maybe I should, so I don’t do that again next time. Awful.

I GUESS HILARY [Watson’s wife] had her eyes closed on that last putt of regulation. She couldn’t bear to watch. Just as well. Maybe I should have used a designated putter. When it was all over, Hilary gave me a hug and said, “You did what you could do.” But I might never have another chance to beat the kids again.

WHEN YOU’RE PLAYING in the wind, you always have two clubs in mind before a shot. At least I do, and I did consider a 9-iron on the approach to the 72nd hole. The pin was about 20 yards back; it was between a 9 and an 8. I wound up using 8-iron, and I don’t second-guess myself there. I don’t know what would have happened had I hit 9-iron, but I don’t feel like it was a mistake.

NEITHER DID JACK. He called after I went to dinner Sunday night and said some nice things. He said, “You hit two perfect shots on the 72nd hole and made the right decision to putt the ball from the back of the green.” That took a little of the hurt out of what I was feeling, hearing from Jack. Jack said he watched the entire Sunday round on TV, something he would never do. Pretty cool. Most of the week, I’d been going back and forth with Barbara, texting on the cell phone. She made a point to let me know that she and Jack were pulling for me, telling me I looked great and all that. Which was also nice.

‘It’s the outcome that matters, not whether you hung in there at 59 and put on a good show.’

JACK AND BARBARA were there in 1994, after I’d lost [Watson was one off the lead entering the final round but shot a closing 74 to finish T-11]. We went to the little pitch-and-putt course right in front of the Turnberry Hotel. We played until we couldn’t see much anymore, just us and our wives, having a good time. We didn’t keep score or anything, and there were no winners or losers. Just having a good time.

AS MUCH AS IT HURT ME to lose this year, I could also feel how people there felt. It would have been a great story for you guys. When I came into the press tent after and saw all those long faces, that’s why I said, “This ain’t a funeral.”

THE THRILL of competing is tremendous, and the vibes I felt from those people and my peers during the week at Turnberry will never go away. After all, you lose in this game more often than you win. A lot more often. I’ve always been able to take defeat or disappointment and make lemonade out of it. Like Bobby Jones said, “You never learn in victory. You only learn in defeat.” It was a magical week, maybe my last chance to do something, and those feelings of warmth took a little of the sting out of it. I was humbled. Totally humbled.

BUT IT’S THE OUTCOME that matters, not whether you hung in there at 59 and put on a good show and almost made for a hell of a story. Some of the writers were kind, saying it was a great story anyway. I say, almost. I had it within my grasp, I was in a good frame of mind, I wasn’t nervous, but I let it slip away, and then in the playoff, I just didn’t put up much of a fight. More bad swings in four holes than in four days? Sure looked that way. Only one guy finished. I felt a great sense of serenity during the week. And deep, deep disappointment after.

WE WENT to Wildings that night. Hilary, me and a couple friends. Great restaurant; went there five times that week. Walked in, and everybody stood up. Pretty cool. Nice dinner, then after, I signed some stuff and took pictures. One—with some really nice-looking young girls—wound up on the front page of one of those tabs.

J.D. Cuban
After his playoff victory, Cink looks at the claret jug with Watson and low amateur Matteo Manassero.

ON THE PLANE TO LONDON the next day, another nice ovation. The night between was tough, though. You’re not human if you don’t play “What if?” You tend to look at failures instead of good bounces, the eight-footer you miss instead of the 60-footers you make.

HOW SO MANY people got my e-mail address, I don’t know. People I’ve contacted maybe once in my life. I heard from friends, of course: Sandy Tatum, Rush Limbaugh, Barbara and Jack. But hundreds from so many others I don’t really stay in touch with.

MICHAEL, MY SON, was morose. He’s 26, in commercial real estate back in Kansas City. I called him the Monday after, and he cried. I let the conversation end. Ten minutes later, I called him again and went over with him what it really meant. It’s only a game. I’ve cried before, but not then. I got messages from guys in Iraq I met two years ago on a USO Tour. I was affected by that, and still am. I’ve since played with men who didn’t have a left arm or a right arm. Or they left their legs over there. What they’re doing, that’s pressure. That’s not a game. Not an eight-footer.

THING IS, I MADE a lot of putts at Turnberry. Not just the no-brainers, but six- and 10-footers. If I had played the way I played from tee to green and made nothing, well, it would have been like 1994. Nick Price won that year at Turnberry, and that was more disappointing than this year, when I missed one chance to win on the 72nd hole. In 1994, I had a dozen opportunities. I putted terribly.

LINKS ARE GREAT EQUALISERS. If you’re not playing well, you’ll hit it in the hay. So I don’t agree that a 59-year-old guy almost winning reflects badly on the younger generation. The notion that they can’t finish, well, Stewart Cink finished. He drilled me in the playoff. And I feel bad he didn’t receive the adulation he deserved. Good man, faith, family. Did it the right way. After it was over, I told Stewart, “You wear this well … enjoy it.” Those of us inside the curtain know what it takes.

IT’S NOT OUT OF THE REALM of possibility that equipment had something to do with how well I did at Turnberry. The ball flies straighter than ever, and it goes farther. Obviously, straight is good on the links. On Sunday, after a birdie at No. 11, I hit my tee ball off line left on No. 12, but I caught a break when the ball hit a spectator and dropped in a perfect lie. I hit a 4-iron onto the green. I think I knocked it into only a couple fairway bunkers all week. I also used my hybrid 25 times in four days there. My Adams 18-degree. That was my sword. That’s about equipment, too. Not to say I couldn’t have done what I did with a 2-iron, but 2-irons are harder to hit than hybrids. Technology.

One do-over? I’d probably hit the 8-iron easier to the 72nd.

EQUIPMENT DOESN’T HELP me at Augusta National, which is why I said I’m a ceremonial golfer there and too hardheaded not to play at all. I can’t play No. 5 very well in the Masters, or No. 14 or No. 17. I just can’t go in there with a short-enough iron to hold those greens. At Turnberry, you can run some balls up on the greens, but you can’t really do that at Augusta. But they did what they did there for a reason, even though some guys who’ve won there recently aren’t bombers, like Mike Weir and Zach Johnson. Turnberry hasn’t changed my mind about my chances at Augusta, though.

I SAID SUNDAY NIGHT that I hope to be remembered as a hell of a golfer by my peers. I also hope people remember me for doing what I did the right way. I’ve made mistakes. We all do. But I’ve tried to live my life the right way.

I WAS ASKED about Tiger and how he played, and why he missed the cut. Well, I don’t know how he played because I never saw him play. If you’re off, if you’re not playing well on the links, you’re in trouble, no matter who you are. If you’re the No. 1 player in the world and you aren’t swinging the club the way you want to, your ball is going to wind up in some bad places. Which is where I wound up on No. 17, the third playoff hole. I was disappointed, yes, after not winning in regulation, but it’s not like I wasn’t ready for more. On that hole, though, I tried to hold the ball up in the crosswind off the tee and basically lost control of the club. I hooked it, big time, into the hay, and that killed me. Pull-hooked it into the hay, and it was pretty much over.

HOW CAN SOMEONE who doesn’t dominate on the Champions Tour go over there against the kids and almost win a British Open at age 59? I don’t know. Stealth and treachery? What can I say? There are horses for courses, and I had a good feel for Turnberry the minute I got there.

WHETHER PART OF THE REASON I can compete on occasions such as Turnberry is because I’m in decent shape, well, I come from good genes. I’ve also stopped smoking cigars. I was smoking too many, not on the course, but maybe eight or 10 of those little ones every day on the farm. Didn’t inhale, but my grandfather died of throat cancer.

J.D. Cuban
Watson’s one do-over from the round: hitting this 8-iron a little easier on the 72nd hole.

IN 1982, WHEN I WON the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, I was probably 175 pounds. Now, I’m 180. I had a left-hip replacement last October, and that’s worked out well. Right after you have one of those, they have you up and moving around. I don’t know that it’s helped so much with my golf game. I did it for quality of life. I had trouble sleeping because of the pain. No more.

I DON’T DRINK ALCOHOL anymore. I quit cold turkey, four or five years ago. Like cigars, I was doing too much of it, and I didn’t like myself when I was drinking. We’ve all been around people who drink too much, and they’re not pleasant to be around. Friends told me I was one of those people. I don’t remember my kids saying anything. But friends told me, and that’s what friends are for. Amazing when you’re sober how things look different. I don’t miss it, not at all.

MY SWING might look the same as it always has, but it really isn’t. I don’t have the extension I once had. The width of my arc is not what it used to be. My left arm bends a little bit now. I learned how to swing the golf club for real in 1994. I had some success before then, but in 1994, that’s when I found the key. Like Sam Snead said, we all have our keys. If one key stops working, you go to the next key. I found the key at 3:15 during practice on a Tuesday afternoon at the Heritage Classic, 1994, Hilton Head, South Carolina. That’s when I found the secret. My attack into the ball. I didn’t win that week, but I knew I had found it. I was tired of hitting the ball with toe-deep divots out to the right. I decided to swing like Corey Pavin’s practice swing. Swing to the left through impact.

AS SOON AS I DID THAT, I hit the ball perfect. Divots were square, and I had a different feeling with my right shoulder. It wasn’t as low coming into the ball. It all had to do with shoulder plane, keeping it the same on the downswing as it was on the backswing. I had always practiced my backswing. Then, out of frustration, I found something that worked.

I RAN INTO PETER DAWSON [the then R&A chief] on Saturday night at Turnberry. During the week, in press conferences, when I was asked about the age restriction at the British Open [champions are no longer exempt after 60], I hinted that it’s up to you folks in the media to get the message across to Peter. When I saw him, he told me, “Tom, you could make this whole point moot by winning tomorrow.” Then, even at age 60, I would have had a 10-year exemption. He was right, and I agree with what they do. The age limit is correct, because they have to make room for younger players.

Editors’ Note: In November 2009, the R&A changed its qualification rules to allow any Open champion to finish in the top 10 or ties to be exempt into the next five Opens, regardless of age. That allowed Watson to be exempt through the 2014 Open.

MICHAEL IS TELLING ME that after Turnberry, I should go back and play against the kids. The regular tour, not the Champions Tour. I told him to let it slide. Don’t get carried away, son. He’s going to caddie for me next year at St. Andrews. He missed Turnberry, but he’ll be there in 2010, and St. Andrews will be my last British Open, unless … you never know. We’ll need a little wind. There’s no law against me trying to do something crazy again, is there?

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The Open 2018: Trump Turnberry remains without a future Open date

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 05:11:24 +0000

Courtesy of Trump Turnberry

By Joel Beall
The Ailsa Course at Turnberry is one of the finest links in the world and a member of the Open rota. At least, ostensibly.

Turnberry has not hosted the Open Championship since 2009 and is not scheduled as a future venue. A matter that lies, at least in part, with the resort’s ownership. Before he ran for president, Donald Trump bought the property in 2014. His political foray has complicated matters, a sentiment acknowledged earlier this year by R&A chief executive Marin Slumbers.

“Turnberry is a fantastic golf course and will be a great venue when we get there,” Slumbers said in February. “It would be very complex having an Open at Turnberry at the moment. You’ve got the ownership issue of the course and the staging there. But there are a number of other courses we haven’t been to for a few years, and we are looking forward to going back to all of them.”

Speaking at Carnoustie, Slumbers continued to sidestep the Turnberry dilemma.

“With respect to 2022, I’ve already said, ’21 we’re going to be celebrating the 150th playing of The Open at St. Andrews,” Slumbers said Wednesday. “And in ’22, we’ll be going south of the border.”

Slumbers is referring to England, which boasts four Open rota links: Royal St. George’s, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Royal Liverpool and Royal Birkdale. Royal St. George’s, however, is scheduled to host in 2020. Lytham, where the claret jug last visited in 2012, would be the favourite, as Liverpool served as Open host in 2014 and Birkdale held the championship last summer.

There was a 15-year gap between the previous two times Turnberry staged the Open, 1994 and 2009. Extended that same time period, Turnberry would seemingly host again by 2024.

Turnberry has hosted a total of four Opens (1977 and 1986 being the others), and as well as two Women’s Opens (the last in 2015). The Ailsa Course ranks 10th in the latest Golf Digest World 100 rankings. Only Royal Dornoch, Muirfield and St. Andrews rank higher among Scottish links.

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R&A chief quiet on when Open might go to Turnberry, but gets more vocal on distance issue

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 05:57:03 +0000

Warren Little/R&A
Zach Johnson returns the Claret Jug to Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of the R&A, ahead of the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

By John Huggan
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The 150th Open Championship is going to the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2021. No surprise there. The Home of Golf has hosted the game’s oldest and most historic event more often than any other venue, 29 times since 1873. But, so far at least, there is no hint of the Ailsa course at Turnberry (owned by one Donald J. Trump) justifying its current place on the 10-strong rota. During a meeting with members of the British press held in the R&A’s equipment testing facility at Kingsbarns, chief executive Martin Slumbers was significantly evasive when the possibility of a firm date for what would be Turnberry’s first Open since 2009 was raised.

“Turnberry is a fantastic golf course and will be a great venue when we get there,” Slumbers said. “It would be very complex having an Open at Turnberry at the moment. You’ve got the ownership issue of the course and the staging there. But there are a number of other courses we haven’t been to for a few years and we are looking forward to going back to all of them. Turnberry remains one of the 10 courses, and it will considered every time that we come back to Scotland. What I can say is that because St. Andrews is such a magnetic place for people to come to, it is better to not play in Scotland the year after a St. Andrews Open. So we will be going to England in 2022.”

Where Slumbers was a bit more forthcoming was on the subject of escalating driving distances at the elite level of the game. Following the recent strongly worded comments from USGA executive director Mike Davis, the Englishman gave a strong hint that golf’s rules-making bodies are edging closer to taking action. So far this season, 68 PGA Tour players are averaging more than 300 yards off the tee.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the technology has made this difficult game just a little bit easier,” Slumbers said. “At a time when we want more people to play the game, I think that’s a good thing. But we do also think that golf is a game of skill and should be reflective of skill. If you look at the data, there has been a significant move up across all tours. We’re looking at the longest on-record average driving distance. Both of those have caused us and our colleagues at the USGA serious concern.

“For a number of years there has been a slow creep upwards, but this is a little bit more than slow creep. It’s actually quite a big jump. Our 2002 joint statement of principles put a line in the sand. But when you look at this data we have probably crossed that line in the sand. A serious discussion is now needed on where we go.”

Slumbers acknowledges there are many layers to the issue: “The technology in the drivers is getting better, so the clubhead speed is able to go up. And there are a few more players coming through who have been brought up in a longer-hitting environment. So it’s a whole combination of things. I don’t really want to pre-empt the upcoming Distance Report, but that’s what we’re now thinking.”

Inevitably, the subject of slow play raised its ugly cranium. But, despite recent controversies involving six-hour rounds and four-minute, 10-second approach shots, Slumbers expressed satisfaction with the length of time it takes players to get round an Open Championship course. Last year at Royal Birkdale the field averaged four hours and 45 minutes over the first two days. Then, playing in twosomes, that figure dropped to three hours and 45 minutes at the weekend. Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar, even with the long delay on the 13th hole, got round in four hours and six minutes on the final day.

The Open is the only R&A event where “ready golf” is not encouraged, a concept that has already seen some success in shortening rounds by “at least 10-15 minutes.”

“Pace of play is a significant impediment to people taking up the game,” Slumbers claimed. “There is no doubt about that. There has been a steady increase in the time it’s taken to play for years. We’ve got to change it around, which is why we introduced ready golf into all our stroke play events except the Open. Interestingly, the Ladies’ Amateur picked it up quicker than the Men’s Amateur. But they all embraced it and got on with it.”

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Could the Old Course at St. Andrews one day disappear? Report says it’s not as crazy as it sounds

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 06:38:59 +0000

Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Staff clear the course of water after heavy rainfall prior to the second round of the 2015 Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

By Ryan Herrington
A future without the Old Course at St. Andrews? Or Royal Troon? According to a new report, it’s a reality golf fans could potentially face in the wake of data about the impact of global warming.

The Climate Coalition, which represents more than 130 organizations in the United Kingdom studying the effects of climate change, released a paper titled “Game Changer: How climate change is impacting sports in the U.K.” In it, the group makes the case that rising temperatures can and will have a detrimental impact on some of the area’s most popular pastimes, including golf, soccer, skiing and cricket.

According to the report, six of the seven wettest years on record in the U.K. have taken place since 2000. Citing new rainfall patterns, rising sea levels and increased storm surges, the report states that golf courses along the coasts are already dealing with the adverse effects of erosion and will continue to be faced with issues down the road.

“Unchecked, the impacts of climate change could significantly affect the sport over the long term, particularly in Scotland,” the report states, noting that one in six of Scotland’s 600 courses are located on the coast.

The report mentions by name the Old Course at St. Andrews, the iconic Home of Golf and Open Championship venue, and Royal Troon, another cherished venue in the Open rota, as vulnerable. Other seaside courses in the U.K. that host the Open include Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Muirfield, Royal St. George’s, and Turnberry.

The Climate Coalition used Montrose Links as a case study. The first reference to golf being played at there was in 1562. In the last 30 years, however, the North Sea has crept 70 meters closer to the course, according to research published by Dundee University.

“As the sea rises and the coast falls away, we’re left with nowhere to go,” Chris Curnin, director of golf at Montrose, is quoted in the report. “Climate change is often seen as tomorrow’s problem, but it’s already eating away at our course.”

Cumin notes that in 2017 a rock armour protecting the first green and second tee would no longer suffice in a severe storm. The course, with the help of the local council, was forced to take rocks from near the third tee and move them to the armour to help fortify the area and prevent a major storm from doing significant damage to the course.

The report quotes Steve Issac, the R&A’s director of sustainability, about growing concerns for the sport.

“It [climate change] is certainly becoming a factor,” Isaac says. “Golf is impacted by climate change more than most other sports. Trends associated with climate change are resulting in periods of course closures, even during summer, with disruption seen to some professional tournaments. We are witnessing different types and timings of disease, pest and weed outbreaks. The future threats are very real, with course managers having to show adaptation if we are to maintain current standards of course condition. It is something we take very seriously.”

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St. Andrews one day disappear? Report says it’s not as crazy as it sounds appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Trump Turnberry, Trump International Golf Links post losses of nearly $25 million

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 07:25:18 +0000

The re-designed par 3, ninth hole of the Ailsa Course at the Trump Turnberry Resort. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

By John Strege

Trump Golf’s two Scotland properties, Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links, lost close to $25 million in 2016, according to financial reports released over the weekend.

Trump Turnberry on Scotland’s west coast bore the brunt of the losses, $23 million, the report says. “The company attributed the loss to currency fluctuations and the resort being closed for renovation for six months of the year,” Bloomberg’s Stephanie Baker wrote.

Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen on its east coast, meanwhile, lost $1.8 million. “The company said the drop in revenue was due to the fall in the price of oil, the subsequent downturn in the economy of northeast Scotland and a severe winter storm which damaged part of the site,” Baker wrote.

President Donald Trump resigned as director of the courses prior to his inauguration in January. They are being operated by his son Eric Trump. “In Friday’s report, Eric Trump, the president’s son and a director of the British subsidiary that owns the two resorts, included a letter expressing confidence that the resorts will attract plenty of golfers,” the Associated Press reported.

Trump purchased the Turnberry courses in 2014. Trump had the Aberdeen course constructed from scratch on land he purchased in 2006.

The Ailsa Course at Trump Turnberry was 22nd on Golf Digest’s ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Courses. Trump International Golf Links was ranked 54th.

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EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Henrik Stenson rewinds the year of his career

Kent Gray — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:23:24 +0000

Newly crowned Race to Dubai champion Henrik Stenson has pushed rewind on his career best year, sharing insights from his epic Open championship win in an exclusive interview with Golf Digest Middle East.

The 40-year-old Swede sat down after hosting a golf day for watch sponsor Audemars Piguet at The Els Club, Dubai, little more than 24 hours after clinching his second European Tour Player-of-the-Year title courtesy of a T9 finish at the DP World Tour Championship at nearby Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Stenson touched on subjects as diverse as his love for Game of Thrones and football matches with his children, and reveals Englishman Justin Rose as his best buddy on tour “despite him beating me at the Olympics”.

The Rio Games silver medallist goes on to share fitness and course management tips with outgoing editor Robbie Greenfield and discusses his burgeoning course design business during the in-depth interview.

Discussion inevitably turned to the 145^th Open Championship and the world No.4’s “extraordinary” Sunday afternoon duel with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon. Stenson describes it as a “boyhood dream come true” and credits Lefty for spurring him on to his historic 10-birdie final round 63.

“Pretty much you have to be two to Tango, right, so without Phil to push me to the edge I don’t think I would have played as well as I did… so he certainly has his part in it,” Stenson said of Mickelson’s brilliant closing 65 and their battle which Jack Nicklaus and eventual winner Tom Watson have since conceded out shone their epic Duel in the Sun at Turnberry in 1977.

SEE ALSO:
Stenson a showman to the end

“It’s a very humbling experience to be mentioned in reference with the Duel in the Sun from the 70s and to be receiving messages from those players that they thought it was an even better match this time around.

“I’ve seen the full coverage from that Sunday and it’s pretty pleasing I have to say. It was an extraordinary day. Managed to break some records that have been there for a while. You never know, they might be washed away next year but they might stand for the next 30 years as well so there was certainly some added bonus to not just winning The Open, which was great in itself, but to set those records…”

Stenson again paid tribute to his great, late mate Mike Gerbich, the Emirates Golf Club stalwart who sadly passed away the week of The Open after losing his battle with cancer.

“Someone put a message up ‘Go win The Open for Mike’ and I was like, yeah, I’m going to try my hardest,” Stenson recalls.

“You know, it might have been the one thing that made a little bit of difference there. When you play for someone else you play with a purpose and I’m sure that helped me. If there is divine intervention that was certainly one of those cases.” – Stenson on his late mate Mike Gerbich

“We always kept in contact and he was always very encouraging and he was always there whether you were shooting 75s and missing cuts, or shooting 65s and winning tournaments. He was always there with a text or a message, just a great supporter and a great friend. He is missed but at the same time you want to remember him for all the great things he did and for such a great person he was. He’s still there with us in spirit.”

In his final question, Stenson was asked to finish the sentence: “Henrik Stenson in 2017 will…”

The reply was as you’d expect. But Stenson admitted his hopes of adding a second major championship to his glittering CV is now much easier said than done given the way his life became even crazier after his record-shattering triumph at Royal Troon.

“Yeah, it’s a bit more busy, a [few] more things to do but at the same time I think I’ve been progressing over the years in managing my time, and managing my calendar and becoming better at saying no,” he said.

“[There’s] only so much time in a day and it’s easy to be going away from what’s your core business and that’s still practicing and competing and playing good golf. “

Stenson admitted on Sunday that he never imagined topping his “Double-double” in 2013 when he become the first player to win the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai as well as both season ending Tour Championships. But the past year has proven there’s every chance of more magic to come from the Iceman, as tough as it will be for the Swede to topple a brilliant 2016.

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