Martin Laird has put his time on the practice range to good use even when his clubs were left in the bag.
As the wind got up, the American-based Scot decided to cut short his Tuesday warm-up round and grab a bucket of balls instead.
But before he started to work on the punch shots and the low long irons that will need to be well honed by the time he tees off in his opening round on Thursday, Laird picked the brains of countryman Sandy Lyle, who famously won the Open in 1985 at this year’s Sandwich venue.
The pair chatted for some time and the Glaswegian believes the conversation could prove invaluable.
He said, “I asked Sandy about a few of the holes and what the wind did when he won here.
“He said it always came from a different direction.
“Any time you can speak to somebody who has won at a course it’s always great to get the benefit of their experience.”
He added, “I think he won with three over par and it shows that pars are never bad here.
“I’ll maybe be asking him a few more questions before Thursday.”‘Tough course’Explaining his decision not to play the full 18, Laird said, “I only played the first 10 and the last two today because I think this is the opposite wind to the one we’ll have for the rest of the week.
“I played with Paul Casey and there was a hole where he said he hit wedge in a few days ago whereas today I needed a five iron.
“The course is obviously a lot different from last week at Castle Stuart. It’s much more difficult off the tee.”
He added, “You’ve really got to drive it well here so you’re on the right side of the fairway to attack the green.
“It’s definitely a tough course and I can’t see the scores being too low.”
Laird was never at the top of the leaderboard at Inverness but was satisfied with his efforts in the context of Open preparation.
He said, “I’ve been working hard since the US Open. I felt I got a lot out of the Scottish Open.
“It takes me at least a week to get used to links golf again and I feel that I’m getting there.”Meeting fellow ScotsHe added, “A lot of the greens are raised at Castle Stuart and it’s the same here, so that’s been good preparation as well.
“We’ll be playing a lot of chip and runs this week.”
July is a busy month for Laird, as the week after the Open he flies to Colorado to marry fiancee Meagan.
Dresses, speeches and table plans can wait another few days though.
A bonus for Laird of being back in Britain has been getting to know more European tour pros, particularly Scots.
He said, “The guy I know best out of the Scottish players is Scott Jamieson. We played junior golf together and are friends.
“I met Peter Whiteford at the airport leaving Castle Stuart on Sunday and we had a chat on the way down.
“I didn’t really know Stephen Gallacher until a month ago but I’ve played a few practice rounds with him.”