So for many of the businesses close to the golf course, it’s a particularly exciting time.
Crowds have flocked to the home of golf despite the bad weather threatening to put a dampener on the second day.
At the Dunvegan Hotel on Pilmour Place, just 112 yards from the Old Course, owner Sheena Willoughby, 55, is celebrating her 22nd year at St Andrews with her Texan husband Jack, 65.
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pair were working in the Aberdeen oil industry before they took over the Dunvegan and established a thriving American-Scottish themed business which is as much a draw for locals as it is golf fans, caddies and star professionals themselves.Festooned with photographs of famous visitors over the years and well known for the Open Championship winners gallery by St Andrews artist and playwright David Joy, the Dunvegan is more than just a pub it’s a golfing experience where everyone is made to feel welcome.
Sheena told The Courier: “The Open is a time when 22 years of building relationships comes to a head whether it be golf writers, players, regular customers. Most of the people who come into our bar have probably been here in years before. When the players come in it’s the icing on the cake.”
Next door, the Number One Golf Place pub has been taken over by sports brand Nike for the week and rebranded One Nike Place. It will be returned to normal on Monday.
Pub owner Lee Murray, 45, managing director of Cool Hospitality Solutions and ex-chairman of East Fife Football Club, explained that Nike approached him in January to take over the upstairs part of the bar for Open week. It is being used for corporate and functions at night whilst the downstairs bar remains open to the public. Tiger Woods, famously sponsored by Nike, even lunched there on Saturday after hosting a golf practice session with children.
Lee said: “The town is absolutely buzzing. There’s a great atmosphere at night. We are getting a lot of people in, and the police have been brilliant. People drinking out in the street has not been a problem, so long as the situation is kept an eye on.”
In North Street, Jane Bilici, 55, from Nottinghamshire, Charlotte Pedrick, 43, from Maidenhead and Margaret Fletcher from Edinburgh are being employed by the R&A as stewards to dish out information to visitors. The amateur golfers are unmissable in their bright yellow tabards.
Charlotte said: “We applied online to work here. The information point is meant to be about golf but people are asking us mainly about the town, bars, where the public toilets are. There’s a nice vibe about the course. A lot of Americans in particular.”
St Andrews man John Stewart, 52, is one of the main local figures with local charity St Andrews Legacy. The charity is hosting 11 injured war veterans, including double amputees, in the town this week as part of a programme to inspire them mentally and physically. The charity has taken them out to play courses including Crail, Kittocks and the Wee Course at Gleneagles.
John, who has also researched golf in St Andrews, said: “Golf is the thing that defines St Andrews for most people. It’s been built up over 200 years. So when the Open comes around that long continuity becomes apparent to everyone.”
Piper Hamish McGregor, 22, of Linlithgow, is in his final year of a geology degree at St Andrews University. He is adding to the atmosphere piping on Pilmour Place. He said: The reaction I’m getting is very friendly. People are throwing me 50p or £1. Standing here, I’ve also been really impressed with the organisation by the police and Open people themselves, keeping everything moving. It’s a very slick operation.”
Golf fans Ed Kaiser, 73 and his wife Carole, 68, from California, are visiting St Andrews for the day as part of a grand UK and Ireland tour.
Ed said: “This is our first time in St Andrews. This is not the British Open. It is ‘The Open’. It’s thrilling and fun to see, but I really wish we were here for the whole week now! History is all around us here, and I love that.”
Heather Reid, 62, from Dundee, was visiting St Andrews Aquarium with her grandsons Quinn, 2, and Mylo, 5. Coming through on the bus and train for the day, they were not going to the golf but came through “for the atmosphere”.
“I love it when it’s busy. When there’s something going on,” she said.
Mylo, who lives in Welbank, added: “I like golf but normally I can’t do it!”
Jeff Kilgour, 71, and his wife Eileen, 70, from Cumbria, are staying in their motorhome for four days at the Kinkell caravan park. Jeff said: “This is my fourth St Andrews Open, although I’ve been here five times because I played the Old Course for my 60th birthday. There’s a great atmosphere here. But I still think mother nature will have her say on who wins!”