Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Cameron Tringale falls short on a 59-watch as wind proves the key factor at the Genesis Scottish Open

Cameron Tringale heading down the 18th on his way to a 61 at The Renaissance.
Cameron Tringale heading down the 18th on his way to a 61 at The Renaissance.

Is windless seaside golf too easy in today’s world? There was a decent breeze at times on the first day of the Genesis Scottish Open but we were still on 59-watch for a while.

The 34-year-old Califronian Cameron Tringale had six successive birdies on the back nine, and nine in 11 holes. With three to play, he needed two more to tick under 60, and one of those was the par five 16th.

But the breeze got up a bit into his face, and it was tough enough to reach the fairway off the tee at 16. Three pars followed and he “settled” for a nine-under 61.

It left him with a three-shot lead over former US Open champion Gary Woodland, and a stiffer wind in the afternoon protected the morning leaders.

‘Let’s make some positive swings’

For Trigale, putting made the difference.

“The putter was the story,” he said. “I got off to a slow, uncommitted start and I decided if you’re going to be out here, let’s make some positive swings.

“Middle of the round, my striking matched my putting. It’s the only way (a 61) can happen.”

So many of the Americans seem to really love the “optionality” in links golf, it’s surprising there isn’t more of it played there. Tringale is a fan, of sure.

“I played here in 2015 and a few Opens, so I’ve had moderate experience,” he said. “I’m not a total newbie but I love playing links golf. It’s so much fun.

“I would definitely have been looking forward to coming to this side of the pond, and my expectations were not so much around score but just about enjoying being here and soaking it all up.”

Despite the new course record, the generally tighter Renaissance held up reasonably well – there is some fearsome deep rough about the place.

But much of the discussion here is about what might happen at St Andrews next week, if there are no winds then there’s not much defence left for the Old Course.

‘It’s just a wedge contest, really’

Jordan Spieth, who was one shot out of the play-off in 2015 chasing a third leg of calendar Grand Slam, thinks that the ancient artefact might now be too easy.

“I think it might be,” said Spieth, who got to five-under at one point before settling for a 68. “You know, it’s hard for me to tell as 2015 we had so much wind that we couldn’t even play.

“But if it’s like it was this morning out here, it’s just a wedge contest, really. Normally you have to hold on for dear life on the back (nine). But if that wind is down on your back, all of a sudden you’ve created a few more birdie holes.

“I don’t think it detracts from it, but I don’t know what else necessarily could be done. It was not necessarily built for today’s technology.

“Even a nice ten to 15 miles an hour wind would show something to it. The fact that it doesn’t look like we are going to get any rain. The defence could be how fast it plays.

“It might get like Muirfield was in 2013. Regardless of wind conditions, that would change the golf course significantly and make it challenging to hold fairways and greens.”

All that said, he can’t wait to get back for the first time since 2015.

“It’s the history of it, playing in the town,” he said. “The idea that it could be the easiest or the hardest venue that we play depending on the day.

“It was a really special tournament for me back in 2015 trying to go for a third in a row. “The crowd, you know, the putt I made on 16 and the finish. It was really fun contending in that major and having a chance to win.”

Conversation