As the first top player to play the Old Course experienced enough to know the difference, Catriona Matthew is probably the expert opinion to seek on the controversial changes to the course enacted during the winter.
The home crowd favourite, aiming for her second RICOH British Women’s Open title this week to go with her 2009 triumph at Lytham, reckons you can barely see the join.
“I think the changes are so subtle, if you look back to 150 years ago the course has changed a little bit over the years and this is a natural progression of that,” she said.
“The bunkers to the right of the second make the second shot a little harder, the green at the 11th is, again, a subtle change.
“The 17th is the one I would have noticed the most with the mounding there, but again that probably just takes out going left of the green if the pin is back left. Overall, they’re pretty subtle.”
Matthew at a conservative estimate has played 40 rounds on the Old Course, adding in the 2007 championship here and several appearances in the St Rule Trophy.
Unlike the men who play here every year and often twice a year, there’s probably still a live advantage for her among her peers.
“Up until Lytham, I had not played particularly well on links (as a professional),” she said.
“Obviously I grew up on them, and it helps that you’re used to playing more bump-and-run shots, you’re used to hanging in there in ~changing weather, because we can have 70 degrees one day and blowing a gale the next.
“Overall, it’s an advantage. There’s added pressure on myself to do well in front of home fans, but you don’t often get an opportunity to play at home and I’ve just got to try and enjoy these occasions.”
Matthew is being quoted by many as the biggest threat to Inbee Park’s chances to complete a four-cornered Grand Slam, but she’s not averse to spoiling the party.
“Obviously for women’s golf as a whole, if Inbee won it would be an amazing story and the media would be all over it, but we are all going to be out there trying to stop her,” she went on.
“It would be an unbelievable feat. Tiger (Woods) did it but not in a calendar year, and so that would be a phenomenal feat, something you think could never be repeated.
“The way she’s playing, she’s got a chance. But I think it will come down to the last few holes on Sunday and if you can beat Inbee, you’re going to be in with a chance to win it.”