Carnoustie may be renowned as a fearsome monster throughout the world of golf but it seems to have been reduced to something of a pussycat for the first visit of the Ricoh Women’s British Open to the Angus links this week.
The biggest women’s event in Europe is the first visit of the professional women to the Championship Course and although there is a fair amount of nervous trepidation about, a fair forecast and the links shortened to just 6490 yards suggest there’s not a lot to be nervous about.
No one would expect the course this week to be the 7421 yardage the men played off in the 2007 Open Championship but nearly 1000 yards shorter seems to be erring on the side of caution by the LGU, who have set up the course using just a handful of the official ladies’ tees and several of the men’s “green” tips.
The 18th, scene of Van de Velde and Harrington’s bruising battles with the Barry Burn, is positively sanitised at 386 yards, fully 113 yards shorter than in 2007. The 17th is being played as a par five this week, and the whole setting has the attention of World No 2 Cristie Kerr.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said the American. “You can see why it’s one of the great golf courses it’s challenging but fair. It looks different when you’re here in person on TV it looks much bigger. The 18th is much narrower, but it’s still a very good golf hole.”
Kerr noted that she’d played eight holes of practice in perfect conditions, as did the woman just behind her in the world rankings, Suzann Pettersen.
“It’s been very nice we haven’t seen it nasty,” she said. “The finish from 15 is probably one of the very best, and I think of all the courses we’ve played in the British this is my favourite.”
John Philp, the head greenkeeper at Carnoustie for more than a quarter of a century now and the man who jealously guards the course’s reputation, diplomatically hinted that the sharpest claws had been removed.
“It’s easy to go too far on this course,” he admitted. “We’ve never had the women professionals here before and we don’t really know what a reasonable length of course for them is.
“It is maybe on the easy side for these top players because there’s plenty run on the fairways and the greens are pretty good. We’re not concerned about the winning score and if the wind gets up 6500 is definitely reasonable.
“A whole lot depends on the weather conditions and I think they were conscious of people struggling if the weather turned. There’s maybe been a feeling that Carnoustie is ‘the tough one’ and they don’t want to risk it.”
The course will play to the traditional par of 72 rather than the 71 used by the R&A for the Open, but as usual since big-time tournaments returned in the early 90s, the underfoot condition is unmatched.
Philp continued, “I enjoyed Peter Dawson saying in 2007 that we were setting the benchmark for all the Open venues, which was a great accolade for us. That’s shown by so few changes to the course over recent years just those really to the third hole which have not been all that popular.”
Those changes to the third for the 2007 Open have already been re-altered, with the island of rough in the fairway removed.