GOLF: PHILIP REIDlooks back on the 13 British Opens held at Royal St George's and one classic duel involving 007
THE NAMES of those who have conquered Royal St George’s – or Sandwich, as the abbreviated version would have it – is virtually a who’s who of golf, even if Jack Nicklaus never quite managed it. From JH Taylor to Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen to Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke to Sandy Lyle, and Greg Norman to, ahem, Ben Curtis, the links in the south-eastern corner of England has managed to torment and tantalise.
Indeed, away from the British Open, the links – thinly disguised as “St Mark’s” – is the scene for one of the most famous fictional golf matches of all, between James Bond and Auric Goldfinger in Ian Fleming’s novel, Goldfinger: in the match, with both characters playing off a nine-handicap, Bond switches golf balls on Goldfinger to win.
If that duel between 007 and Goldfinger – with golf taking up three chapters of the novel – is fictionalised drama from the Sandwich links, the 13 occasions in which the course has played host to the British Open have provided real-life drama that sometimes beggared belief, most recently in 2003 when an unheralded Curtis – a 500 to one shot playing in his first ever major – finished a stroke clear of Thomas Bjorn and Vijay Singh.
In his own way, Curtis exemplified the raison d’etre for the championship itself. Ostensibly open to any golfer, professional or amateur, the American only qualified for the British Open by finishing in a share of 13th place at the Western Open two weeks before the major.
He didn’t even own a passport at the time but, once he got his documentation sorted, Curtis made use of it and arrived at Sandwich before any other player, acquired a local caddie and – aside from one day’s sightseeing in London – played more practice rounds on the course than any other player.
The caddie, Andy Sutton, schooled Curtis in the art of links golf, of bumping and running and of how to ignore the bad bounce that seaside golf invariably threw at a player. For three days, Curtis stayed very much under the radar. On the Saturday night, he told his fiancée Candace, who has since become his wife, that he thought he could win.
On the Sunday, he leapfrogged player after player with an outward run of 32 strokes and, despite professing to “shaking in my boots” as he dropped shots close to home, Curtis – the only player in the field to finish under par – held his nerve to hole a six-foot par putt on the last to claim one of the unlikeliest major wins ever. “A good old country kid from the middle of nowhere,” is how his father, Bob, would later describe him.
Nobody could ever describe his predecessor as a champion at Royal St George’s as being a kid from nowhere. Greg Norman, so good that the moniker of ‘The Great White Shark’ was created for him as his name became a multi-million business in itself, won in 1993 with a scintillating final round that enabled him to overhaul Nick Faldo.
Norman had started the final round one shot behind Faldo – who would gain revenge in a way at the US Masters three years afterwards – and played like a man inspired, with the legendary Gene Sarazen describing the Aussie’s swashbuckling 64 as “awesome”.
“In my whole career, I’d never before gone round a golf course and not miss-hit a single shot. I was playing a game of chess, hitting the ball into position in the fairway where I could get it to the best spot on the green. I didn’t want the round to end, I wished it could have been 36 holes,” said Norman, who’d actually missed a putt of no more than 14 inches on the 17th. Norman’s rounds of 66-68-69-64 for a 72-holes total of 267 was a record low score for the championship.
Royal St George’s has produced an international mix of champions: there have been three American winners – Walter Hagen (1922 and 1928), Bill Rogers (1981) and Curtis (2003); four English champions – JH Taylor (1894), Harry Vardon (1899 and 1911), Henry Cotton (1934) and Reg Whitcombe (1938); two Scots – Jack White (1904) and Sandy Lyle (1985); one South African – Bobby Locke (1949); and one Australian – Norman (1993).
Of all those wins, perhaps the most unusual was Vardon’s in 1911, his second at Royal St George’s and the third of his four British Open successes. That was the only time in the major’s history that a play-off did not go the full distance after Frenchman Arnaud Massy conceded the title to Vardon.
Scheduled for 36 holes, Massy found himself well behind as he played the 17th – the 35th – for the second time that day. Massy’s total after 34 holes was 148 strokes and he was in trouble on what should have been the penultimate hole. When Vardon holed out on the 35th, his total was 143 and, realising the hopelessness of his situation, Massy picked up his ball and conceded the championship. The pair had finished the 72 holes on 303, one shot clear of Harold Hilton and Sandy Herd.
Apart from Vardon, the only other repeat champion over the course was the American Hagen. He won his first title on the links in 1922, becoming the first US-born player to win the British Open. Hagen started the final round two shots adrift of Scots-born American Jock Hutchison who was defending the title he’d won at St Andrews the previous year. But Hutchison closed with a 76 and Hagen’s 72 – the lowest of the championship – allowed him to claim a one-stroke winning margin over England’s Jim Barnes.
Six years later, Hagen – travelling across the Atlantic in a luxury liner – returned to Royal St George’s and again conquered the links. Hagen’s preparations for the 1928 British Open hadn’t gone too well: he lost an exhibition match to Archie Compston by 18 and 17 (over a four-round encounter). Hagen turned around his game for the real thing, returning rounds of 75-73-72-72 for a total of 292 to claim his third of four British Opens with a two-stroke winning margin over Gene Sarazen.
Probably the hardest-won title of all over the Sandwich links was that of Reg Whitcombe in 1938, when a fierce storm wreaked havoc in the final round. The exhibition tent and much of the merchandise on display were destroyed, with debris flying across the course as far as Prince’s, almost a mile way. Of the 37 players who made the cut, 24 of them failed to break 80 in either of their final two rounds. Whitcombe closed with rounds of 75 and 78 for a total of 295, two shots clear of Jimmy Adams.
Where and wherefore: venue Q and A by Philip Reid
Q: Which courses are on the British Open rota?
The British Open is played at a links course every year, switching between Scotland and England. There are nine courses on the rota: St Andrews (Old), Carnoustie, Royal St George's, Royal Lytham St Annes, Royal Birkdale, Turnberry, Royal Liverpool, Muirfield and Royal Troon.
Q: Who decides which courses can stage the championship?
The Royal and Ancient – RA – determine where the championship is played. The only constant is the Old Course at St Andrews plays host every fifth year, eg, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 . . .
Q: Can the championship be held outside of England or Scotland?
Yes. The 1951 Open was held at Royal Portrush, Co Antrim, when Max Faulkner won.
Q: Could the championship be played again in Northern Ireland?
Royal Portrush – as a course – could stage the championship. However, a recent RA feasibility study concluded the infrastructure, particularly with regards to accommodation requirements, were not yet conducive, but that they would continue to appraise the situation. Staging an Irish Open could convince the RA the time has come for a return to the Causeway Coast.
Q: What about staging the British Open at Royal County Down?
Although the course is an examination worthy of the Open, Royal County Down, which played host to the Walker Cup in 2007, is not considered capable of coping with the size of the crowds which traditionally attend the championship. A cap on spectators of 9,000 a day was in operation for the Walker Cup.
Q: What are the future venues?
The championship remains in England next year, when it will be held at Royal Lytham St Annes on the Lancashire coast. It moves back to Muirfield in Scotland in 2013, then to Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) in 2014. It is expected to be staged at St Andrews in 2015.
