July 18-21 will be the period two grand events begin 5200 miles apart, near Edinburg, Scotland and San Diego, USA: The Open and Comic-Con (next posting).
As Harvard and Yale only call their football skirmish The Game, as opposed to Stanford and Cal at the Big Game, this oldest of golf tournaments is merely referred to as The Open. Golf, of course, began in Scotland, some say as early at 1457, although the Chinese had something similar going around the Year 700. The Old Course at St. Andrews dates back to 1574, where this tournament will again be held in 2015. It was in 1999 that a small group of us golfed back-to-back at St. Andrews and Carnoustie, where The Open was just held that year. In fact, my room was located next to the the first hole, where you would want to complain because players teeing off generally made too much noise talking. No air conditioning, so the windows needed to remain open.
Muirfield (the real one, above, not that Jack Nicklaus-designed facility in Dublin, Ohio) Golf Club, located in Gullane, 20 miles from Edinburg, is a links course, meaning deep sand bunkers just about anywhere, including the middle of the fairway and gorses (a thorny bush, left), with heather (below). Not the green spectrum of of the Masters in Augusta, but mostly shades of pale yellow. The weather will be uncommonly perfect, with temperature highs up to 70F.
How significant is this sporting event? ESPN televises 14 straight hours today from 4AM to 6PM Eastern Standard Time, meaning from 10PM in Hawaii yesterday. The favorites?
- Ernie Els, 42, for he won The Open last year, and also when it was last played at Muirfield in 2002.
- Tiger Woods, but he is 37 with four knee operations and a strained elbow, which is keeping him from full-out practice.
- Phil Mickelson, 43 (what, he is 43?), who just won the Scottish Open this past week.
- Tom Watson, 53, who has won The Open five times, and was mentioned by Scot Colin Montgemerie as having the right game to win even at that old age.
- Jordan Spieth (below), 19, who is playing on a miracle, so all Americans are pulling for him.
What should be the pivotal hole? #17, as an eagle is possible:
What does the winner get? $1.4 million, a gold medal and one year ownership of the Claret Jug:
Next posting: Comic-Con.
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