Woods out to make history on ‘fabulous’ Ailsa
Posted: 15 July 2009
History has shown that when the Ailsa course hosts The Open Championship the best player in the world raises the Claret Jug. With this in mind, the current world number one, Tiger Woods, is out to make some history of his own.
Turnberry will stage only its fourth Open Championship this week – and if the previous three are indicators then you can expect the cream to rise to the top.
The “Duel in the sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus will go down as one of the greatest Major Championships ever and, even though the world rankings had not been introduced back then, it was a shoot-out to determine the finest player of the day.
Nine years later Greg Norman finally ended his Major drought when he beat Yorkshire’s Gordon J Brand by five. Less than two months later he became world number one for the first time.
Nick Price had to wait less than a month to achieve the world number one spot after triumphing in 1994.
“At this golf course you can understand why; you really have to hit your ball well here,” said Woods. “And you have to drive the ball well. You have to hit your irons well. The course is fantastic. It’s in great shape. The rough is up a little bit. We haven’t had the big winds yet. We’ll see how the weather holds out, but all in all it’s just a fabulous golf course”
“You just can’t fake it around this golf course. You have to hit good golf shots. And those guys are some of the best ball strikers of all time, or certainly in their eras.”
This time last year, as the world’s best golfers teed off at Royal Birkdale, Woods was out of action as he began the tortuous recovery from reconstructive surgery to his left knee that was required after his dramatic US Open win.He returned from his operation ahead of schedule in February and has won three times since then, the last victory coming in his own PGA National tournament in Washington DC two weeks ago.
Aside from three practice rounds this week, Woods will be taking on the Ailsa course for the very first time, but few would bet against him claiming his 15th major and first since returning from injury.
“You just have to do your homework in your practice rounds. I’ve obviously seen it on TV but I haven’t played it yet. It was nice to get out there. I played the last three days, and I’ve had basically the same wind, but three different directions, which was nice to try and get a little bit of a different feel for how the golf course is playing.
“You’ve just got to really make sure you do your homework while you’re playing, because I can’t rely on past year’s experience.”
Owners Leisurecorp have invested heavily in Turnberry, making a range of enhancements to the Ailsa course. These include 21 additional bunkers, six new tee positions and an extra 247 yards to test the games big hitters and Woods knows that history will reward those who take a more strategic approach.
“You have to be committed to either putting the ball short of the bunkers or carrying them or skirting them past. You have to make sure you really know what you’re doing out there, especially with the cross winds in some of these fairways where they’re slanted. It certainly presents big challenges,” he said. “And you also have got to understand why the last three champions are some of the game’s best ball strikers. You have to do that here.”
