Open Conditions - Muirfield Countdown
By: Golf Shake | Edited: Mon 14 Jul 2014
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It looks like Muirfield, they tell us it is Muirfield, but unless I am very much mistaken, those are brown fairways we are looking at. What's more, the sky is blue, the sun is shining and spectators and players alike are turning red.
Yes folks, this really is The Open Championship 2013. The fairways are rock hard and the players have been hitting two-irons 270 yards.
When Tiger Woods won The Open at Hoylake, he did so by leaving his driver in the bag all week - it is safe to say that whoever wins this week will have done exactly the same thing.
The talk among spectators is that we will see a record-breaking winning total - rest assured that we will not. The best players in the world face an entirely different challenge this week. Yes, the ball will roll for miles, but the problem is that they have to work out a way to land the ball short of the greens and get it to stop close to the hole.
You can be sure of one thing - the winner will be a shotmaker, somebody who is capable of visualising what they want to do and then executing it.
That rules out a lot of players. If Tiger Woods really is as fit as he assures us he is then the bookies may well have got it right again, but don't hold your breath.
I watched Graeme McDowell having a lesson on the range. The point of the exercise? To keep the ball low. G-Mac is in form, and he loves links golf.
Phil Mickelson could well be a surprise contender, and he is clearly loving both the conditions and the challenge.
Ernie Els comes to Muirfield as both the defending champion and the last winner at the course. He is in form and he is full of confidence.
But he, like the rest of us, will be looking at the sky and wondering whether he really is in Scotland. It is going to be a fantastic week, with bumper crowds pouring into the course.
I, for one, can't wait.
Derek Clements is a sports journalist with a particular passion for golf with over 12 years of experience covering golf and other sports including Chief Sub-Editor on the sports desk of The Sunday Times. To contact Derek email direct via [email protected]
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