ERSKINE McCULLOGH, Carnoustie | Tuesday 10.30am.
SOME of the biggest names in golf have been left quaking after their first meeting with the toughest course in British Open history.
A stunned Ernie Els walked off the Carnoustie links shaking his head in disbelief after his sneak preview last week.
“It’s quite unbelievable. I don’t think I have seen anything like it,” said the two-time US Open champion.
“If the wind picks up, with narrow fairways and punishing rough, it will be an incredible test. Four over will be a great score,” added Els. “It is the toughest links course you will find anywhere in the world.”
Seve Ballesteros summed up the newly toughened Carnoustie links, back on the Open rota after a 24-year break in a single word – “Killer.”
Europe’s top player Colin Montgomerie, trying to become the first Scotsman to win an Open in Scotland for 68 years, agrees the 128th Open could be thrown into chaos by the weather.
“If the course is windy on Thursday then the competition turns into a lottery. I’m hoping for some good weather to tame what can be a vicious testing ground for any golfer,” said Monty, buoyed by his win at Loch Lomond on Saturday.
And Montgomerie warned that the winning score could be as high as 300 – a total higher than anything seen for the past 74-years in an Open.
“Four 75’s could win the championship,” he forecast. “If it blows the same way as it did on the last day in the Scottish Open in ’96 there will certainly be scores in the 90’s.”
The highest winning score in the Open over the past 30 years came on the Carnoustie monster in 1968 when Gary Player shot a four round total of 289. –AFP