BRITISH OPEN

Weather promises to be a huge factor at Royal St. George’s

Associated Press

SANDWICH, ENGLAND

Steve Stricker can appreciate better than most how the British Open is unlike any other major.

One day after winning the John Deere Classic with a birdie-birdie finish on the green, manicured fairways of a TPC course in America’s heartland, Stricker was trying to stand upright on the lunar links of Royal St. George’s. The yardage book was more of a guide than the gospel. It was tough to control his golf ball through the air, even harder when it was bouncing along the ground.

“It’s quite a turnaround,” Stricker said. “To learn and adapt to this style in 21/2 days is a challenge.”

That short time was all he needed, however, to learn what most others have about this links course in the southeast of England. It’s a strong test for golf’s oldest championship on a mild day. When the wind is up, which it has been all week, it can be a beast.

The 140th edition of this championship gets under way today at Royal St. George’s, as unpredictable as any links on the Open rotation. This is the course where Greg Norman in 1993 became the first Open champion to win with all four rounds in the 60s. It’s also the same course where Ben Curtis was the only player to break par when it was last here in 2003.

A dry spring has kept the rough from getting too thick, which is but a small reprieve.

“It’s a big challenge, and we are the best players in the world here,” PGA champion Martin Kaymer said. “So it should be tough. At the end of the day, everybody has to deal with the same golf course.”

Even so, it’s not always the same for everyone.

The piece of information getting most of the attention on the eve of the British Open was the weather report. The forecast is for gusts up to 25 mph this morning with patches of rain, before the wind tapers off in the afternoon. The wind is expected to remain moderate Friday morning, then switch directions and return to gusts upward of 25 mph by the end of the day.

“It’s firm. It’s fast,” said U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy. “But the thing is with this wind, you’re going to have to keep the ball low. But sometimes it’s hard to run the ball into these greens because they’re so undulating and they can go so many different ways.”

The wind has the Royal & Ancient concerned enough that it might move some tees forward. Chief executive Peter Dawson said the most likely candidates were the par-5 seventh (some players couldn’t reach the fairway) and the par-3 11th (Phil Mickelson couldn’t reach the green with a driver).

Then there’s the par-4 13th, where Stricker hit driver off the tee and driver off the deck to get it near the green.

“Now, if the wind turns around, it’s a different story,” Dawson said.