We're not actually gamblers but golfers, having wagered several hours of sleep -- and in my case a few hundred dollars in hotel accommodation -- on a chance to play the Old Course, the most famous golf course in the world. Standing between me and a tee time are two young Japanese men, an impeccably dressed Swede and nine Americans, one of whom has had the bad taste to show up in blue jeans.
While geography and fashion sense may divide us, each of us is united in our desire to play the Old Course, where golf's oldest major, the Open Championship, has been contested 27 times. Shivering in the late-September breeze blowing in off the North Sea, we become fast friends, cracking jokes and telling stories as we wait for the sun to rise.
At 6:45 a.m., four hours after the line began to form, the starter finally arrives. Speaking in a thick brogue, he asks to see our handicap cards and takes our names. If any of the previously booked groups are unable to form a foursome, he explains, he'll reward the next lucky single on his list with a tee time at the Home of Golf.
A university town in the Kingdom of Fife on Scotland's east coast, St. Andrews has been synonymous with golf for centuries. Nobody knows for sure when the game was first played on the area's wide expanse of flat, coastal dunes -- also known as links land -- but it was well enough established by 1457 for King James II to institute a ban because it was distracting his soldiers from archery practice.
The ban is a distant memory these days, as golfers from all over the world flock to St. Andrews. But while getting a tee time can be an ordeal for visitors, it's a cinch for the city's 17,000 residents. That's because the St. Andrews Links Trust, which runs the Old Course and six other courses in the area, lets residents play on all seven for a mere $340 per year, only $80 more than the cost of one round for a visitor.
Money is the last thing on my mind when the starter calls my name to complete the 10 a.m. foursome. Feeling like I won the lottery, I happily pay my green fee, sling my clubs over my shoulder and proceed to the first tee.
PROMISING START
Trying to ignore my surroundings, especially the throng of tourists and fellow golfers gathered near the tee, I start my round with a surprisingly solid drive. It doesn't hurt that the first fairway is straight and wide, and the only trouble -- out-of-bounds stakes lining the right side -- can be avoided by aiming far to the left, where the 18th fairway offers a safe bailout.
The choices get tougher as the round progresses. The Old Course is flat, treeless and has no water hazards, which means it lacks many of the visual cues North American golfers are used to seeing. Even with a guidebook in hand, it's often difficult to pick out the correct line off the tee.
Luckily, I've got a course regular as a playing partner. A member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Rick van den Boom knows all of the Old Course's tricks and isn't shy about sharing them with me and his two nephews, both of whom are also playing here for the first time.
While he keeps us safe off the tee, there isn't much Rick can do for us on the greens. One of the classic features of the Old Course is the abundance of double greens -- seven in total -- which means the putting surfaces are gigantic. Throw in big undulations and a stiff wind, which affects the ball as it rolls and makes it difficult to stand still, and it all adds up to a lot of three-putts.
Despite a few struggles on the greens, my round has several high points. I make birdie on the ninth after driving the green, then I make a miracle par on the short 11th when my 70-foot putt from well short of the green rolls up, down and around a bunker before settling inches from the hole.
On the par-five 14th hole, I sink a 25-footer for par after managing to avoid the gaping maw of the infamous Hell bunker 100 yards short of the green. Rick isn't so lucky; he is forced to play out sideways after his second shot comes to rest too close to the eight-foot, vertical face of the trap.
I save my two best drives of the day for the 16th and 17th holes. On the former, I thread the needle between the Principal's Nose bunkers on the left and the out-of-bounds wall on the right -- a line famously described by Jack Nicklaus as "strictly for amateurs." Somehow, I manage to make par, knowing the most famous hole in the world awaits.
The Road Hole
The 436-yard 17th is a bear of a hole. To start with, it requires golfers to hit their tee shots over part of the Old Course Hotel in order to find the fairway. The second obstacle is the deep Road Hole bunker guarding the front left portion of the green. This is the same bunker where David Duval took four swings in the final round of the 2000 Open Championship, handing the Claret Jug to Tiger Woods.
The final problem on 17 is the feature for which the hole is named: the road. Behind the narrow green is a gravel footpath, then an asphalt road, then a low stone wall. Any approach shot struck even a hair too hard will roll onto the path, the road, or worst of all, up against the wall. In 1984, Tom Watson lost his bid for a sixth Open Championship when he made bogey after having to play a carom shot off the wall in the final round.
I have no such horror stories to tell. Following Rick's instructions, I aim my drive over the second "O" on the "Old Course Hotel" sign and hit a low, left-handed draw right on target. "You could sell that drive to any of the pros when the Open's here again in 2010," Rick tells me.
Sure enough, I find my ball resting in the middle of the fairway, just 150 yards short of the green. From this angle, I don't have to tangle with the Road Hole bunker and I've got a lot more green to work with than the others in my group, all of whom hit their second shots from the left rough. Even so, the road is still a concern, so I chicken out and hit my approach shot a few yards short of the right front corner of the green. From there, I take three more putts for a bogey.
Disappointed my round is about to end, I hit a terrible drive on the 18th and make another bogey to finish with a final score of 83. Despite knowing it could have been a few strokes better, I'm fairly pleased with myself as I walk off the 18th green. Waiting for me is one of my linemates from the morning -- the natty Swede -- who bursts my bubble by telling me all about the 75 he just shot.
"That was probably the best round of my life," he gushes as we stand in the shadow of the Royal and Ancient clubhouse. "I'm going to get up early tomorrow to do it again."
stephen.ripley@sunmedia.ca
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