After a week of walking the Ailsa course and following prospective Open champions the Ailsa Course has to be one of the most spectator friendly venues on the Open rota.

There might be only one single lane road in and out of the course but once you arrive here it is a great place to watch golf. While Royal Birkdale and Royal St George’s are fantastic spectator venues, because of the huge dunes that provide natural amphitheatres, there are a number of different things that make Turnberry so special.

The design makes it extremely easy to get out to any part of the course. The huge expanse of land that consists of the Kintyre and Arran courses means that there aren't too many bottlenecks and spectators can walk around without too much traffic. Despite this there are also a number of excellent vantage points, which give a great view of more than one hole. This is particularly the case in various areas between the 3rd green and 7th tee where there are very few restrictive viewing areas.

The tight fairways and sloping dunes mean that spectators can get extremely close to the action on most holes. This is in contrast to the comparatively small piece of land at St Anderews where the majority of watching is done around the perimeter of the course.

While we are extremely lucky to be given inside the ropes passes for Open week, the viewing is so good outside the ropes around the Ailsa course that they aren’t really necessary. It may be further away from the beaten track than most Open venues but the stunning backdrop and the excellent viewing areas make it an incredible place to visit.


 
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Forget the Open, it was the Turnberry-Bit-Challenge that everyone was talking about on Saturday. Taking to the 1st tee at 2.50pm, Ross Fisher and Mark Calcavecchia went head to head, here’s what happened. Playing for £1 a ‘bit’.

**Please note, all actions, movements, suggestions and quotes are purely fictional and did not happen. All golf shots and results of holes are correct and accurate**

1st Hole – Par 4 354 yards
Both players find the middle of the fairway. Calc hits his approach to the left side of the green. Fisher goes straight at the pin and gets a bit of luck when it holds on the right. Good ‘bit’ opportunity. Calc leaves it short, and rolls in for par from five feet. Fisher never threatens the cup. No bits. Both players look visibly nervous.

2nd Hole – Par 4 428 yards
Both players push it right off the tee, but Fisher’s lie looks decent while Calc is buried. Fisher on the green in two, Calc gets vicious kick left and can only chop through. He’s on the fringe, so has an opportunity for a ‘ferret’ bit. Lags it short though and takes another two for bogey. Fisher two putts for par. No bits.

3rd Hole – Par 4 489 yards
Fisher nuts it down the middle, and gives Calc a little wink. The ’89 Open winner takes out the big stick and lets it fly. He’s lucky as his ball nestles just short of a bunker, only for relief to turn to disappointment when his good lady wife informs him of the ‘sandy par’ bit rule. He lumps it short of the green and so has ‘double bittage’ for a ‘ferret birdie’. Fisher’s on the dance floor and has ten feet for his ‘bit birdie’. Calc two putts for par, that’s three holes and no bits for the big man. Fisher sinks for a ‘birdie bit’ and is £1 up.

4th Hole – Par 3 166 yards
Fisher’s honour and he’s right at the flag. Calc pushes it right, off the green again for an unlikely ‘ferret birdie’. Nice chip but Fisher’s money is safe on this hole. The Wentworth man gets his birdie read all wrong and there’s no bit there. But what’s this? Controversy as Fisher reminds Calc that this was the nominated ‘nearest-the-pin bit’ hole. John Paramore is conveniently on hand to confirm the news, and when Fisher sinks his par putt he high fives his caddie as his winnings double to £2…

5th Hole – Par 4 474 yards
Iron off the tee for Fisher and he’s dead centre. Calc flies past him though with the driver and gives out a massive ‘Yabba-Dabba-Doo’. Fisher fades his approach high and his ball nestles on the back of the green, sensing a ‘ferret birdie bit’ he acknowledges the crowd. Calc on the green and pars. Fisher lets the bit opportunity get the better of him and three putts for bogey. No bits.

6th Hole – Par 3 231 yards
Calc’s honour and he’s to the right off the green. Regulation two-putt, but no ‘bittage’. Fisher’s in the left-hand trap. It’s another ‘bitty’ chance. Lobs on and holes out from five feet. He’s now £3 up. Worrying times for Calcavecchia.

7th Hole – Par 5 538 yards
Both players miss the fairway. Fisher chops out, as does Calc. Both on in regulation and only par. No bits, and this was the nominated ‘double-bitty-hole’. Not what the crowd wanted to see…

8th Hole – Par 4 454 yards
Longest-drive-bit hole. Fisher nails it down the middle. “He’ll never pass that,” he whispers to his caddie. Visibly stirred, Calc rips it 20 feet past and throws the Englishman evils. Both make regulation pars from here, but at least the American has stopped the rot. Fisher £2 up.

9th Hole – Par 4 449 yards
Both fire to the right and have to contend with the clag. Calc catches a flyer and it runs through the back. He smells a ‘ferret bit’. Fisher is more conventional and lands 15 feet away. Calc three putts for bogey, Fisher two putts for par. No bits, and Fisher takes the nine-hole Turnberry Bit Challenge with winnings of £2, which he immediately says will go into a trust fund for his unborn child.

Bit Key
Sandy – making par or better from any bunker
Ferret – making par or better when holing from off the green
Birdie – on any hole
Eagle – worth two bits
Nearest the pin on par 3s – must two putt or bits are reversed
Longest drive – must finish on the fairway to count
Double bit hole – nominated before the round, any bits count double

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Having followed a group round the entire course yesterday, I decided to have a fixed position today, so from 3.20pm onwards I sat down in the 18th grandstand and saw the groups come in.

Shot of the day

Angel Cabrera chipped in having missed the green short left in the small gulley that is in between the long rough and putting surface  for a round of 72 and one over par total.

Biggest ovation

A group of enthusiastic Americans made sure they made their appreciation to John Daly known with a massive cheer. The girlfriend of Daly stood by the green also showed her appreciation with her hands clapping above her head while she wore a mini skirt with the same enthusiastic pattern as her fella.

Worst play of the day

Henrik Stenson birdied 17 to take himself to even par for the tournament only for him to hit his 18th tee shot almost sideways towards the 17th green grandstand, his second got him to 50ft short of the green, where he would have hoped to have got up and down, but he managed to take 4 more shots to take him from a top ten spot to joint 13th. A real let down.

Atmospheric moment of the day

Miguel angel Jimenez holed a chip on the front nine for par which caused a huge cheer, and with the sun shining and the dunes visibly full of spectators that could be seen from my vantage point, it sent shivers up my spine.

It was a great 4 hours I spent in the stands watching the players stroll in. The stands that gradually became fuller and fuller will be full from early on tomorrow, when they hope to see the 2009 Open champion hole the winning putt.

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And so the twisting tale of the Turnberry Open continues: the oldest player in the tournament is leading, the best player is going home…

There was more than a tinge of dejection around the 18th green yesterday when Tiger Woods fired his approach through the back. The sadness that the game’s greatest would not be challenging far outweighed the story that he was heading for the exit door.

Even with an-almost impossible chip needing to be holed, nothing is beyond the man and as such the ring of snappers and scribes expected the unexpected not to happen – that was Woods to avoid missing the cut in a Major tournament for only the third time.

For Woods, this errant Open signals a continuation of what has been a mixed bag since his return to action following that nine-month layoff for reconstructive knee surgery. But how on earth can we be critical of his form? Three wins in little over four months is an outstanding return, but standards are so high that for Woods and his faithful believers, that simply will not do.

At Augusta he was blunt for three days and only came alive in a head-to-head tussle with Phil Mickleson, while at Bethpage he played another supporting role; never out of it, never in it; he kept the galleries interested simply because he was there.

Here at Turnberry, he just never looked like threatening. Following him briefly yesterday proved just that; his body language is off key and some self-belief seems to have been lost.

Hazeltine and the USPGA offers another step towards that magical number of 18 Majors laid down by Jack Nicklaus. It's a record he will surely pass and Hazeltine is a golf course that he could destroy as he aims to put to bed the memory of his stunning defeat to Rich Beem there seven years ago.

Interestingly, that loss preceded Woods’ worst run in Major Championships as a professional, where he failed to win again until that famous chip rolled in at Augusta in 2005.

You wouldn’t bet on such a baron spell again, but then again, you wouldn’t have bet on this happening either…

From Turnberry

Well the wind was blowing, the rain circled around, and a former Open champion and and a former top ten player showed just why Turnberry is so tough when you add a bit of wind to this magnificent course.

I decided to follow the 12.36pm group of Australian Adam Scott, American David Duval and Englishman Nick Dougherty as they set to attempt to conquer this Ailsa course.

Dougherty (even) led the two other golfers (+1) after the first round, but all three knew that a decent round today would mean a chance to stay for the whole weekend and of course put them in contention for the championship as a whole.


Duval opened up with a birdie to get his round going in the right direction but then a double on the 2nd put him under a dark cloud.

Conditions became more blustery around the turn and he really struggled with his accuracy off the tee especially on 8 where an errant tee shot led to a double bogey, his second of the day… but not his last as a double bogey on 14 and two small missed putts on 17 and 18 left him at 7 over and out of the weekend.


Adam Scott had no problem finding the fairways, but his problems came with his irons, as he consistently missed the green, sometimes unfortunately like on the par-4 14th where having missed the fairway he played a fantastic long iron into the green only to get a nasty bounce into the sand.

A missed birdie chance on the par-5 17th meant that he finished with a round of 4 over and a tournament round of 5 over meaning he is right around the cut mark.


The big success story was Dougherty, followed faithfully around the course by his better half who cheered on his every shot he can be extremely pleased by his level par round of 70.

Willing to keep his shots low and under the wind and putting quite superbly his only real blemish was an errant tee shot on 5 which led to a double bogey 6 on 5 and having put his tee shot in a faiway bunker on 16 had to chip it out 20 feet sideways which led to another dropped shot.

But three birdies on 6, 10 and 14 thanks to two huge putts and one magnificent iron approach meant that a level par round in the blustery and occasionally wet conditions means he will be in the top 20 going into round 3.

Conditions on the course really were tough, the first ten holes played by the coast are mainly into the wind and you then get a slight rest on 13 and 14 when you are the course’s lowest point before the wind comes into play again for the closing holes.

The wind was strong today but it could get much stronger over the weekend and if that happens level par could win the championship.

The final word must go to the organiser and officals, each group are followed by an eight strong group of scorers, marshalls and the like, and that doesn’t even start to include the spotters, scoreboard attendants and security that are dotted around on each of the holes.

They keep fans and players happy and there must not be many sporting championships where you can get as close to the action as at an Open championship.

Tom Watson knows what he has to do. “You just have to get the ball on the fairway,” he said when addressing a packed media conference late on Friday.

A level-par round of 70, a scatter of front-nine bogeys and a couple of meaty down-hillers have kept the 59-year-old in the leaderboard spotlight. To wind the clock back some 32 years, it really was elementary, dear Watson…

Whether Watson can maintain his charge remains hugely questionable. The five-time winner says golf is a game that is in great shape, and that men who may not be perceived as being in great shape can still prosper.

But Old Tom Morris remains this competition's most senior of winners and when you subtract 13 years from Watson's age to come up with his, you can appreciate the magnitude of the task ahead.

Still, it’s fun while it lasts, and there was no shortage of humour when the American faced a huge media circus on Friday…

Watson in words:

“It was two sets of nine today; the outward nine was awful”

“Lady Turnberry really got her teeth out”

“The one thing I am doing well is putting my ball on the fairway”

“You make a game plan, and mine worked today, thanks to a couple of 60-footers”

“Sergio gave me a pick-me-up. He said: ‘Come on old man.’ That was nice.”

“It was kind of spiritual. Links golf is a fabric of my life. The memories were with me.”

“Links golf, I have played it when I am not playing well and it gets to you.”

Some snippets from Friday at Turnberry – it’s getting spicy…

I hit my last good shot on the 3rd – yesterday. Seriously, there were no decent golf shots out there.
Ian Poulter sounds about as bright as his trousers

If you’re going to play as bad as I did for two days it doesn’t matter what golf course you are playing. It could have been the easiest municipal down the road and I would have missed the cut. It was horrible…
Poulter again

I’m off down the M6 now...
And again

I am hoping to sneak in on the cut line, to get out nice and early tomorrow morning, in beautiful sunshine, shoot a good score and then the weather to come in. We can always dream, can’t we?
Padraig Harrington seems to have rediscovered some confidence…

Very much so, yes
Colin Montgomerie when asked if Sandy Lyle’s comments had affected his week

I thought it was rather funny when he said he hopes it doesn’t jeopardise his vice-captaincy position. I thought that was very, very funny
Monty on Lyle, again

I can’t tell you
Mark Calcavecchia when asked what the wildest bet he had ever made with Phil Mickelson was

Sincere, interesting and self deprecating. Perhaps not what you would expect from a press conference on Friday afternoon at the Open, but that's exactly how Mark Calcavecchia came across following his second round 69. The 1989 Open Champion finds himself in second place at the half way stage and has just given the most entertaining press conferences I have witnessed all week. Here are some of the highlights…
 
“This is the second time of the year I didn’t struggle to make the cut. I’m usually choking so bad coming down the last few holes on Friday because I want to play the weekend. I felt great today.”
 
“I would never think I’m the type of guy anybody could learn anything from. And I think experience is way overrated. All that means is I’ve hit more bad shots than the guys who are 20 years old, and they’re lingering on my brain.”
 
“I still think I can win, if not this week then maybe somewhere later on this year down the road, or it may not happen until I get to the Champions Tour. But it will happen again”
 
“I should have won at least 20 tournaments. I have had 27 second places and another 25 thirds. I probably gave ten of those away. I could have won the Masters but Sandy Lyle hit the shot of his life out of the fairway bunker. I thought I would have won the Masters at some point, and that’s clearly not going to happen. But that’s okay.”
 
“I’m allowing myself four [pints of beer] per night. It seems to be a nice round figure. It’s just enough, but it’s not too many.”

I can see events over the next few days prompting me to edit this list perhaps, but for the moment, here’s my all-time Top Ten Open moments. It’s still too cold to go outside…

10) Following Greg Norman last year
For three days, Norman played out of his skin; controlling his ball with supreme accuracy as the viscous Southport swirl left its mark on some of the world’s best. Of course Norman faltered on the final day and Harrington stormed away, but still…

9) Justin Rose chips in at Birkdale
Mark O’Meara may have won the Open in ’98, but Rose’s performance produced the big headlines. At 17, the teenager bagged a fourth-place finish and wrapped it up beautifully, holing out from 70 yards…

8) David Duval’s winning speech
The American’s perceived surly image seemed a million miles away when he addressed the galleries at Royal Lytham & St Annes after his 2001 win. Nice words, ‘Double D’.

7) The Sands of Nakajima
One of my first viewing memories, and something every chopper can take heart from. All of four attempts to get out of the Road Hole bunker at St Andrews. There was no way back from there. Ouch!

6) Three-way play-off, 1989
A late surge from Greg Norman makes him much-fancied as he tees it up in a play-off with Wayne Grady and Mark Calcavecchia. But a rush of blood and a 320-yard flyer ends the Shark’s hopes as Calcavecchia accepts the Claret Jug at Royal Troon.

5) Harrington steals Sergio’s thunder
Finally, the mercurial Garcia seemed all but certain to break his Major duck. But leading by three at Carnoustie in the final round of the 2007 Championship, the Spaniard was hauled back and Harrington’s up-and-down at the 18th meant Garcia had to sink a fast-breaking ten-footer to win. He didn’t, and the wait continues…

4) Seve wins it on Monday
Not a bad way to finish school when you’re just 12 years old, coming home to watch the great final-round duel between Nick Price and Seve Ballesteros. Due to weather disruptions, the tournament was dragged through to Monday, where Seve won it on the last with a chip to within inches. Class.

3) Seve fist pumps, and then some more…
One of the most defining images in the game. Ballesteros holes from 20 feet for birdie at the last at St Andrews to win by one shot from Tom Watson. The mother of all fist pumpage! Cue millions worldwide attempting the same thing, but failing and looking rather stupid instead.

2) Faldo pars 18 on the spin to win
Opinion is divided, and understandably so, but Faldo was one of my sporting heroes and when Paul Azinger hit into the sand and then duffed out to 25 feet on the 18th at Muirfield, a first Major of six loomed for the Englishman. Of course the cheers when the American fired into the trap lacked sportsmanship, but who cares…

1) Harrington rips it with his 5-wood
I had followed Greg Norman and Harrington during the final round of last year’s Open at Birkdale, and if truth be told, I was gunning for the Aussie. But Harrington’s 5-wood into 17 remains the best shot I have ever seen, made better as I was standing all of 30 feet away. Two hundred and sixty yards, trap at the front of the green, trouble all to the left, the Irishman plants his ball three feet away to make eagle. In a word: gutsy.

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