It’s like Micebrina, except it happens once a year. It’s the norm when one dares to visit this part of southeast Scotland in early October. You might get lucky, of course, but usually, it’s windy, cold, or rainy. Or all three at once. As happened today in the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Tough conditions throughout the day with two and a half hours of hellish weather, on the verge of suspension. Play was only stopped at the end when the courses could no longer absorb any more water, but the last two hours were terrible.
And of course, as often happens in these parts, it never rains to everyone’s liking. Or rather, it rains and, above all, the wind blows, much worse for some than for others. Depending on where and how you catch the worst gusts, things go from very bad to dramatic and finally tragic. The worst part today was for those who finished at the 18th hole on the Old Course at St Andrews. Rain, very cold, and a hurricane-force headwind. From the 13th to the 18th, it was hell.
Few express it with more force and clarity than David Puig (-5), who had to dance with the ugliest. He played from the 13th to the 18th when the wind was strongest. “It was the biggest scam in the history of golf,” he said, half-jokingly, half-seriously. I don’t know how the other courses were, but St Andrews was unplayable. The last six holes were unplayable, you couldn’t hit any shot. Okay, I had the last seven holes into the wind, but it was unplayable. I hit drives of 160 meters, pretty well struck, it was pouring. Gusts of 60-70 km per hour with rain, obviously feeling nothing in my hands. It was unplayable. I asked three referees and they all told me like, well, I don’t know, for now, no, it can’t be suspended. Unplayable, absolutely unplayable,” he explains to Ten Golf.
You have to understand Puig’s frustration. Before those last six holes, he was at -12 for the day, without bogeys in the tournament and fully in the fight. His score from the 14th to the 17th was +7, with two bogeys, a triple bogey, and a double bogey. Devastating. “You couldn’t reach any par 4 (and this is coming from one of the longest hitters in the world). From the 12th, which is more or less short, on the 13th you couldn’t reach in 2, on the 14th (par 5) you couldn’t reach in 3, on the 15th, 16th, and 17th you couldn’t reach in 2… The 17th, even though they moved the tee forward 50 yards, you couldn’t reach in 2. Absolutely unplayable. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life“, he adds.
David subscribes to the survival theory, but literally, beyond the sporting aspect. “It was dangerous even for one’s health. No you couldn’t reach in 2, you couldn’t reach the fairway, you couldn’t do anything. And not in golf. It was a fight not to get hypothermia and end up there frozen. Impressive. It wasn’t golf, it was survival,” he concludes. He shot 74 at the Old Course, when he was five under with six holes to play.
Obviously, everyone had a different experience, depending on where and how they were caught by the conditions. Ángel Hidalgo (-4) also played the Old Course and finished at the 18th hole, but he started almost two hours before Puig. He suffered a lot, but he didn’t get the worst of it. Even so, be careful… “I was four under playing very well, but on the 12th hole, the sky started to fall. It was headwind and rain. Normally on the 14th, par 5, you can reach the green in two with a good drive, and I hit drive, 3-wood, 3-wood… without reaching. On the 13th, I hit drive and 3-wood. On the 15th, I hit drive and 3-wood… without reaching. On the 16th, I hit driver and 5-wood, a very good shot, and missed a short putt. On the 17th, I hit driver, 5-wood, another great shot, and made three very silly putts. It was ridiculous. A feeling of helplessness. It’s not normal. But bad luck, and that’s it. Between those of us who started on the 1st and those who started on the 10th, there was more than a two-shot average difference. On the 9th, which I played normally and those starting on the 10th with a hurricane headwind, I hit 3-wood and 60-degree wedge for the second shot, and Zanotti hit drive and 3-iron when he finished, and Migliozzi hit drive and 3-wood on that same hole and didn’t reach… Very heavy stuff,” he explains.
Things weren’t much better at Carnoustie, the toughest course in the rotation. Manu Elvira (-3), for example, finished the day hitting the drive from the 18th tee. The first burn is 200 meters away. “If I say what I think, they’ll arrest me,” he also says half-jokingly, half-seriously. And he adds: “I barely cleared the water.” Then, when he reached the ball and after hearing the suspension horn, he decided not to finish the hole given the situation. He was +2 for the day. Also, Alex del Rey (-6) played Carnoustie and finished at the 18th. “It was hellish. I hit the burn that’s 200 meters away with a good drive. I didn’t clear the water. And on the 15th, I hit a drive, well and strong, 230 meters. It was hellish,” he says.
Jorge Campillo (-7) is the best Spaniard on the leaderboard after carding a 71 at the Old Course. He is one of the lucky ones who finished at the 9th. He admits it. “I was really lucky because I played the bad weather holes with the wind behind. The unlucky ones are those who finished from the 13th to the 18th, no matter that the 8th and 9th were against. On the 9th, for example, I hit a good drive of 230 yards and a 7-iron from 130 yards, when it’s a hole where you can even reach the green from the tee.” Beyond the bad weather, the Extremaduran hopes to have better luck with the putter in the coming days, as today he missed some with several painful lip-outs.
The worst part was taken by Alfredo García Heredia. The Asturian withdrew just after the suspension. “Between the cold and the rain, today wasn’t good for my back…” It’s time to rest and be as well as possible for the Spanish Open in Madrid next week. When he withdrew, he was very disadvantaged with a total of eight over par and five more at the Old Course.
