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Gollan, Scotland – There’s a great juxtaposition going on with the PGA Tour players this week. On a golf course in Scotland? pure happiness. Anything golf related from home? Mostly anxiety. This is the case when Tour stars travel to a place that calls itself “Golf Country” while Tour representatives they play while traveling to a Senate hearing in Washington.
You can see it on the course, but let’s start in the press room. Press conferences cover two topics at the moment: golf links and PGA Tour governance. Regarding the latter, some of the best players seem to be speaking in unison.
“I understand the idiosyncrasy of that,” Scotty Scheffler said, “but I wish our players’ representatives certainly needed more involvement in the process.”
Jordan Spieth agrees. “It’s a member-run organization that has a volunteer board that’s supposed to look out for the interests of PGA Tour players on the board,” said Speth. “I don’t think these decisions should be made without involving — call it — players on the board and other board members.”
Can you spot the direction? Xander Schavelli watched Spieth’s press from the back of the room, and a few minutes later he was on the podium speaking in kind. Schaffel said: “Right now, with this hearing and everything that’s going on, these are just steps in the process of obtaining — not what we are Wants, But more transparency – and get a seat at the table. It’s an organization for the members and that’s what it should be.”
The big players want a seat at the table. They want to be heard. They did not participate in the framework agreement, but they want to have a say in the final agreement. But in the meantime, their actual surroundings seemed to turn those grimaces on their head. Welcome to golf in the UK.
It has become a ritual for these top players to use that break between the US Open and The Open Championship to quickly reset the spirit of golf. Travel to Scotland, England and Ireland before this year’s deadline. Or simply, “to have a lot of fun in the middle of work,” said Spieth. They don’t usually understand that.
Spieth, Justin Thomas and Ricky Fowler drove through Lahinch last summer, in central Ireland, on their way to St Andrews. This year, they hitchhiked to London and took a spin around Sunningdale’s Old Course, considered by many to be the best in England.
Players seem to treat the next two weeks as a kind of escape. They will play without hats because this is easier in the wind. The caddies are given permission by their professional to take an afternoon off and cross the property for a tour of next-door neighbour Muirfield. Pros hear stories of Phil Mickelson’s infernal time on the 16th at North Berwick and can’t help but try to beat the original green at Biarritz too.
Gullane’s top recommendations are in action this week as the pros zip across town and pop into the pub to watch Wimbledon on TV. Dinner at Pony Badger. Drinks at the bouncer. dinner And Drinks at the old club. This is where Bitcoin and Zack Blair found themselves on Tuesday night.
Around that time, as the sun was setting, Spieth and Thomas were golfing all 18 holes at North Berwick, universally beloved as a fun and exotic test full of scoring opportunities. “I’ve never played a 27 hole on a Tuesday of championship week,” said Spieth. Until now, that is. North Berwick’s appeal is very strong. Many players and their families are having fun at The Marine Hotel this week, which overlooks the 16th hole at West Links. The temptation is to wait there outside their windows. Spieth walked the course with his family a decade ago, during the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield. It was another hot, dry summer, and the course fascinated him. This week he played the first holes with his coach Cam McCormick and McCormick’s son, but he just couldn’t stop himself. So he and Thomas found themselves finishing the full tour, to the delight of the dozens of locals who popped in to watch. Elsewhere in the cycle, Luke List was also at play. Same for Sahith Theegala. He shot seven under the last 10 holes.
A lot was made of Max Homa last July when he played all 18 holes at North Berwick during the Friday evening Genesis Scottish Open. He had played 18 at the Renaissance Club that morning, shot 71, and thought he had one chance to play it on a course he’d only heard good things about. So he jumped. If you ask Richie Ramsay, the Scottish professional and member of the Renaissance, he will never be surprised by the adoration of North Berwick, or any of the fine links in this land.
“We sometimes take them for granted because they are on your doorstep,” Ramzi said Tuesday. Like, I’m lucky I know a couple of guys at Muirfield that I can go and play there. This place is a great golf course. Like North Berwick, a great walk and kind of a great source. You know, different shots, different lies, and that’s how it feels. St. Andrews. It’s very therapeutic for the soul.”
Really therapeutic.