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Scotland on my Mind by Dan King
Sunday, July 21th
The Open Championship |
I really don't have much to say about today. I watched the Open, much in the same way most of the rest of you watched it. Flat on my back over the telly. Oh, sure I got up once to go get some scorecards. I also ended walking down to the course to pick up a batch of scorecards. While there I did stop by the Rhod McEwan booth. We had a pleasant little chat, and hopefully some time in the not to distant future we'll see Rhod's catalog on the Web. I ended up buying a few books while there:
Masters of Golf, by Pat Ward-Thomas
The Sport of Princes, by Laddie Lucas
Royal and Ancient Championship Records 1860-1980, published
by the Royal and Ancient.
Rhod's prices were very reasonable, not jacked up in the least for being sold at the Open. Same prices you'd find in his catalog.
I did come to a decision on what I'll do tomorrow, my final day in the U.K. The original plan was to play at Royal Lytham and St. Annes and then drive down to London, flying out of Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon. However, the round at the Open course has fallen through. I can probably get out and play there for £75.00 but I think there are other things to do.
I'm going to head back up to Scotland. I already miss it. I have a British Midlands ticket for Tuesday morning from Edinburgh to Heathrow. My plan was just to throw away that ticket and drive to Heathrow. But the travel time from Blackpool to London is close to the same as Blackpool to Edinburgh. I might as well head to Edinburgh. I have two thoughts. I can play Western Gailies, which I feel I was wrong not to get around when I was up there earlier. The other option is to play Siloway-on-Solway. It's on the English side of the Solway Firth, across the Firth from Southerness. I've heard positive comments about the course, and it might be remote enough to be less crowded. I'll make the decision which one while heading up M6 North.
Congratulations to Tom Lehman on his marvelous victory. It wasn't spectacular at the end, but it was plenty good enough to win. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for me to get a victory in the GolfWeb house pool. I lost 20 quid to Mark, whose team of McCumber/Faldo/McGinley/O'Meara beat my team by 7 shots and beat Ed's team of Els/Brooks/Singh/Furyk by 3 shots. As if it matters, I at least beat John's team of Couples/Norman/James/Pavin by a single shot.
I did go over to Pleasure Beach in Blackpool in the evening. It's much like Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk, but more so. They're celebrating their centennial. I rode their Big Dipper. As a kid I used to go over to Santa Cruz and would always ride the Big Dipper there. Despite all the new, scarier roller coasters now being built, there is something special about the old wooden Big Dippers. Blackpools didn't seem quite as high or squeaky as Santa Cruz's but that might be just the difference between youth and age talking. They also have a few newer roller coasters including "The Big One" which is a big one. I didn't ride on. £4.00 to ride and it looked a little out of my league. Instead I had a burger and risked Mad Cow Disease.
I did see the Japanese golfer contingent with their families down at Blackpool. Shigeki Maruyama still had his smile going and I did my best to congratulate him on his wonderful tournament.
My impressions of the Open. I guess the fairest thing is to compare it to the USGA's Open. The USGA Open seems more geared toward corporate customers. While the Royal and Ancient does sell space for corporate tents, they aren't actually on the course. The customers have to go out and join the multitudes to watch the action. The prices also seemed more reasonable for the Open. My feeling is that the Open is much more geared toward the regular golf fan than the USGA's annual event. Royal Lytham and St. Annes also seemed to prepare well for the event. Traffic never seemed to be a problem. We stayed in St. Annes, and the town hardly seemed to notice the event going on. It wasn't hard to go out and eat in the evening, waits on tables were very light. Parking also seemed to be handled well. A house down the street from the GolfWeb house was trying to sell 3 parking spots in front of their flat. During the practice rounds he was asking £8.00 and not getting it. Over the weekend he lowered his price to £2.00. Finally on Sunday, 2 cars were parked in his little lot. There was very little reason to pay for parking when it was so plentiful.
I've been working on my best of Scotland list. Best B&B, best breakfast, best pub, best clubhouse, best par-4, best par-3, etc. Since I have one final day of golf, it will have to wait until I finish. I'll probably finish up my diaries while buzzing across the North Pole in business class on United. When I return, I'll also get my film developed, and replace the pictures from the Apple QuickTake with better quality scanned-in pictures.
Next time you hear from me, it will be stateside (unless I do figure out a way to stay here and make a living).
Talk to you soon.
Dan King
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