Name That Troon : This Week’s Jetstream Course Is One of Eight in the British Open Rotation

The 126th British Open gets airborne today at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland, which seems only appropriate since the course is next to Prestwick Airport. Now, at Troon, the back nine usually plays into the wind, but someone plainly forgot to mention it might be jet engine exhaust.

There are eight courses in the modern rotation as the host course for the Open Championship, decided by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. Five are in Scotland and three in England.

Troon hasn’t had the Big Show since 1989, when Mark Calcavecchia won in the tournament’s first four-hole playoff format.

Troon may not be included in the upper echelon of British Open sites, but at least one of its holes might be near the top. Troon’s claim to fame is No. 8, a 126-yard mini-hole called the Postage Stamp. Gene Sarazen had a hole in one there in 1973, a mere 41 years after his Open triumph at Prince’s in England.

Michael Friedman, author of “The Complete Golfers’ Catalogue,” wrote of the hole’s difficulty: “With the usually prevailing tail winds, this hole’s green is about as easy to land on as the hood of a Volkswagen.”

Or perhaps the wing of a jetliner.

Troon became Royal Troon in 1978 on the club’s 100th anniversary, by permission of Queen Elizabeth. And Tom Watson was the king of the golf world after winning the 1982 Open at Royal Troon, the fourth of his five British Open titles.

The vistas from the course are spectacular: the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran and the hills of Kintyre. You can also make out the rocky Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre as it juts into the Irish Sea.

Troon has the distinction of both the longest and shortest holes in the Open championship. The Postage Stamp is the shortest and the 577-yard No. 6 is at the other end of the spectrum. Like all seaside courses, called links courses, Troon has a lot more bite if the weather is bad.

It is also the site of one of golf history’s turning points in 1962 when Arnold Palmer blew away the field to score a six-shot victory over Kel Nagle with no one else closer than 13 shots. That electrifying victory, Palmer’s second British Open title, not only heightened the popularity of golf and boosted the Open’s reputation, but also paved the way for more American players to take part in golf’s oldest major championship.

Here’s a look at the other seven courses in the British Open rotation:

CARNOUSTIE (Carnoustie, Scotland)

Carnoustie returns to the rotation in 1999. The last time the Open was played at Carnoustie, Watson was at the height of his powers. He won the first of his five British Open titles at Carnoustie in 1975, defeating Jack Newton by one shot in an 18-hole playoff.

Carnoustie has had its share of great champions: Tommy Armour in 1931, Henry Cotton in 1937, Ben Hogan in 1953, Gary Player in 1968 and Watson in 1975.

Since ‘75, Carnoustie managed to make repairs on its condition as well as its reputation as one of Great Britain’s more interesting links courses. Carnoustie is a large, open, sandy, seaside layout, but there is one inland hole. That would be the seventh, called “South America” oddly enough, where the green is on an island surrounded by a ditch. The green was once part of an old garden and a tree has been left there as a natural hazard.

Only 30 minutes north of Dundee on the Firth of Tay, Carnoustie usually sits beneath gray skies that have been known to dump rain from time to time. Player once called Carnoustie, “A good swamp spoiled” . . . and he actually won at the place.

In addition to a number a small streams, or burns, the course also is littered with sandy hills and a distinct bit of golf history.

Hogan won the only British Open he entered, at Carnoustie in 1953. It was the same year that he won the Masters and the U.S. Open, but there was no so-called Grand Slam at that time (Palmer and his journalist buddy Bob Drum hadn’t thought it up yet), so Hogan did not enter the PGA at Birmingham, Mich.

He couldn’t have played anyway, though, because the PGA began the week after the British Open ended.

There was one other irony. Although Hogan was no more than an hour’s drive from St. Andrews while in Carnoustie, he never played or even visited the ancestral home of golf. Hogan remains the only great player in the history of the game never to have gone to St. Andrews.

MUIRFIELD (Muirfield, Scotland)

Not far from Edinburgh, Muirfield hosted the Open for the first time in 1892. It was a notable occasion because it was the first time the tournament was played over 72 holes instead of 36. And an amateur won it, Harold Hilton, who came from eight shots back after the first day. Hilton didn’t decide to enter until two days before the tournament. His preparation consisted of playing Muirfield three times in one day after traveling all night to get there.

Like all the links courses, Muirfield plays a lot differently when the wind blows. The rough is thick and there are bunkers most everywhere. Nick Faldo has won two of his three British Open titles at Muirfield--in 1987 when he defeated Paul Azinger and Rodger Davis by one shot and in 1992 when he beat John Cook by one shot.

Watson, Lee Trevino, Player and Nicklaus have all scored victories in Opens staged at Muirfield.

Muirfield dates back to 1744 and it is the oldest golf club in the world. What’s more, many golf purists rate Muirfield as the world’s best course. Oldest and best? That’s quite a reputation. The first nine holes run in a clockwise circle and the back nine run counterclockwise inside the first circle. If that doesn’t make you dizzy, maybe the course will. Take for instance the 449-yard No. 1, a dogleg par four usually into the wind.

But there is a method to the layout: Holes are grouped in clusters of three inside the two loops, which means you rarely have to play two holes in a row into the wind. This could come in handy in case of a gale.

ST. ANDREWS (St. Andrews, Scotland)

The Old Course is arguably the most famous course in the world. It has virtually everything, from famous players (Old and Young Tom Morris) to famous bridges (over the Swilcan Burn) to famous bunkers (the Hell Bunker) to famous holes (the Road Hole, No. 17).

It has heather and gorse--but no out of bounds. This suited John Daly just fine in 1995 when he won the Open and eventually won over the blue-jacketed patrons of golf by not filling the Claret Jug with diet cola and chugging away on the clubhouse steps.

Many of the bunkers on the Old Course were formed by sheep taking refuge from the wind. Many golf balls are probably still buried in those bunkers.

If you judge a golf course by its champions, consider those who have won Open titles at St. Andrews in modern times: Bobby Jones in 1927, Sam Snead in 1946, Peter Thomson in 1955, Nagle in 1960, Tony Lema in 1964, Nicklaus in 1970 and 1978, Seve Ballesteros in 1984 and Faldo in 1990.

TURNBERRY (Turnberry, Scotland)

Watson won at Turnberry, but he won just about everywhere on the British Isles, didn’t he? Maybe his success there in 1977 has do with the fact that Turnberry often is compared to Pebble Beach, which could serve as Watson’s home course, more or less.

A seaside links course hard to the Irish Sea, Turnberry dates back to 1903, but it hasn’t been devoted exclusively to golf. It was an allied airstrip in World War II, then converted back into a golf course in 1951.

Watson’s duel with Nicklaus in the 1977 Open was one of the major championships’ classics. It also was the first British Open at Turnberry.

The weather couldn’t have been better for that Open 20 years ago, and Watson wound up with a one-shot victory over Nicklaus in what was a record score of 268. The wind was indeed blowing in 1986 when Greg Norman guided enough one-iron drives through the breezes to win the first of his two major titles, both British Opens.

Nick Price won the most recent British Open at Turnberry, in 1994, helped along the way when Jesper Parnevik failed to pay enough attention to the scoreboard. Maybe he was distracted by the huge Turnberry Hotel on the hillside above the sea or the imposing rock island called the Ailsa Craig. Or maybe the bill of his cap distracted him. Turnberry can do that to you.

ROYAL LYTHAM AND ST. ANNES (St. Annes on the Sea, England)

Another links course, Royal Lytham is just down the road from Blackpool, a popular summer destination for many English on holiday. It certainly was a holiday spot for Tom Lehman last year when he won his first major title in the 125th Open Championship.

Like everyone else, Lehman had to contest with Lytham’s somewhat quirky nature. It is 6,822 yards long, but begins with a par three. It is classified as a links course, but there is a railroad track running down one side of the course and a bunch of red-brick houses on part of the front nine. The spectacle once prompted Faldo to comment: “It’s like playing in a little city, isn’t it?”

It may be one of the least historically significant courses, yet no less than Bobby Jones hit one of the greatest shots in history on this course. That was in 1926 when Jones hit out of sandy waste from 175 yards out on the 17th and landed the ball a couple of feet from the pin, thus unnerving eventual runner-up Al Watrous.

Watrous, was was already on the green, is supposed to have said: “There goes a hundred thousand bucks.”

Lytham also is the place where Ballesteros won in 1979 even though he knocked a ball into a parking lot in the final round. He won again at the same place in 1988 with a similarly spectacularly errant shot on the last day--he drove under a bush.

During the final round in 1974, Player was forced to chip left-handed after his ball came to rest against the clubhouse wall, with club members leaning out the window dangerously close to spilling the contents of their pints on his back. Player won. Sometimes, the course does, since there are 178 sand traps. Yes, somebody counted them. Bring a shovel.

ROYAL ST. GEORGE’S (Sandwich, England

It is said that the best way to play Royal St. George’s is to hit the ball straight, but isn’t that the best way to play anywhere? This course is only an hour east of London by train, but it’s probably a lot closer philosophically to a desert because there is so much sand.

Take the par three No. 3. If your ball doesn’t find the green, it’s probably going to wind up in sand, because there’s plenty of it there. The hole is called “Sahara,” appropriately enough.

Of course, Sandy Lyle won here in 1985. It’s only fair.

If there is any confusion at this golf course, it’s understandable. The course is Royal St. George’s, but it’s also known as Sandwich, because that’s the town where the club is located. The bunkers are not called bunkers, but “corsets,” apparently because they “pinch” the fairways.

Legendary British golf writer Bernard Darwin was a fan of Royal St. George’s. He once contemplated its future.

Wrote Darwin: “Whatever happens, the larks will continue to twitter, the sun will still be shining on Pegwell Bay: the charm can never be gone.”

We can only hope.

ROYAL BIRKDALE (Southport, England)

Just down the coast of the Irish Sea from Lytham is Royal Birkdale, sort of the stepchild of the British Open rotation. Ian Baker-Finch is the last Open champion at Birkdale, which was the site of his triumph in 1991 over Mike Harwood. All you need to know about Birkdale’s most recent Open champion is that he can occasionally find the fairway with his drives these days.

Next year, the Open returns to Birkdale for only the third time since Johnny Miller’s stirring six-shot victory over Nicklaus and Ballesteros in 1976. Watson won at Birkdale in 1983, which was the last of his five Open titles.

The course has been described as sandy, winding, hilly, grand, desolate . . . bleak, if you will. Palmer did not find it so in 1961 when he sent a six-iron to within 10 feet of the cup for a birdie on the treacherous 16th hole, a shot that enabled him to win his first of two British Opens.

As if it weren’t long enough already, more than 7,000 yards, you finish with two par fives. Trevino, who won at Birkdale in 1971, once offered advice on the best way to play the course: Stay out of the rough.

Trevino told Sports Illustrated in 1983: “At 15, we put down my bag to hunt for a ball . . . found the ball, lost the bag.”