Japanese-affiliated Collin Morikawa won the 149th tournament in 2021 this year.
So next year, I'll be back in St Andrews 150th.
The Open is back at the St Andrews Old Course.
Wishing for the end of Corona, I managed to go to the Old Course again next year.
I want to watch The Open.
With that wish in mind, I wrote a diary of watching The Open at the last Old Course in 2015.
I will show it to everyone.
The Open 2015
The first plan was to get a hotel in St Andrews,
As of March, there were no accommodations in the city other than the Old Course Hotel.
After a lot of research, I decided to stay in Endinbara and searched for a hotel in the city, but I couldn't find a reasonable price.
When I searched for a bit of suburb, there was a station called Edinburgh Park just over 10 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh, and NOVOTEL was within walking distance, so I decided here.
It wasn't cheap at all, but it was a little cheaper than the centre of Edinburgh.
A little less than an hour by train from Glasgow, when you arrive at the station, there is a shopping centre right in front of you, and TESCO is in it.
The breakfast until the day before was heavy, so I think I can buy a salad here and switch to a vegetable-based meal.
Depart the hotel around 7:30 and change trains at the Haymarket station in front of Edinburgh.
There are several groups with giant golf umbrellas on the platform
It turns out that he is a person aiming for St Andrews.
I was worried that I couldn't sit down, but I could sit comfortably.
The train goes to Dandy, but most people get off at the Leuchars station.
Leuchars is the nearest station to St Andrew's.
There is a zigzag slope from home,
People who got off the train lined up and crossed there.
Instead, it is designed to be walked there.
A station employee is waiting on the other side to check the ticket.
When I showed my ticket, I was told, "Please buy a ticket," and was removed from the line.
She will instruct me to move forward.
Looking back, it seems that most of the people in the procession had a shuttle bus ticket in advance.
The girl in charge of "5pounds" will charge you, so if you pay £ 5 with banknotes,
She gave me a small piece of paper. It was a shuttle bus ticket.
The bus fired without waiting until it was packed.
I was able to sit alone in a two-seater seat.
It will take me to the old course without stress.
When I got off the bus, the front was the south entrance near the Old Course Hotel.
Buy a ticket, have your baggage checked and enter the venue.
I did a lot of research on tickets in advance on The Open's HP, but £ 80 was the lowest price.
The expression of HP was challenging to understand, and this prejudice hindered me from understanding it well.
If I thought that £ 80 was a price with reserved seats, it was an admission fee for ordinary adults.
Charges are higher for reserved seats and parking lots.
The surrounding rugby field is rented out as a parking lot. The whole town is full of golf.
Immediately after entering, I went to the first tee ground. Unfortunately, it seems that there was an interruption due to heavy rain.
A few staff members were pouring the accumulated water into Silkanburn.
I went to the putter practice area next to the teeing ground.
Iwata, a Japanese player who will start next, was practising.
The starting point is crowded with people.
It was a coffee shop, fish and chips, ice cream, beer, and even the Glen Morangi booth.
For the first time in my life I've seen so many people, I feel a tremendous amount of money moving. The cost of installing uniforms and stands for volunteers alone would be a tremendous amount.
One party consists of 3 players and six people in their caddy, two people with a signboard showing the player's name and score, two people in charge of score contact, one person in the bunker, and about 15 people, including the surroundings, walking in a group.
At first, I planned to watch the game while walking on the green side of the fairway.
Unlike Japanese courses and other modern courses, the old course is horizontally long, so
If you walk with the players, you will be chasing the same party.
On the contrary, there are many people. So it is disadvantageous to move too much to get to a good place.
Behind the crowd, short stature Japanese are at a disadvantage. It can't be helped to look at the uncle's back.
Because of this situation, I switched to fixed-point viewing. At the intersection of No. 7 → No. 11, I thought I could see multiple courses together, so I switched to watching the stand.
I hurried to the seat next to the 11th tee ground. And although the top starters hadn't arrived yet, the spectators were rushing in.
I couldn't sit down 15 minutes later. After all, I watched the game at this stand until about 16:00.
During that time, the volunteer aunts managed to manage the vacancy of the stands perfectly.
Even when I left my seat, there was a line to enter the stand.
Pro Iwata came around 11 o'clock. He isn't doing well at all. He wondered if he would go home but was patient because he had a big name behind him. Although I've heard their names, young players these days all look the same. It's because of my age.
Fujita and Ikeda also came. Fujita wears flashy pants, but he looks like a child because he is small.
Ikeda Pro feels that his bad-looking trousers are floating from the surroundings as he walks in his crotch.
About the following year, Pro Ikeda changed his outfit and became cute.
Was it because of the sponsor?
Sir Nick Faldo is dignified. There is a splendid birdie on the 10th green at the end of the 11th tee ground.
Mickelson came to number 8. You can tell him by just the silhouette. The way of walking with a stride is unique. Mickelson is on the 10th tee shot 50 yards in front of the green. I expected to see Mickelson's famous backspin.
Mickelson goes up to Greene for an approach and confirms.
He returned to the position of the ball and made a swing shot. He had a low ball 5m ahead of the pin.
From there, he applied backspin just before the pin, and it stopped at about 50 cm. But, again, it was a ball with a beautiful spin.
It was raining a little in the morning, but it stopped when I got up to the stand, and there was sunshine.
It was fun to see nostalgic faces such as Tom Lehman and Langer.
After all, it was raining this year, so it was a five-day battle, and Zach Johnson won the championship.
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