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| Tiger Woods checks out the rough on the sixth fairway, where the landing area measures just 11 yards wide. |
And that, of course, is on the days when the sun actually appears. Tuesday was gray and gloomy, just the way they like it. Rain came on and off, and when the wind kicked up, only the hardy souls braved the elements. Wait a few minutes, however, and you're likely to experience all four seasons.
To play in the British Open, which begins Thursday, one must learn to accept such things.
So much is different about golf here, so much to learn and appreciate, sort of like beer that is not cold. The weather is just one of many factors that takes some getting used to, especially for the uninitiated. You can feel the mist, the dampness. You can smell the ocean.
There are no railroad ties to be found, no forced carries over water, no stadium mounds for easy viewing. It is pure golf; not always pretty, but plenty formidable.
"When you have all the conditions, when you have the wind, it is the ultimate test," said five-time British Open champion Tom Watson.
Even for Watson, British Open golf was an acquired taste. Truth be told, he hated this kind of golf when he journeyed to Scotland for his first Open in 1975, the last time the tournament was played at Carnoustie, when Watson emerged victorious in a playoff over Jack Newton.
Somehow, he managed to overcome a recent propensity for blown leads in major championships, making birdie on the last two holes to force the playoff. It wasn't until several years later that Watson truly appreciated links golf.
"I decided I better change my attitude, because I have had success and I didn't want to fight myself," Watson said. "I pretended I was a little kid again, in the sense that you had to run the ball on the greens because you couldn't hit the ball very far.
"I liked the idea of playing the ball in the air and stopping it quickly. It was going against my nature at the time. I decided to change my nature."
To win five times, it was imperative. Bad breaks occur more frequently at British Open venues. A perfectly struck drive can land square in the middle of the fairway, hit a mound and leap into a pot bunker from which there is no recovery. The wind can change 180 degrees, meaning wedge approach shots one day and 2-irons the next.
And the grass is a wee bit different from what Americans are used to seeing. Unlike the perfectly manicured gems back home, British courses have a scraggly look. And the rough can be even rougher.
"They are going to make a lot of money when they cut and bale this hay out here, because the cows are going to eat good this year, very good," said U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart. "It is thick, it is nasty. And it's not very far off the fairway -- if you call those fairways. Those are kind of like walking paths, compared to what we have in the United States.
Indeed, it is a complete change from the U.S. major championships. The Masters has its beauty, its wide fairways and fiendish greens. The U.S. Open is typically fraught with bowling alley fairways, knee-deep rough and rock-hard greens. The PGA Championship is often simply a scaled-down version of the U.S. Open.
The British Open is none of that. It is the oldest championship, the one players around the world covet more than just about any other. Entry requirements are not weighted toward the PGA Tour. There are players from Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Paraguay, Argentina, Japan, Colombia, France and Venezuela.
Perhaps that is why the Open often evokes many oddities. What was more surprising last year at Royal Birkdale, 18-year-old British amateur Justin Rose making a strong run before tying for fourth, or little-known American Brian Watts getting into a playoff with eventual champion Mark O'Meara?
Through the years, there have been several eye-raising names atop the leaderboard, even if they failed to remain there. How about Bobby Clampett, who crumbled on the weekend in 1982?. Or Lu Liang Luan, better known as Mr. Lu, who gave Lee Trevino a run in 1971 before finishing second at Royal Birkdale. Or Dave Thomas, who nearly denied Peter Thomson his fourth Open title in 1958 before losing in a 36-hole playoff?
"It is a championship everybody wants to win because it has the best field in the world," said Tiger Woods. "It is the Open Championship. I like it best out of all the majors because the conditions change so much. They change rapidly, too."