Here is my article that I have just sent off for a New Zealand turf magazine. It pretty much sum's up the open too.
For four days in July, the eyes of millions of spectators will be firmly fixed on St Andrews as it plays host to one of the biggest events in world sport, the 150th British Open, and I was fortunate enough to be there working for the St Andrews Links.
Since I started greenkeeping, it has always been a goal of mine to work at St Andrews, and what made this year even more exceptional was that they were hosts to the 150th British Open.
So how did a young kiwi guy get this opportunity of a lifetime? I began my career doing an apprenticeship at Gulf Harbour country club under Morgan Henton and Tony Jonas. While I was there, Gulf Harbour were hosts two New Zealand Opens, which gave me the chance to gain my first taste of preparing for and working at tournaments. While there I also received the A.G.C.S.A Trainee of the Year award in 2006. Following my time at Gulf Harbour I completed the final year of my apprenticeship at Royal Auckland Golf Club under Brendan Allen.
Working at some of the best golf courses in New Zealand definitely sowed the seed for my application to work at St Andrews. I contacted Gordon Moir, Director of Greenkeeping for St Andrews last May. That was followed by a phone interview in October, and I had confirmation of my job placement early January 2010.
My dream became a reality in April, when I packed up and moved to St Andrews, where I am based on the Castle course. Arriving at St Andrews and seeing the Royal & Ancient building with my own eyes is quite an incredible feeling, I guess that is when it kicked in that I was actually at the home of golf. I arrived three months prior to the Open and preparations were in full swing already with the 22,000 seat grandstands already taking shape for the tournament.
The majority of the greenkeeping staff are experienced in turf management with only a few not being qualified. Usually there is 18 staff at St Andrews Old Course but for the tournament that number swells to 65.
On the Wednesday night before the tournament began we got 35mm of rain, which damaged a lot of the bunkers and a few hollows on the course, but fortunately being a links course most of it is free draining.
Thursday was the first round and the weather was sunny with little wind and low scores. Tiger Woods mentioned that the greens were very slow and soft, and the media jumped all over those comments. The greens speed were 10.5 ft, which is what the R & A’s requirements were. Any faster and the wind can potentially blow the ball off a green. Surface firmness had not declined from the 35mm of rain too much either.
Tiger Woods warming up before he tee's off
Come Friday winds were gusting up to 30 m/ph, the greens speed were still at 10.5 ft and play got suspended for an hour due to high winds moving the ball on a the 11th green. That night the greens did not get cut or rolled, nor did they get cut or rolled during set up for Saturday’s play. By Saturday night the greens height got lifted and now they were measuring at 10ft but still reading very true. The greens were getting tested with a new tool called “the trueness meter” daily.
The 17th hole at St Andrews
On Sunday South African Louis Oosthuizen calmly stood on the 18th tee with a seven shot lead and won the 2010 British Open. After the ceremony and doing a lap of honour around the 1st and 18th fairways with the Claret jug, he thanked all the greenkeepers and took a photo with us.
By Monday morning the celebrations had died down and things were back to normal. However after the course had been set up for normal play, the R & A put on a BBQ for us and Peter Dawson (Royal & Ancient Chief executive) personally thanked everyone for their efforts and supplied us all with champagne.
I recommend this experience to anyone who is passionate about green keeping. It has given me the chance to network with people from all over the world and be involved in one of the biggest golf tournaments on the planet. I would like to thank Brendan Allen and Royal Auckland Golf Club, Tony Jonas and Turftec
for everything they have taught me and their continuous support, which has played a significant part in getting me to St Andrews – The home of Golf.
Myself and Edoardo Molinari - Winner of the 2010 world cup (Italy) and also the Scottish Open 2010 which was held 2 weeks ago at Loch Lommond
Myself and Ian Baker-Finch - Winner of the British Open 1991
Here is a link to the photo's on my facebook - there were a whole lot more of the final day but for some reason they got deleted off my camera! Click here for photos
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