There’s little mystique to Royal St. George’s, and even less love for the English venue. It’s not the birthplace of golf like St. Andrew’s or an impossibly difficult test like Carnoustie. When a course crowns so unheralded a champ as 2003’s Open winner Ben Curtis, somehow the host bears the brunt of the criticism.
Ask Ian Poulter about the track at Sandwich, and he’ll say “it’s an average course at best.” The 18 holes that sit as far south as any in The Open rota are wildly considered the most quirky, fluky among the bunch.
But isn’t that exactly what’s so loved about link golf? The creativity, the nuance, the ability to define a champion who does more than lasers his seven iron more precisely than anyone else that week. It’s got humps and bumps and wacky lies and oddball stances and nothing’s a given. But when in golf is anything a given.
Who will emerge? Who will surprise? There’s a strangely common theme among The Sand Trap staff. Read on to see what we think.