I first started watching golf when I was around eight years old, tuning into the Masters Tournament and Open Championship when it used to be broadcast on the BBC. We never had Sky Sports in the house when I was a youngster so it was the two tournaments a year for me and I certainly wasn’t an avid fan, but it certainly piqued my interest.
It wasn’t until two years later in 2010 when I really started taking an interest in the game and became a more regular viewer and it was down to one course and one champion – Louis Oosthuizen lifting the Claret Jug at St Andrews. Well, it was also the fact that I had managed to convince my dad to purchase a Sky Sports subscription near that time as well, but we’ll leave it at the South African and the world’s grandest course!
I can’t even pinpoint the exact reason why Oosthuizen made me fall in love in with the game that week, but I do vividly remember being blown away by watching him strut up the beautiful 18th in front of the packed galleries – I may have only been ten but those images still play through my head when watching the tournament each year. I followed his progress for many years after that famous win and was lucky enough to interview him for the magazine over Zoom during lockdown a couple of years ago. He was as genuine as they come and very open in talking about a range of subjects, from that famous to win to being labelled the nearly man following his string of runner-up finishes at every single Major Championship.
Since the day the likeable South African secured his place in Major history, I like many others eagerly await the Open Championship each summer and for good reason. There is no other tournament quite like it – the links style courses, the grandeur of the Claret Jug, the weather causing absolute chaos, the fact that literally anybody can qualify and how easily a player can go from hero to zero in a matter of seconds – Jean Val de Velde springs to mind in 1999 at Carnoustie! The latter two points mentioned could ring true for a few tournaments across the globe but The Open just hits differently.
It will be interesting to see how Tiger gets on at St Andrews, the course he has confessed as his favourite. He, of course, has great history with the Championship, winning it on three occasions, two of them on the Old Course, but can he contend this week or could it be his Major bow? Everybody could see he was in visible pain at his last two outings at the Masters Tournament and PGA Championship, but something tells me he might have something up his sleeve when he returns to the tournament for the first time since 2019. Don’t forget, just a year before that he finished runner-up to Francesco Molinari at Carnoustie. It may seem like Tiger’s grandest days are behind him, but you just never know with the big cat and the flat layout of St Andrews is definitely going to work in his favour.
So, buckle up for four days of fascinating golf. It’s The Open Championship, baby!
