Champions await at Turnberry

TURNBERRY, Scotland - The sun came out Wednesday over the Firth of Clyde, the stretch of ocean that runs along Turnberry's Alisa Course here, and Tom Watson walked toward the back nine. He looked across the water as he strode to the 10th tee, turned to his caddie, and mentioned the reflection of the clouds in the sea, still as could be.

"Pretty calm out there, isn't it?" Watson said.

Watson knows, better than most, that Turnberry typically stays calm for just hours at a time. The wind here will determine so much about the British Open, which begins Thursday. If it picks up, it could make the closing holes a ferocious test or a birdie-fest, depending on its direction. If it stays away, even for a day, it could leave the course all but helpless, and produce a number such as the 63 Greg Norman shot here in 1986. It is, after all, the British Open, where wind is the most important player in the field.

But whatever happens with the weather, Turnberry is likely to produce a champion worthy of the moment. Only three of the 137 previous Opens have been staged on this gorgeous slice of seacoast. In 1977, Watson beat Jack Nicklaus on the 72nd hole, matching Nicklaus' 40-foot birdie putt with a short birdie of his own, one of golf's and finest moments. In 1986, it was Norman, who shot that brilliant 63 in the second round - "One of my better rounds," he said Wednesday - and won by five. And in 1994, it was Nick Price firing four rounds in the 60s, winning by a shot over Jesper Parnevik, propelling himself to a win at the PGA Championship later that summer.

Those three champions - Watson, Norman and Price - were, without much argument, the best players on the planet at the time of their titles here. It is not the most storied venue for this championship, nor the most frequently used, nor even the sternest test of a player's abilities. But the 7,204-yard, par-70 layout - lengthened since Price won here 15 years ago - has a way of evaluating the field and selecting a golfer that isn't, say, a Ben Curtis or a Todd Hamilton - fluky winners who took titles at Royal Troon in 2003 and Royal St. George's in 2004, respectively. Turnberry is where the best seem to play the best.

"Why some venues produce winners like that and others don't, I have no idea," said Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R&A, which oversees the championship. "The setup of the courses and the type of player required is pretty similar in all the Open venues. I think it's happenstance, myself."

Some courses, though, seem selective that way. Pebble Beach, one of the great American venues, has hosted four U.S. Opens. The champions: Nicklaus, Watson (over Nicklaus), Tom Kite and Tiger Woods, by a record 15 shots. St. Andrews's British Open champions since 1970 have been Nicklaus (twice), Seve Ballesteros (twice), Nick Faldo, John Daly and Woods (twice).

Turnberry, by now, has gained that reputation. The history is such that Rory McIlroy, the 20-year-old Irishman who's already considered a contender here, can tick off the key shots, accurately labeling the 1977 match between Nicklaus and Watson "The Duel in the Sun," remembering Norman led all four majors in 1986 but won only here, and recalling Price's monstrous birdie putt that used nearly all of the 17th green, even though McIlroy was only 5 at the time.

There are different theories why memorable players played memorably here, and some of them are inordinately technical. Norman talked at length Wednesday about the way the fairways are sloped, requiring players to control the ball in the air so they can throw them into the camber at the right angle. Some greens, too, are bowl-shaped, more receptive to iron shots that are well-struck at the right moment.

"There's a lot of little nuances around this golf course if you get to know it," Norman said. "... The good players study it very, very well. They know it."

Given all that, it's a wonder that one name - Tiger Woods - hasn't been mentioned before this point. Though Woods has no major championship this year, he is, without question, the top player in the game, exceeding the stature Watson, Norman and Price held in their primes. "He's the best player that's ever played the game," Watson said.

Yet he had never, before this week, played Turnberry, because the last time the Open was held here was the summer he was winning his first U.S. Amateur title, still just 18. He played here Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and said he understood why the players who have challenged here and won here - Watson and Nicklaus, Norman and Price - did just that.

"You just can't fake it around this golf course," Woods said. "You just have to hit good golf shots, and those four guys you alluded to, those are all some of the best ball-strikers of all-time, or certainly in their eras."

Whether the wind picks up or whether it stays down, Turnberry will be here, waiting. And when it crowns a champion Sunday evening, history indicates it will be a name you know, one that can raise the Claret Jug and join a list of champions who fit the title.