Carly's Open Wrap Up

Wow, it seems just like yesterday that I was opening the GolfPunk Clubhouse at the Rule in St Andrews with World Number 23 Bernd Wiesberger. The last week has flown by like the mini hurricanes that sabotaged play at the Open last week. I also heard that GolfPunk Editor Tim’s tent (camping? In Scotland in Open week?!) got blown halfway to Dundee in the middle of the night! Meanwhile, I was safely tucked up in a nice warm bed, thank you very much! 

It’s been a brilliant week for me. It was my first outing as the GolfPunk Golf Nurse and my job was to challenge the patrons to ‘Nearest The Pin’ and ‘Longest Drive’ competitions on the golf simulator (only got beat a couple of times all week!), and then generally have a great time dancing the night away.

We had a lot of V.I.P visitors over the week including Scotland football captain Craig Brown, Olympic curler Eve Muirhead, lots of tour players including Open Champions Darren Clarke and Tom Lehman, plus the Scottish rugby stars Duncan Weir and Greg Laidlaw. They all came down to see us, enjoy a nice drink and a chat. 

When I wasn’t at the Clubhouse I was up early and down to the golf course and, when I walked into the entrance at the 17th on the final day, I couldn’t have been more excited. 

I’d already witnessed some incredible golf and, despite the fact that I’ve never been to an Open which has been so ‘stop start’ with all the weather delays (it was often difficult to remember quite what day it was!) – when the players got back out it was a veritable birdie fest, and by the time the leaderboard was set on Sunday night, it couldn’t have been tighter.  

It was so amazing to see Paul Dunne at the very top of the leaderboard alongside Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen and, of course, everyone was wondering if Paul could hack it if it came down to the wire. I guess we got our answer, but it was a wonderful week for the Irishman.

When I headed out onto the course, 27 players were within five shots of the lead.

As the day began to unfold, it seemed anyone of the 27 could win. 

The fact that we ended up with a three-way play off was no surprise, given how close and classy the leaderboard was. 

The fact that the play-off was between Marc Leishman, Zach Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen was more of a surprise. 

Many of the big names such as Jordan Spieth, Padraig Harrington, Jason Day and Sergio challenged at one stage or another, but couldn’t force their way into the play off. 

By the time Zach Johnson was crowned Open Champion 2015, after a terrific performance on the last day, many of us could be forgiven for being a little snow bind. This was, seemingly, the Open that didn’t want to end. It has ended, eventually!, and I personally can’t wait for Troon 2016!!

I have to say that the biggest thrill of the week, was meeting one of my heroes Tom Watson. It was sad to think it was his last Open as a competitor but, at the same time, the incredible outpouring of emotion and appreciation that encapsulated Tom on his walk up the 18th on Saturday was testament to the wonderful career he enjoyed, and the stunning moments he gave us. It is a moment that will stay with me and inspire me forever.

Thank you, Tom.

Carly xx.