This year's "links time" is heading toward its finale.
Every summer, major tournaments are held one after another on the links courses of the north-central region of the British Isles. This month alone, the PGA Tour's Genesis Scottish Open, followed by The Open, The Senior Open, and the Scottish Women's Open, were staged on links courses. At the Scottish Open, held at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, Kim Joo-hyung enjoyed the thrill of victory.
The AIG Women's Open, the final major of the women's golf season and the crowning event of links time, will be held from the 30th at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club (hereafter Royal Lytham) in Lancashire, England. This is the sixth time the tournament has visited Royal Lytham. At the previous edition held here in 2018, Georgia Hall, then a rookie on the LPGA Tour, became the first English player to claim the title in 14 years.
Links courses, mostly found along Scotland's coastlines, are where golf was born. Not every course near the sea is a links course. The key features of links include their location in sandy coastal areas, fairways that are hard and undulating after being packed down over the years, and an abundance of round, near-vertical pot bunkers. The wind, which frequently changes direction, is always cited as one of the variables.
On a links, where the ball tends to roll into a bunker or the rough after landing, one must be humble. Bobby Jones of the United States, called "the God of golf," left an anecdote from when he first experienced the Old Course at St Andrews at The Open in 1921 at age 19. When his play did not go as he wished, he gave up the game at the 11th hole in the third round. Having realized that one must submit to nature, he went on to win The Open three times, in 1926, 1927, and 1930. The place where Bobby Jones first conquered The Open in 1926 was Royal Lytham.
Opened in 1897, Royal Lytham is a storied course that has hosted The Open 11 times and the Ryder Cup twice. Royal Lytham has several features. One of them is that 174 pot bunkers lie hidden throughout the fairways and around the greens, putting golfers in trouble. Tiger Woods of the United States also had his ankles caught by the bunkers here at The Open in 2012 and had to give up his dream of a come-from-behind win. On the final day at the 6th hole (par 4), he put his second shot into a bunker near the green. When his ball, having failed to escape on the first attempt, came to rest beneath the vertical wall, he barely got out from outside the bunker in a position almost lying sideways, but added a three-putt to record a triple bogey and finished tied for third. It is also unusual that the 1st hole is a par 3. Set up at around 200 yards, this hole is surrounded by seven bunkers around the green, making it not easy even to save par. There are three par-3 holes on the front nine (the 1st, 5th, and 9th), and only one on the back nine, the 12th.
For Korean fans, Royal Lytham remains a bitter memory from the 2003 AIG Women's Open. Pak Se-ri, then in her prime, and Annika Sorenstam of Sweden went head-to-head on the final day, with the two tied for the lead heading into the last hole, the 18th (par 4). Pak's wood tee shot landed in a fairway bunker, leading to a bogey, while Sorenstam, who kept the fairway with her driver tee shot, recorded a par. With this victory, Sorenstam completed the career Grand Slam and was inducted into the Hall of Fame that same year.
This year is all the more meaningful, as the AIG Women's Open—founded in 1976 and once called the British Women's Open—marks its 50th anniversary. At the inaugural 1976 tournament, most of the competitors were amateurs, and just five professional players competed for prize money of 500 dollars. This year's event features more than 140 players and offers a total purse of 10 million dollars, the largest in the tournament's history.
I look forward to a happy ending to this year's links time, in which a Korean woman golfer writes a page of history at the 50th anniversary tournament. This would also mean the first conquest of Royal Lytham, as well as a third consecutive major victory for Korean players, following Yu Hae-ran's wins at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship and the Evian Championship.
They say that golf's almost only drawback is that it is so much fun it is easy to get addicted. I hope we can share the joy of "reading golf," which is yet another thing apart from playing golf and watching golf.
