'Natural, raw golf' - St Andrews bares its teeth and puts pushover critics into rough

In winds gusting to 40mph in the morning before easing a tad in the afternoon, the first round of the AIG Women’s Open was a real battle for the world’s top players, with some suffering bruises. Anna Nordqvist, the 2021 champion at Carnoustie, ran up an 8 at the par-4 12th, where Ayaka Furue, the most recent women’s major winner in last month’s Evian Championship, had taken 7 shortly beforehand.

At the other end of the course, meanwhile, Hinako Shibuno, dubbed the ‘Smiling Cinderella’ when she landed the title at Woburn in 2019, also signed for a 7 at the Road Hole and Linn Grant, having hit her tee shot out of bounds, took 6 at at the 18th, which was believed to be the first double bogey recorded there in this event following two previous editions in 2007 and 2013.

“It’s one of the toughest,” said Catriona Matthew in reply to being asked to describe the challenge in what was her 99th round in this event and close to her last, the 2009 winner having announced on Wednesday that this will be her final appearance in The R&A major. “Everything is tough. Drives, second shots. And putting is difficult. I had a two-footer for par on 9 just straight across the wind and you're grinding over that. At another hole, we were laughing as my putter must have done a figure of eight by the time it got back to the ball and you’re just hoping to hit it.”

According to Gemma Dryburgh, the other Scot in the 144-player field, it had been questionable whether play should have been taking place soon after she teed off in one of the early groups along with Lexi Thompson and Minjee Lee. “Yes, absolutely,” replied the Aberdonian to being asked if she had felt it had been borderline on the exposed holes out near the Eden Estuary. “On 11, our second hole, our balls were moving. My ball moved twice before I putted. Don't know how it was playable, to be honest. Especially those holes like seven and 11 right out there. Yeah.”

Hall, the 2018 winner, said she thought a “few times” that play might be halted, but was “glad” that didn’t happen. “I love those conditions, whether I play bad or not,” she declared after signing off with an eagle 2 at the ninth to card a two-under 70, which left her handily-placed at the end of the opening day. “This is a true Women’s Open like this. That’s part of the battle with the weather.”

Even though a brutal day had been predicted, Hall’s eyes had lit up when she looked out of the window in her room at the Old Course Hotel at 5am. “I could see flags on the range and they were blowing a gale and I was like, ‘that's great, hope it stays like that’,” she added. “Not sure many players would agree with me. I hardly get to play like this. I play in America a lot and, to me, it's more of a wooden form of golf. This is natural, raw golf.”

Despite understandable concerns, the action on the first day in the season’s final major wasn’t disrupted, though wind is set to remain a factor for the duration of the $9.5 million tournament and Storm Lillian could add further menace for the second round. Measures taken by organisers to combat the conditions certainly helped on day one. “I think The R&A are very clever with letting the greens be a bit slower so the balls weren't rolling,” observed Hall. “I think if they cut them to a certain length, we would have had to stop. So credit to The R&A for that.”

Due to the wind coming from a west/south-westerly direction, the front nine played tougher than is traditionally the case, which was a blow to Matthew by the time she stepped on to the first tee along with two fellow former winners, Karrie Webb at Stacy Lewis, to begin their inward journey. “We started on 10 and thought it would get slightly easier on the back nine, but we were slightly mistaken,” said Matthew, who signed for a five-over-par 77, in a frustrated tone.

As an indication of how holes on links courses can play differently in windy conditions, the nine-time Solheim Cup player said she’d normally be faced with a wedge for her approach at the first yet had required a 3 hybrid on this occasion and certainly wasn’t alone in that respect. In short, it’s a day every single player in the field will remember, albeit maybe not necessarily enjoying the challenge.

“You've got to do everything I suppose,” observed Matthew, having been asked what it is the most important thing to do well in such conditions. “You've got to drive it well because if you start leaking off to the right you're in the bunkers. I know they are massive greens and it seems crazy to say you've got to try and hit the greens. But, with that amount of wind, it's trying to control the ball flight and when you get on the greens, it's difficult.”

After an opening 79, Dryburgh needs something special in the second circuit to be around for the weekend, which is probably a necessity as far as her hopes of earning one of European captain Suzann Pettersen’s picks for next month’s Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.

“It was hard as I was just a bit blown away,” she said of her birdie-less effort. “My ball was blowing off the tee; it was blowing on the fairway. Yeah, it was tough. Overall, pretty happy with how I hit it considering the conditions, but I could have saved a few shots as I missed a few short ones out there.”