Royal St George’s won’t offer up birdie fest

TO compete in and win the British Open Championship, you must not only beat the best golfers in the world but also be able remain in full control of your emotions.

No tournament in world golf will challenge your character quite like an Open Championship on a links course.

Experience will undoubtedly count of course, but even the greatest golfers will understand that despite all their shot-making skills, much of their fortunes will rely on favourable bounces and most important of all, a very strong putting performance.

Yesterday, in just a short few hours of first day play, we witnessed many of the challenges facing the golfers this week. Despite some fairways being widened, the short stuff is still very difficult to hit. Short approach shots to tight pin positions, normally bread and butter to most professional golfers, have proven to be near impossible resulting in bogeys as much from frustration as poor shot making.

Therein lies the beauty of links golf. Some may say it's unfair, others will say it's the most natural expression of the game.

In an era when the professional tour's main emphasis has been on neutralising modern technology by creating monster tests on lush well groomed golf courses, isn’t it refreshing that the Open Championship’s main emphasis has remained on challenging the player in all aspects of their game - from trajectory control to creative shot making and sound putting?

Mentally, the Open is the toughest of all the Major championships. Whereas some of the courses on the Open rota are largely on relatively flat terrain, the same can not be said for Royal St George’s, where the fairways and the greens are heavily contoured, making the bounce of the ball critical. As much as it goes against the grain of the golfers' psyche, many of the approach shots this week will have to be either bounced into the firm greens or, if lucky enough, struck with some spin from the fairways. This lack of certainty as to the ball's ultimate resting place can be hugely disconcerting to players, so keeping bogeys off the card will prove to be just as important as making birdies. Sandwich will not offer any player a birdie fest. Staying focused and in contention remains the priority especially as the forecast is for the weather to deteriorate over the weekend.

RORY McIlroy’s game didn't look the sharpest yesterday, but his score of 71 means he has done little damage to his Sunday prospects. His greatest challenge will be in his ability to convert enough 20-30ft putts. With a deteriorating forecast, a final tally of level par at the end of the week may well prove to be good enough but if Rory has aspirations, he'll have to hope for a return of at least four birdies per round over the next three days. In order to do that he will have to roll the dice and take some calculated risks as well as holing out everything from inside four feet.

Of the other three Irish players, Darren Clarke’s game looked by far and away the most impressive. 68 yesterday is a really good effort. It would be nice to think his recent victory has now given him enough confidence to realise he can still compete and win at this level. Credit too to Graeme McDowell for his fightback after a disastrous start when he was three over after just five holes. It may well be the case that the afternoon players had marginally the better of conditions in the afternoon and that may be the case too today given the weather forecast.

In terms of the early starters, it was great to see Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez perform so well yesterday. Bjorn’s strengths lie in his ball striking ability and it was fantastic watching him rising to the challenge of bouncing so many shots into the greens. He nearly achieved victory in 2003 and so has form. It remains to be seen some eight years later if he can stay patient and committed to his shots.

Jimenez, by contrast, is a shot maker, much in the mould of the great Seve Ballesteros, remembered by the R&A this week. Ballesteros never shirked a challenge and while Jimenez may not possess all of the maestro’s talent, he would love to commemorate his great friend with Sunday success.