Jim McCabe: Great players will always play great golf, regardless of the elements

It is a ritual understood by many like-minded individuals who harbour an inner passion for golf and thus indulge in pilgrimages to the great links of Scotland, Ireland, and England.

Of course, the topic of conversation is the act of walking off of a seven-hour flight from the US, collecting one’s luggage, and proceeding as quickly as possible to the nearest links. For us on Sunday, it was Turnberry and the fact that we were greeted at the first tee by a pelting rain hardly dented our enthusiasm. That we trudged on through cool rain and wind for all 18 holes may be seen as proof our insanity, though we’ll chalk it up to our commitment to a game that never fails to thrill us.

Having arrived from a country that is pretty much enveloped in drought conditions and blanketed by temperatures well into the 80s and even the 90s, playing at Turnberry and then moving on to Royal Troon for coverage of this week’s 145th Open Championship was a bit of a culture shock.