The Open Championship: In the heat of battle, this Major could turn into a game of chess

This course poses a special challenge and soaring temperatures have made it even tougher
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Kevin Garside17 July 2013

Ernie Els is an unmissable sight on the golf course, striding down the fairway like a US Marshall in America’s old West. You wouldn’t want to be the bad guy with the Big Easy on your case. To the left of the first fairway a group of enthusiasts stood in the long grass waving. Els waved back. “Keep it,” he said.

He was talking about his ball, pulled off the tee with a long iron. He was aiming for the safety of mowed grass but, into a head wind, the first fairway can be a capricious landing strip. This was practice. He could simply put down another ball. If he does the same tomorrow, he will be knee deep in fescue grass, screaming at Muirfield’s appropriation of mother nature. There is no shot from there.

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Graeme McDowell, a winner for the third time this season in Paris last time out, described the Muirfield challenge as a chess match. A month of unremitting sun has baked the course biscuit brown. From the helicopter view above, the greens appear like verdant plates scattered in straw. Depending on the landing area, balls are running up to 100 yards along the ground. Tiger Woods estimates his three-iron is moving the ball 300 yards; this is driver territory and then some for Tour mortals.

But that is a club unlikely to feature much across this arid expanse this week. Woods guesses there might be three holes where he reaches for the big stick.

At the finesse end of the bombing scale the 20-year-old Italian, Matteo Manassero, might hit six drivers, depending on the wind. This is only Manassero’s third Open, his second as a pro, and already he is in thrall to the place.

“For me this is the biggest championship in the world, the best, the one you really want to win. I love this venue. It looks fantastic, the atmosphere is great. It’s very, very tough but fair. It is not like St George’s in Kent where you have lots of blind shots. Here, the ball will run in the direction it lands. You just have to judge the wind and make sure you leave yourself enough room once the ball is on the ground.”

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Sounds like a plan. Putting all the ingredients into the mix, Manassero comes close to the identikit of the player who might win. Length is not so much the issue, though a requirement for him on the longer holes where the wind is in your face. He has been hitting driver, three-iron into the first, which at 457 yards is not exceptionally long for a par-four.

Open experience is the only club Manassero does not have in the bag, which brings his identikit older brother, McDowell, into the winning equation, providing he can disturb the pattern of recent events which has seen him either win or miss the cut at his last eight tournaments.

Since his last appearance resulted in victory, you can see how this might turn out.

Muirfield completes The Open rota set for McDowell. He plays the opening rounds with Tiger Woods and Louis Oosthuizen, he of the beautiful bio-mechanics and champion in 2010. “Tiger is the kind of guy you want to play with on a week like this. If you can finish one ahead of him you won’t be far away,” McDowell said.

“Louis is one of my very good friends. I tweeted earlier this week that Tiger’s and Louis’s swings are two of my favourite golf swings in the world. It’s never bad to play alongside guys with that kind of rhythm. I’m excited about the pairings and the natural intensity that brings [playing with Tiger], and I’ll be using that to my advantage.”

History tells us Muirfield yields a winner of rare pedigree. Els, Sir Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Henry Cotton and Harry Vardon are among the greats to have triumphed here.

The obvious suspects present themselves this week. US Open champion Justin Rose augmented form with status in victory at Merion. Woods has won four times this year, his last triumph being at The Players’ Championship in mid-May. Forget the recent dip. The world No1 has arrived here fully recovered from his elbow trouble at the US Open, where he finished 12 shots behind Rose, and loves the links.

Phil Mickelson reminded observers that he is the last to convert back-to-back wins at a Major, so don’t discount last week’s Scottish Open winner. And what of Rory McIlroy? Shorn of form and without a win this season, he has class to burn and might just surprise us all.

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