“Definitely some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever played in.” Georgia Hall was thankful it hadn’t rained. She might not be so lucky on Friday.
“That was tough,” said Rose Zhang. “My head is pounding.”
You thought the Old Course was defenceless. Who’s going to shoot 59 there first? But when Mother Nature starts blowing through the Eden estuary it can get seriously difficult at the Home of Golf.
So it wasn’t just the balls wobbling during the first round of the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, the players were too.
When hats weren’t being blown off, and waterproofs shaking, the hands were quivering over putts competitors said they just couldn’t read.
The result? Havoc for much of the opening day.
“The ball was wobbling on the tee and a lot of us were thinking, how are we going to play?” said Jenny Shin, who played majestically for a three-under 69.
“But we just knew from No. 7 until the 13th hole, it was going to be a battle regardless of whether it’s raining or not.
“I mean, I’ve never really played in this kind of wind before because it just felt relentless. I experienced a similar wind in the Bahamas before, but it was coming and going, coming and going.
“You could find a little gap in between seconds where you could hit the ball. But it was absolutely relentless today.”
Drama had been predicted and it duly arrived with venom. Gusts hit close to 40mph. A lull was described by the Met Office as “down to 20-25mph”.
The R&A did their best to alleviate the carnage. Chief executive Martin Slumbers had spent a chunk of his pre-tournament press conference explaining how they were trying to slow the golf course down.
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The height of cut on the greens for the first round was 4.75mm, with several of the double greens not cut at all. In comparison, my own club cut theirs yesterday at 3.5mm.
Those greens were running at 9.4 on the stimpmeter, which compares to around 10 for an average setup at The Open.
AIG Women’s Open: What’s the weather got in store?
“We will set it up in a way that the players can play,” said Slumbers and Charley Hull’s incredible 67, which led after round 1, was a case in point.
But, even so, plenty were battered. Anna Nordqvist made a quadruple bogey 8 on the 12th, as did Yuna Nishimura on the 16th. Hira Naveed made a similar snowman on the par 5 5th. And Allisen Corpuz was undone by a double at the 9th – probably the easiest hole in championship golf.
Lydia Ko’s group, which came to the 11th at around 4.30pm, were the first trio to hit the green in regulation all day.
Catriona Matthew has seen it all in 30 years of playing in Women’s Opens so when she said “It’s one of the toughest”, we should probably take notice.
“Putting’s difficult,” she explained. “And then you start aiming left hoping the wind is going to take it and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
“Everything is tough. Second shots. Drives. Some of those drives, I suppose 2, 3, 4 with all the bunker down the left and you’re in danger of starting to aim too far left. It’s just trying to keep it in play.”
“I’m okay,” added Gemma Dryburgh, sounding like she’d just come out of a warzone after her seven-over 79. “Just a bit blown away. It was hard. My ball was blowing off the tee. It was blowing on the fairway. Yeah, it was tough.
“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 7 and 11 right out there.”
Of the 144 players in the field, only 17 finished under par. It’s likely to be belt and braces again in the second round.
The wind could hit 25mph by midday and 30mph in the afternoon. And this time the rain is coming too, with the Met Office promising persistently moderate with “some heavy bursts”.
So how can they tackle it? Matthew, who may make her final bow at a rain-sodden Swilcan Bridge, said it all depends on the tee shots.
“You’ve got to drive it well because if you start leaking off to the right you’re in the bunkers,” she said. “I know they are massive greens, but it seems crazy to see 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.
“Mainly you’ve probably got to drive it well to at least give yourself a chance on each hole.”
Strap in, and if you’re going, bring an umbrella. It’s going to be another wild ride.
Now have your say
What did you make of the conditions on the first day of the AIG Women’s Open? Let us know with a comment on X.
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