BackNine_Bob
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- Location
- Palm Springs, CA
Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson there in 2009 and that's the last time. FIFTEEN years. The Ailsa course is legitimately one of the best tracks on earth and we just... don't play it anymore because of who owns the place.
I get it. The R&A doesn't want the circus. Trump Turnberry, the press conferences, the whole thing. But come on. We've been back to Royal Liverpool what, like 14 times now? Royal St George's basically every 8 years. And a genuinely elite course just sits there empty on the rota while we hand out Opens like they're party favors.
The 2016 Martin Ebert redesign was supposed to make it a monster too. He moved the 9th green right up against the lighthouse and turned it into one of the best par 3s in Britain. The 10th playing back toward Ailsa Craig with the wind off the Firth is genuinely unreal. You don't get views like that at Hoylake, no offense to Hoylake.
And I know the players want it back. Multiple guys have said it's top 5 in the rota. So we're just gonna pretend it doesn't exist forever? Because of a guy?
Anyone else think this is nuts or am I just nostalgic for that 2009 Sunday? Because that was one of the all time great Opens and we've never been back.