Washington’s Top 200

Thanks to all that have emailed me about these posts over the past week.  It was a fantastic event and I can’t wait until next year at St. Andrews.  I’ve been to NFL playoff games, dozens of important Penn State football games, hockey Stanley Cup games and NBA games.  This was by far one of the most exciting events of all.

I’ve uploaded all the pictures to my Google – click here to see them all.  My fellow spotters found a picture of some of us on #17 while Watson is putting.  I’ve put those two pictures in the collection as well.

I will get back to my regular blog posting later in the week.

Cheers

Ted

The Claret Jug is the popular name of The Golf Champion Trophy, the winner’s trophy in The Open Championship, (often called the "British Open"), one of the four men’s major championships in the sport of golf.

The awarding of the Claret Jug dates from 1872, when a new trophy was needed after Young Tom Morris had won the original Championship Belt outright in 1870 by winning the Championship three years in a row. The Claret jug is inscribed ‘The Golf Champion Trophy’, and it was made by Mackay Cunningham & Company of Edinburgh at a cost of £30.

However as the 1872 event was organized at the last minute, the trophy wasn’t ready in time to be presented to Morris (who had won his fourth in a row). His name was the first to be engraved on it, however. In 1873 Tom Kidd became the first winner to be actually presented with the Claret Jug after winning the Championship.

The original Claret Jug has been on permanent display at the clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews since 1928. The original Championship Belt is also on display at the same site, having been donated in 1908 by the Morris family.

The current Claret Jug was first awarded to Walter Hagen for winning the 1928 Open. The winner must return the trophy before the next year’s Open. Three replicas exist—one in the British Museum of Golf at St Andrews, and two used for travelling exhibitions.

Every year, the winner’s name is engraved on the Claret Jug before it is presented to him. The BBC always shows the engraver poised to start work, and the commentators like to speculate about when he will be sure enough of the outcome to begin. Upon being awarded the Jug in 1989, Mark Calcavecchia (whose lengthy Italian surname translates to "old crowd") famously said, "How’s my name going to fit on that thing?"^[1]

The Claret Jug has twice appeared on commemorative £5 Scottish banknotes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland: first in 2004, for the 250th Anniversary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, then in 2005, the jug is shown held by Jack Nicklaus to mark his retirement.

The Open in pictures…

By David Cannon, Senior Photographer — Getty Images, 12.00pm, 16 July

3.05am — So here we go. The morning of the first day of my 30th Open Championship, 29 as a photographer and one where I tried and failed to qualify at Carnoustie in 1975. Golf is my passion, and how lucky I have been to have followed golf all over the world for the last 30 years. I started my career in golf photography with a company called Allsport. In 1997 we were taken over by Getty Images for whom I now work covering golf globally all year. Getty Images work with The R&A on all their championships, the most important of which is The Open, which to me is the pinnacle of golf’s Major Championships.

My alarm ringing in my ear, I surface and head from our digs near Ayr in a caravan! Not just any caravan; 6 beds, running water and a view over the water to the Isle of Arran — what more could I ask?

On the first morning of each Open Championship since Hoylake in 2006, I have made an effort to get up and join the greenkeeping team as they prepare the course for play. The effort put in to preparing a course for the Championship is staggering.

3.45am: I arrive outside the entrance to the greenkeeper’s compound and wait for George Brown who has to escort me in. The scene inside the sheds is a hive of activity, mowers are being prepared, bunker rakes, dew sweepers, and all sorts of tools required for the task ahead are being loaded onto carts.

3.55am: George assembles his whole team and he addresses them from the balcony above the machinery. One of those moments where  you see how much respect a genius of his trade is given, as he thanks the staff for all their efforts and as if they needed reminding he says:

“Here it is the moment we have all been working for, for the past few years. Those cold winter days digging out bunkers, and laying sod in new bunker faces, and all the other tasks, this is where it all becomes worthwhile”.

I snap away and at the end take a photograph of George and his team with all their machinery.

4.00am: The exodus begins, a well oiled army disperses to all points of the Ailsa Course. I play around blurring images to show the speed of the mowers as they leave.

4.25am: I am on the out on the putting green beneath the rear of the grandstand at the 18th as a greens mower with a headlight passes the Rolex clock and the lights of the Turnberry Hotel light the twilight pre-dawn sky.

4.50am I find George on the 7th green using a stimp meter checking the speed and the roll of the greens. His eyes are lit up as 3 out of 5 balls roll exactly on the same line a true sign of the purest greens, and they are running at almost 11.5 on the stimp. Watch out for lots of putts rattling the cups!!

5.05am: I am on the 9th tee as the sky is turning all shades of red as the sun begins to rise over the hills behind the course. The lighthouse sits against the crimson skies as its’ light twinkles across the almost calm sea. This is the quietest, stillest morning you could imagine. Pictures of grandstands, TV Towers, and scoreboards silhouetted against the sky, and policemen and security guards who have been patrolling all night are my only companions apart from the greenies!

5.30am: I am walking back towards the 18th and the mist has suddenly risen in the hollows of the 7th fairway, as a line of fairway mowers leave a clean cut on the dew ridden fairways.

5.40am — I find Michael Brown the Chairman of The R&A Championship Committee having a solitary sneaky putt on the 17th green, well not just one putt — at least 10! He is just checking the green and the pin position for the day — well that was his excuse anyway!

6.00 — I meet the Getty Images team for a quick plan of action — there are 7 of us shooting for the Championship and we need every one of them!

6.30 am — Ivor Robson the official starter clears his throat — by the way I am sure he learnt this from Seve! He announces as only he can the first tee shot — “On the tee Paul Broadhurst” — he rifles his rescue club arrow straight as the sun streaks across the tee. We are off and running — and I am off for a delicious media centre brekkie to gather strength for 9.09am and 18 holes with the world’s number one golfer — guess who — oh, and I must not forget the Ibuprofen!!

What a wonderful day and week for that matter here at Turnberry.  Later start times = 30 minutes longer sleep.  After my chair the night before, the bed (in the main house) was very cozy.

Was put on the Richard Johnson and Thongchai Jaidee pairing today.  Jaidee had made a move yesterday and there was a buzz about his long drives.    

Johnson went off the day +1 and Jaidee at Even.  Both were strong off the tee – Jaidee couldn’t make a move and ended up with no birdies. 

Johnson on the other hand made things interesting.  He doubled the 3^rd, went birdie, birdie, bogey, birdie, birdie from #6 to #10 to put himself on the leaderboard.  Terrible tee shot on #14 put him under a bush, took a drop and ended up double bogey.  He birdied the next on #15, bogey #16 and birdied #17.  I was busy from #7 until the end giving shot by shot updates to the control room.

As spotters,  we could only go as far at #17 green today.  You needed a special 72^nd hole armband to get any further.  Names were picked out of a hat to see who the lucky spotter was that was at 18 the whole day.  I changed my radio channel and was able to listen to the main production channel with the ABC commentators. 

I sat with Allan and Paul on 17 green until Watson came through.  We decided to try to get as close as possible on 18.  I was in the lead – I think my red jacket blended in with the marshals well.  Some of them looked at us, but didn’t stop us (case in point to my post the other night). 

We got to the crosswalk and decided not to chance it any further.  There are no jumbo screens on 18 green.  We were behind Watson’s shot and it looked like a great shot from our viewpoint.  The cheers were loud, the fans were on their feet – everyone thought they were about to see history.

Bottom line – Cink made birdie on 18 to post his score, Watson knew what he had to do but to win it.  You could sense that Watson had given everything and that barring a total collapse by Cink, the jug was his.  Cink was definitely in the villain role – the crowd cheered when he hit the bunker on the first playoff hole.  Hats off to both players.

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