Golf-Open-Ideal Turnberry weather sparks talk of record 62
TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 15 (Reuters) - Light breezes on a glorious sun-splashed day at Turnberry had the top players contemplating a sub-63 score at the British Open.
Sixty-three has never been broken at a major championship, although that benchmark has been achieved 23 times, perhaps most famously by Greg Norman on a difficult day in the second round at Turnberry in 1986.
With the gleaming waters of the Firth of Clyde providing a spectacular backdrop to the par-70 Ailsa Course on Wednesday, American Kenny Perry pondered whether the record could fall this week.
"If the weather's like today, I could see that," world number four Perry told Reuters on the final day of practice before Thursday's opening round. "Today was ideal. It was benign, it was beautiful.
"I think the scores will be pretty good because the guys will find the fairway but it's going to be the dead opposite if we get 20-plus mile per hour (35-kph) winds. Then it will be a matter of survival."
Moderate winds have been forecast for the rest of the week, apart from Friday when gusts of 40-kph are expected.
The main challenge of the Ailsa Course lies in its thick, knee-high rough and its fairway bunkers but that is offset by the greens which are among the flattest on the Open rota.
"Greg shot 63 here and I don't know if they played with this kind of rough when he won," said Perry, a double winner on the 2009 PGA Tour. Continued...
Man walks into his own funeral.