On the same week that the R&A announced that the Old Course at St Andrews is set to be lengthened in preparation for the 155th Open Championship in 2027, a 40-year-old veteran who relies on his short game showed that length is not the be all and end all in men’s professional golf.
James Morrison was the oldest player in the HotelPlanner Tour’s Rolex Grand Final field in Mallorca and his victory shows not one, but two reasons why golf is a sport that will always amaze.
Before the tournament began, the HotelPlanner Tour released a video of all 45 players competing in a long drive contest. Morrison didn’t feature anywhere near the top of the leaderboard, but he ended the week at the summit of the one that matters most.
South Africa’s Wilco Nienaber, a man who has smashed DP World Tour driving distance averages in the past was beaten by sixteen shots this week.
Rocco Repetto Taylor, Nick Carlson, Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen, Victor Sidal-Svendsen, Adri Arnaus, Quim Vidal and Lars Van Meijel were all touching 330 yards and beyond yet none of them finished inside the top 10 with only two securing DP World Tour cards.
Morrison is open to the fact that he doesn’t hit it far by modern standards but has a short game as good as anyone around which came up trumps for him this week in Alcanada.
Lengthening golf courses is one way to combat driving distance but Club de Golf Alcanada shows that if you have quick greens and a top class design, then control can be taken away from those who bomb it over bunkers.
The Open Championship will return to the Old Course in two years and every time the Claret Jug docks there it’s never without fear that it could be the last time.
Many have worried that the short Old Course could be taken apart by modern driving distances and advances in technology, even with the pending rollback.
According to the R&A, work will begin next week on a carefully planned programme of enhancements and restoration ahead of the return of the game’s oldest Major.
The Old Course has become vulnerable to new technology over the last two decades particularly when the wind is down and the greens aren’t firm and fast. But, isn’t that the same story for all links courses?
The Old Course has always been tinkered with over the years. It measured just 6933 yards when John Daly won the Open in 1995 and was thirty yards longer when Tiger Woods won in 2005.
Many changes have been made over the years and the latest batch will see six holes lengthened – 5th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th and 16th which in turn will increase the championship yardage of the golf course by 132 yards taking it to 7,445.
Ironically, the 2022 Open Championship at the Old Course was won by the best putter in the world at that time…
There will always be place for shorter hitters in the game as Morrison has proved at the 7128 yard Grand Final venue this week.
The Englishman has also proved that age is just a number when it comes to golf.
The HotelPlanner Tour has a glowing reputation as a breeding ground for the next generation of European talent. Marco Penge, Kristoffer Reitan, Martin Couvra and Angel Ayora are some of the exciting alumni to come from this tour in the last two seasons. But you can’t beat a redemption story.
It was John Parry last year but this year Morrison has trumped him. A career rescuing win which secured his return to the DP World Tour having lost his card last year.
Morrison, a two-time DP World Tour winner, has often contemplated walking away from the game but he has rebuilt himself – winning for the first time in ten years in France and now he has his playing rights back. Had things not worked out this week it could have been his last tournament as a professional, that’s how close to the brink he was in his career.
The HotelPlanner Tour graduates have had a huge success rate in players who have gone on to retain their status at the next level but that doesn’t mean it’s exclusively for the young guns, you wouldn’t rule out an Indian summer for Morrison.
