Biggest shock, best quote, cruelest shot from St. Andrews, Day 1

Our St. Andrews correspondent Sean Zak is at the AIG Women’s Open this week. Here he checks in with stateside colleague Dylan Dethier to dish on 40 mph winds, stars showing out, the vibe in town and one terrific quote.

Dylan Dethier, GOLF senior writer: Hey there, Sean.

Sean Zak, also a GOLF senior writer: Hey, Dylan.

DD: Here’s the deal. I’ve been watching the AIG Women’s Open from my couch and then my favorite new Seattle coffee shop. You’re there in person — feeling the wind in your hair, fescue beneath your feet, haggis in your belly etc. So I’ve got a few questions for you.

SZ: Hit me.

DD: First, what’s it like being in St. Andrews for you personally? You’re something of an American ambassador there, after all, having lived there for the summer of 2022 — the summer of LIV’s arrival and Cam Smith’s back nine, among other things — and wrote a book about your life there. How is it being back?

SZ: It’s fantastic! One thing about St. Andrews that makes me happiest is how it mostly never changes. The storefronts look just like they did two summers ago and one summer ago and, presumably, how they’ll look next summer. The 18th hole of the Old Course will always look the same the week of a big tournament, with the big blue bleachers in front of the big, auburn Hamilton Grand, bordered by that white fence. The only major change for me is I’m staying in one of the student dorms this week. I’m hoping to bump into a caddie or two in there.

DD: Take a cold plunge in the North Sea for me. Anyway, Day 1 is in the books. I know you just finished up a report on the conditions. Sum ’em up for me: Just how blustery was it on Thursday at the Old Course? And did one side of the draw get a noticeable advantage?

SZ: It was as windy as I’ve ever seen St. Andrews. I wasn’t here in 2015 when the Open was postponed by wind, but today had to be close to that, if not worse. We had multiple ladies hitting driver, 3-wood into the 1st hole. And much of the course — holes 3 through 16 — played with a brutal cross-wind. There’s just no comfort in that. And you saw it with players backing off shots on the tee, in the fairway and on the greens. As for the draw, the afternoon benefitted greatly. By 6 p.m. the wind had laid down a good bit, and the scores showed it. We had four under-par rounds in the morning and, with a couple players still on course, just over a dozen in the afternoon.

DD: There were a few obvious storylines coming in — World No. 1 Nelly Korda trying to finish a winning season in style, Lydia Ko coming off her epic gold medal, Lauren Coughlin building on two breakthrough wins, Lexi Thompson playing in the final major of her last (ish) season, Charley Hull chasing her first major close (ish) to home, Catriona Matthew announcing her retirement, etc. Through one round, what storyline’s grabbing your attention?

SZ: It’s Charley Hull leading the golf tournament. I think? Or Nelly Korda, one shot back. Or Lilia Vu’s title defense — she’s just one shot back of Korda. The reason I can’t tell is because the biggest group of fans followed that trio Thursday, and it wasn’t close. I think that has a good bit to do with Hull’s popularity launch this summer, after puffing one fateful cigarette in an autograph line and not apologizing for it. She is unapologetically herself, which draws us in. Kinda like Brooks Koepka can do at times. After shooting five-under 67 on Thursday, she could have St. Andrews in a tizzy this weekend. And then she could really cause a ruckus by doing what Koepka did and visiting the clubby bar in town, The Vic.

DD: You might have to hit the Vic Sunday night no matter what, for reporting purposes. What was the day’s biggest surprise?

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SZ: It had to be Ruoning Yin. She was six under around noon today, when no one else was better than two under. Yes, she backed up, because basically everyone backed up that time of day. But 68 in the morning was stunning. Afterwards she told us she was “just trying to make the wind my friend,” which I really liked.

DD: Nice. What was the quote of the day from the interview area?

SZ: Georgia Hall eagled the 9th, her 18th hole of the day, and was in an unsurprisingly talkative mood after. She came in and shared this beauty:

“I looked out my hotel room and I can see the range, the flags on the range and that’s a good indicator for me. It was 5 a.m. and they were blowing a gale. I was like, That’s great. Hope it stays like that.“

She was wide-eyed, excited. It was cool.

“Not sure many players would agree with me,” she added. “I hardly get to play like this. I play in America a lot, and to me it’s more of a wooden form of golf. This is natural, raw golf.”

I had to go back and listen to that quote over and over just to make sure it was accurate. I think she was saying wooden golf in a particularly British way, meaning stiff, boring, unimaginative. There’s a different brand of wooden over here. Driftwood wooden. Old, petrified trees that wash up on shore. Natural and raw. That’s the vibe. So good.

DD: Hell yeah. Finally, what’s one interesting, maybe random little thing you saw today that made you particularly glad to be back at the Old?

SZ: Gabbi Ruffels played her tee shot on the 11th to the little gully between the 11th and 7th greens, but she was on the dance floor. She elected to hit a wedge from there, flopped it into the air and got rejected so hard by the wind I nearly got out of the my seat in the grandstand. I wrote that her ball looked like a limp paper airplane sent off course. It ended up in a greenside bunker and she made triple bogey, en route to 81. Ouch! Note to self: use the putter.

DD: Thanks mate. Off to the pubs you go. Maybe we’ll do this again tomorrow.