THE OPEN RELATED STORIES The Open Home Page Clubhouse Leaderboard/Scores Round 4: Stewart Cink beats Tom Watson in a playoff Round 4: Paul Lawrie scores a rare albatross Round 4: Padraig Harrington positive after final 73 Round 4: Matteo Manassero wins Silver Medal Round 4: Luke Donald gains best Open finish Round 4: An eight costs Ross Fisher dear Round 4: Chris Wood so close to Open glory Round 4: Tom Watson misses fairy tale ending Round 4: Lee Westwood in "sickening" loss Round 4: Questions asked about Tiger Woods swing Round 4: Age a factor for Tom Watson Round 4: Westwood & Garcia wait for breakthrough Round 4: Tom Watson thanks Jack Nicklaus for talk Round 4: Classy Open victory from Stewart Cink Round 3: Tom Watson takes lead in to final round Round 3: Padraig Harrington stumbles to a 76 Round 3: Henrik Stenson critical of fencing Round 3: Family still comes first for Ross Fisher Round 3: Jim Furyk looking forward to Sunday Round 3: Mathew Goggin earns a major chance Round 2: Marino & Watson lead, Tiger misses cut Round 2: Tiger Woods misses the cut Round 2: Watson has sights on record sixth win Round 2: Padraig Harrington still optimistic Round 2: Calcacecchia pleased to be in the hunt Round 2: Montgomerie distracted by Lyle row Round 2: Third Round pairings and tee times Round 1: Jimenez edges ahead of Watson, Curtis Round 1: Tiger fails to shine in perfect conditions Round 1: Montgomerie in "Drama Queen" row Round 1: Harrington happy to be under par Round 1: Ben Curtis in contention at another Open Round 1: The Open gets underway at Turnberry Course Guide: Turnberry Ideal weather forecast for Turnberry Sergio Garcia still chasing elusive first major title Greg Norman still the centre of attention KJ Choi hoping practice makes perfect Ryo Ishikawa ready for new challenge Same Open strategy for Tiger Woods Colin Montgomerie unhappy with Sandy Lyle Kenny Perry happy to be at Open this year Game turning around slowly for Adam Scott Driving the key for Paul Casey Woods, Westwood & Ishikawa drawn together First and second round tee-off times Practice begins in earnest at Turnberry Thomas Levet gets late entry Phil Mickelson confirms Open withdrawal Duel in the Sun remembered Padraig Harrington prepares for Open defence Interview with Peter Thomson Trevor Immelman pulls out of The Open Tiger Woods in preparation for The Open The Open: Turnberry-Architect-Green Keeper Turnberry: Play right after the pros The Open: Prize Money 2009 European Tour Schedule Open Champions 1860-2008 Open Championship scoring and other records Open Championship quotes

Ideal weather forecast for Turnberry

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.

“But it’s certainly possible,” he added, referring to a sub-63 this week.

Three-times champion Tiger Woods concurred a record score depended solely on the weather.

“We haven’t had the big winds yet,” the 14-times major winner said. “We’ll see how the weather holds out but, all in all, the golf course is just a fabulous golf course.

“What Greg did was in bad weather … one of the best rounds in the history of golf in terrible weather. You just have to hit the ball well here or you just can’t get around.”

Peter Dawson, chief executive of Open organisers the R&A, predicted low scoring for the week without the 63 barrier being breached.

“This golf course is very demanding tee to green but on the greens here it is actually quite hard to hide the pins,” he said. “So I think low scoring is on actually, I really do.”

Asked if he would be embarrassed by a sub-63 this week, Dawson replied: “I’d be genuinely surprised. But these fellows seem to get better and better and if that’s the competitive scene that we’re working under, that’s fine.”

Double British Open champion Norman, however, ruled out any chance of a 63.

“If you go back … there’s very few scores in the low to mid-60s on this golf course, except in 1977 with Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus and the golf course was in very accessible condition,” the 54-year-old Australian said.

“In the other Opens around here, there haven’t been too many low scores shot and I don’t see it this week either. You only have to venture out of the fairway nine feet, 10 feet and you might lose your ball.”

July 16, 2009