This is a big week for a lot of people – players and their entourages; administators; referees; the town of Carnoustie; restaurants; hotels; guest houses; media.  The list goes on and on.  It could, of course, be life changing for someone – a first time major winner, for example.

One man pivotal to the success of the entire week, however, is Craig Boath, head greenkeeper at the Carnoustie Links. This is his third Open at the Angus course.  In 1999, that year of the unplayable rough, he was an apprentice;  then in 2007 he was assistant head greenkeeper; now he is the man at the helm.  Can you imagine the pressure of years of your work being under the microscope of the world’s finest exponents of the game, never mind television pictures being beamed all around the world to millions of viewers?

The beautifully revetted bunkers at Carnoustie will test the world’s best.

Don’t expect any tricking up of the links – Boath is proud of the fact that Carnoustie can, in his opinion, hold its own with the modern game, technological advances notwithstanding.  The course is actually slightly shorter than in 2007 and the fairways are not narrower.  In fact, at the 11th hole on the right hand side near the green there is a slight widening out of the fairway.  The intention is to have the greens running at between 10 and 10.5 on the stimpmeter, positively slow by Tour standards, but necessary on links courses where off-shore winds will cause the ball to move if the greens are cut any lower.  He has presented the course to highlight its strengths.  Thoughtful strategy is demanded to avoid the penal bunkers and it’s essential to recognise when to have a go and when to hang back and be a little more conservative.  Good shots are rewarded as much as they ever are on a fast-running links and, by and large, this week’s test favours a thoughtful player and a mindless grip-it-and-rip-it-down-there-as-far-as-you-can strategy is going to have to be tempered by sound thinking.  Phew – a proper golf course then and not even the teensiest bit tricked up.  Thank you, Craig and team.

The work is endless when preparing a course for an Open Championship.

Tuesday evening at The Open Championship can only mean one thing – the AGW (Association of Golf Writers)  dinner, one of my favourite nights of the year.  Patricia has been a member of the AGW for donkey’s years and I have ensured that I’ve been permanently on her guest list since I first worked for the BBC at the 1997 Open at Troon.  It’s a fun evening with the presentation of a Player of the (previous) Year and various other awards and there are normally a sprinkling of top players present.  They’re happy to be there not least because they are free to escape early and their presence is always much appreciated.

Last year the guest of honour was one of my favourites, Sergio, resplendent in his green Masters jacket.  It’s a great opportunity to have an informal chat and take some pics.  Alison Root, editor of the informative Women & Golf magazine and a huge Sergio fan, was determined to have her photo taken with the Spanish Masters champ.  I obliged and, if I say so myself, took rather a good pic.  It was then my turn and Alison took the photo.  I hadn’t the heart to tell her later but it was a disaster – she was obviously still shaking with excitement at her proximity to her idol and the resultant blurry image could have been of anyone!!

This year the AGW is celebrating its 80th birthday, having been founded by 30 scribes attending the 1938 Walker Cup at St Andrews.  Their stated aim was to “establish a close liaison with the governing bodies and promoters of golf” and a list of their past presidents makes for impressive reading with Bernard Darwin, Renton Laidlaw and Percy Huggins amongst their number.  As Patricia is back home in Cheshire looking after my husband, who is on the mend post elbow surgery, it fell to me to host her guests at the dinner – a very onerous duty indeed!  Ros Rentoul, captain of St Rule Golf Club in St Andrews, and I had played university golf against each other many years ago and hadn’t seen each other since but golf bridges all such divides with ease and I had a lovely evening getting to know her again.  Former Wales international Pam Valentine, now a member of the R&A Amateur Events Committee, fresh from a hole-in-one (her 4th) on ladies’ captain’s day at home in Wrexham, was with us and any evening in her company is a treat.

With Pam and Ros. Patricia – we missed you!

It was a treat for the three of us to see Segio, Ernie Els and John Paramor, esteemed Rules guru, be presented with their awards and another bonus that Gary Player, although endlessly entertaining, only spoke for three minutes!  He spent more time imparting his wisdom to Ernie’s nephew, Jovan Rebula, the newly crowned Amateur champion.

Gary draws breath for a photo opportunity with the new Amateur champion.

Golf Writers’ Trophy winner Sergio with wife, Angela – not being kept up at night by Azalea they told me!

Ernie with the AGW Arnold Palmer Open Award given to the person who has made particular efforts to assist the AGW membership in its endeavours to provide media coverage.

As usual, the Master of Ceremonies was the BBC’s excellent Iain Carter who moved the proceedings along with a swing including an entertaining little interview with Jean Van de Velde.  When Iain asked Jean did he often hark back to that 72nd hole in 1999 when he”only” needed a double bogey to win the Claret Jug, Jean replied with a wonderful Gallic shrug, “Well, no.

“Some people are destined to get their names on a trophy.  I got mine on a bridge!”

The dust, literally and figuratively, is beginning to settle after the highly charged and highly controversial US Open held at Shinnecock Hills last week.  The USGA, in charge of the championship, were accused once again of “losing” the golf course, just as they did back in 2004 when it was last played at Shinnecock.

They may just about have redeemed themselves on that front but I’m not so sure that they have got away with their handling of the Mickelson putt-gate affair that occurred on the 13th hole on Saturday.  To set the scene, Phil had a slick downhill 20-footer for bogey to a hole perched on top of a perilous slope.  It was a super, super fast highway and when he saw it was missing long and on the low side he hurried after it and, while it was still moving, he putted it back up the slope towards the hole again.  For a golfer at this level to purposely hit a moving ball is almost unheard of.  Lefty was penalised two shots under Rule 14.5 for hitting a moving ball and the score went down as a miserable 10.  His explanation afterwards was another jaw dropper.

Mickelson’s ironic par celebration at the scene of the previous day’s “Putt-gate” [Brad Penner – USA Today]

On the third day I was out with Ian Poulter and defending champion Brooks Koepka in my role as on-course commentator for Sirius/XM radio.  As the winds picked up and the course dried out it did indeed move beyond what I would call fair.  Koepka, who would go on to win the title again, was unable to get within 40 yards of a couple of  flags on the back nine despite beautifully executed, crisp, short irons.  The severity of the slopes, coupled with the speed of the greens and the angles into the pins meant that good shots were not only NOT being rewarded, in many instances they were being penalised.  That, to me, is when the course set-up is at fault.

Zach Johnson was vocal in his criticism, “We’re not on the edge,” the two-time major champion said when being interviewed by Sarah Stirk of Sky Sports.  “I thought we could be on the edge but we’ve surpassed it and now it’s pretty much gone.   It’s unfortunate because in my opinion this is one of the best venues in all of golf.  Shinnecock Hills is beautiful but unfortunately they’ve lost the golf course.”

No need to trick this course up – even for a US Open.

I’ve been looking forward to this week for a very long time.  It’s the 118^th playing of the US Open, at renowned Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island.  I had my first look at the course on Tuesday, guided round by my Sirius/XM colleague and friend, the experienced broadcaster Fred Albers, who has had the pleasure of playing here a number of times.  I liked it from the off despite having to listen to his detailed descriptions of the birdies he had the last time he played.

With Fred, left, the birdie machine and Sirius/XM host and colleague, Brian Katrek

So much about it is reminiscent of the Irish/Scottish courses that populated my youthful amateur tournament play – the tall waving marram grasses and the glorious lack of really tall vegetation, in other words, trees, and of course, the ever present stiff-ish breeze that Dad would have scathingly labelled a mere zephyr.  Here is a course and set-up that looks to be testing but fair, examining every aspect of a player’s skill and asking a few questions also of their mental resilience and calmness under fire.

This is the fifth time the National Championship of the United States has been held at this venue and a good week is needed to erase the memories of the 2004 edition when the organising body, the US Golf Association, “lost” the greens, the 7th in particular, and had to resort to watering the putting surfaces in between pairings.  It was almost farcical but only one man was laughing at the end of the week and that was South African Retief Goosen who scooped his second US Open title in three years.

The Redan hole at Shinnecock and the green that needed emergency care in 2004.

Retief is not here this week but his caddy from 2004, genial Irishman Colin Byrne, is back and I bumped into him as he was preparing to usher his current charge Rafa Cabrera Bello round the course.  He can recall every shot and every putt of 2004 – particularly on the final nine when Retief amazingly needed only 11 shots with the flat stick.  “How’s the course playing this year?,” I asked.  “It’s tough, very tough,” he said, and I realised yet again that it is not only the players who are tested to the limit – the caddies are too.  And that makes me wonder if you can, indeed, overcome a challenge such as this with simply your best buddy on the bag as opposed to a seasoned looper like Colin.  (Sorry Rory.)  If there’s nothing to choose between combatants coming down the stretch, the marginal gain that can make the difference can certainly be the caddy.  So, I like the chances of Rafa with Colin, Justin Rose with Mark Fulcher or Henrik Stenson with Gavin Lord.  This test requires a team – and they both need their “A” game.

Colin with Team Rafa prior to heading to the 1st tee in practice.

Gareth (Lordy) Lord, far right, keeping an eye on his man, Henrik Stenson, on the range.

As the crow flies we are about ninety miles from Quaker Ridge Golf Club, scene of last weekend’s terribly one-sided Curtis Cup match.  The final score was 17 points to 3 in favour of the Americans and that included a first ever whitewash in the singles.  As I was making my way round during my first recce of the course I was hailed by none other than Valerie Hassett, former president of the Irish Ladies’ Golf Union and former British Amateur Senior Champion and Scottish senior international Fiona de Vries, both of whom had been out to support the teams in the match.  They had caught the train from New York to the specially built Shinnecock station and were getting a feel of the place before flying home to catch the action on telly.  There seems to be much to ponder after this last contest, particularly the question as to whether the GB&I side should become Europe, as happened to the Ryder Cup back in 1979 at the suggestion of Jack Nicklaus.

I may be inclined to go along with that notion although I’m sure it’d meet with vehement opposition.  Time to revisit that suggestion after the post mortems are concluded, I think.

With Fiona and Valerie, both seasoned performers and steeped in the game.

I am often asked for my tip for any major I am attending.  I have a 100% record in this – I am always wrong.  In fact, I’m wrong in most things, so the Curtis Cup will probably have a good chance of remaining purely a GB&I team and Rafa, Justin Rose and Henrik will all have poor weeks this week and not contend.  Ah, so maybe Rory with best buddy Harry on the bag will be striding up the 72nd to victory?  Well, I could live with THAT.  Couldn’t you?

A hive of activity:  the media centre abounds with more accurate predictions than mine!

It was sleeting when I left home last Monday.  My husband was bemoaning the fact that we had reached April 2^nd and the weather was not behaving in anything approaching a spring-like manner.  It was curtailing his motorbike outings, you see.  I do, however, remember several years of playing in the Helen Holm tournament in Troon in late April and being snowed off, so there’s no doubt that April has previous form in the snow department.

My spirits picked up on my Virgin Atlantic flight to Atlanta – an abundance of legroom in economy is to be celebrated, especially when you are six feet tall and suffer from lower back pain from time to time.  Mental note to self:  fly more often with this airline.  The good flight and even better subsequent night’s sleep meant I awoke refreshed, eager to embrace what I call my FDOY – Favourite Day of the Year.  In other words, the Tuesday of Masters week.

I’d better qualify that a bit.  It’s only my FDOY if I’m actually AT the Masters AND working.  If I’m lucky enough to be there and not working – well, any day that week could be my FDOY.  And, of course, if I’m not actually in Augusta then the Tuesday is unlikely to measure up to the acronym.

The treacherous sweep of the 13th hole.

I don’t usually have any formal work commitments on the Tuesday so it’s my opportunity to walk the course and reacquaint myself with its wall-to-wall perfection.  This week it was 29 degrees and easy to surrender willingly to the sensory overload that Augusta National provides, marvelling yet again that my memory has not played any tricks on me and that, indeed, the place is even more beautiful than I have remembered.  The smell and crunch of the pine straw beneath your feet, the aroma of big fat cigars and the reverential murmur of the patrons  all conspire to fill you with anticipation as regards the tournament ahead.  And yes, that birdsong that you hear on your television IS real, most definitely not piped as many of my pals back home have suggested!

Downhill all the way to the 10th green.

Against this backdrop is the opportunity to walk a few holes with players of my choice – Rory, Tiger, Sergio, the two Justins, Dustin, Bubba, Phil, Jordan, Henrik et al.  Those I miss on the course I will try and spot on the practice ground, and, if I’m lucky, I may catch a wee word with them, their families, coaches or caddies.  Tuesdays are fairly relaxed for the players.  The nearer we get to the gun going off the less likely is an opportunity to speak to anyone outside of the formal interview areas and Tuesday’s comments can be quite revealing as to a player’s inner calm – or not.

Justin Rose checking the putter face.

The man they’ve all come to see:  Tiger.

I like to have my lunch down at Amen Corner at one of the concession stands where the prices seem permanently frozen in the time warp of the 90s and the day is not complete without a visit to the famous Masters golf shop.  This year it has increased substantially in size, seemingly effortlessly absorbing the old media centre and the whole experience of working my way down my extensive shopping list, nobly provided by my friends and family, was surprisingly easy.  I find I become quite popular at this time of year.

A chance encounter with Carol Wickham and Noleen Quirke, old golfing pals from Ireland.

Sprinkled throughout this glorious day are meetings and encounters – planned and unplanned – with some of my favourite people in the print media, as well as my BBC colleagues and the American broadcast crews I have the pleasure of working with when in the States.  This is the day to grab a coffee together, have a catch up on each other’s lives and draw a bit of a breath.  As the clock ticks down towards Thursday morning and the moment the honorary starters take centre stage on the 1st tee time seems to accelerate at an alarming rate.  For all of us in the media these are the calm waters before being hurtled over the brink of Victoria Falls – remember, this isn’t a major just for the players.

A planned catch-up under the Augusta skies with Reggie Parker, US golfing pal of nearly 40 years.

Masters Tuesday is a special day and one I look forward to and love.  It is nourishment for the soul and doesn’t really have any close rivals for my FDOY……………hmm, unless, of course, a certain Irishman could manage to complete a Career Grand Slam.  Then I’d just have to consider switching to Masters Sunday!