Photo of the Day - 18 July 2013

The Open Championship, golf's third major of the year and its oldest begins later this evening (NZ time) at Muirfield in the East Lothian district of Scotland. Muirfield has hosted the Open Championship 15 times previously, and made such an impression on Jack Nicklaus who won there in 1966 that when Nicklaus built his own course in Ohio, he named it Muirfield Village. The Memorial Tournament is played there every year.

Even the club which inhabits Muirfield has a quaint and very British name; The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. It is one of golf's oldest clubs, and the Muirfield course was laid our by Old Tom Morris in 1891. 122 years later and 156 of the world's best golfers will face the unique test which Muirfield provides.

And here's a scene-setter, via former Kiwi golfer Frank Nobilo as greens staff did their final work at sunset on Wednesday night:

 

The weather forecast for the first day is for relatively benign conditions. Here's hoping that the wind blows at least one day during the Open Championship; after all, as Tom Watson was told by a local on his first visit to a Scottish links course many years ago "If there's nae wind and nae rain, it's nae golf"!