Battle against the elements

TROON, Scotland — From the time Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and the rest of golf’s top players set foot on Royal Troon, they have lavished this piece of linksland with praise.

The greens are among the purest on the British Open rotation. The rough is thick, but not deep enough to lose a caddie. A 200-yard shot can be either a 9-iron or a 2-iron, depending on the wind.

And unlike the U.S. Open last month at Shinnecock Hills, opinions are not likely to change.

Justin Leonard won at Royal Troon in 1997 and hardly noticed anything different when he returned, a tribute to the Royal & Ancient philosophy of letting Mother Nature have more of an influence than a lawn mower. Tournament officials even considered turning on the sprinklers until it rained Tuesday night.

“I think the R&A does an incredible job of setting the golf course up fairly and maintaining the course the way it is meant to be played, and not worrying about what the winning score is,” Leonard said. “The weather dictates that. I think that’s the way it should be.”

It wasn’t like that at Shinnecock Hills.

Still fresh in the minds of players is the debacle on Long Island, when the U.S. Golf Association tried to protect its most precious commodity — par — by keeping water off the greens until shots no longer stayed there, scores soared into the 80s and no one managed to break 70 in the final round.

The best example of how comfortable the R&A is with the British Open setup is that it cares little about the winning score. The wind howled at St. Andrews in 1995, and John Daly won in a playoff at 6 under par. Five years later, there was barely a breeze and Woods set a major championship record at 19 under par.

Well done. See you next year.

“I think one of the big differences to the United States and the U.K. is that we are very fortunate that our weather patterns and nature itself allows golf courses to flourish without too much interference,” said Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R&A. “I think the USGA would agree that they got it wrong on Sunday at Shinnecock, but when you’re trying to set up a golf course that’s a strong test for players, it can be very difficult to get it right.

“We’re out to find the best player in the conditions that prevail this week.”

The betting favorite is Ernie Els, who won the Open at Muirfield two years ago and had good chances at the first two majors this year.