The 153rd Open: Commentator's Column with Andrew Cotter

As the world's best tee it up at the Open Championship this week, Andrew Cotter writes our Commentator's Column.

Cotter has been involved in covering golf's oldest championship since 1997 at Royal Troon when he worked in local radio for Justin Leonard's triumph, before his first commentary for the BBC at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2001 when David Duval won his one and only Major title too.

Known for his work across a variety of sports, the broadcaster is this week leading the television coverage that will be beamed to viewers in 199 countries and teritories courtesy of more than 30 broadcast partners.

With a 156-player field and the sport at the forefront of attention, the final men's Major Championship of the year at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland is as eagerly anticipated as ever.

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I think what is great about the Open rota is that all the courses have a different character. I would put Royal Portrush up there with the very best, possibly even the best. So much of what makes it great is the undulations and elevation changes. Quite often you get some flat courses on the rota like Hoylake in particular, Troon has some undulations but generally speaking it is a flatter piece of land whereas here the land is rising away from the sea. The elevation changes are reflected in the green complexes as well, some of which are small and narrow and yet have very good undulations with roll-offs. There are lots of changes in direction of the holes so whatever the way the wind is blowing you are going to get tested in all aspects of your play.

I played a couple of times in the North of Ireland Amateur Open Golf Championship, which is a very big amateur tournament. I used to turn up, play a couple of rounds of stroke play and not qualify for the match play! But my knowledge stems more from 2019 but also from visits I’ve made this year. I’ve been over a lot in the last three months doing some work in advance. I’ve played the course a dozen times. You can walk around the course but there is nothing like playing the course because you get a much better feel for it. I think playing it is always vital for commentating.

There are a couple of signature places on the course. Standing on the fifth green is the photogenic place, situated above the beach and the white rocks. It’s a beautiful spot that will get a lot of coverage. The 16th – known as Calamity Corner – comes so late in the round, and so much trouble could come because you have a 230-yard par three usually into the prevailing wind which is just brutal with the huge drop off to the right hand side. So, you have got the fifth green which is a beautiful spot and then the 16th is just absolutely brutal. It’s a hole to get through. It plays as a par three-and-a-half depending on the wind. We will see some big scores there, I am sure.

The Open Championship is a great week but very busy. I arrived in Portrush on Monday and from then on you're straight into the continued preparation. With a 156-player field you're getting your head around all the notes that you have to have for commentary, and everything else that comes with an Open. Thankfully I know the course quite well, but there's no getting around the fact that it is a lot of work.

When you’re doing an event like Wimbledon, each day you are preparing info around two players or maybe four. You go into great depth on those two players but it’s only them two who you are concentrating on which is very different to The Open where you have got to prep for more than 150 players, the course and all sorts of other sights and sounds. It’s more comparable to doing prep for an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony where you are prepping for more than 200 countries and everything else that is going on. There is a lot that goes into ensuring that you can speak about whatever and whoever emerges as the story.

It is amazing that Americans who do not play this type of golf often can come across and play it so well, sometimes on their first appearance. I remember Dustin Johnson at Royal St George’s in 2011 for so long and nearly winning that one. Of course, last year it was Xander Schauffele. Only last week, Chris Gotterup, a young American who won’t have played links golf often, won the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club. Ultimately, good golfers can flourish in any conditions and on any style of course. Even though Europeans have got great form and pedigree, they don’t play links golf that often either so I think it’s an adjustment for all players. I think they will be quite grateful that the wind is not going to blow a hoolie as it did at Royal Troon in 2019. A winner? It’s anyone’s guess.