2024 Senior Open presented by Rolex Preview: Carnoustie set for third Senior Open

Carnoustie, Scotland; 24 July 2024: The Championship Links at Carnoustie is in near perfect condition for the 37th Senior Open Championship, which begins tomorrow morning, and it is earning rave reviews from some of the legends of the game. 1999 Open Champion, Paul Lawrie: "The golf course will still play pretty tough. The golf course here stands test of time better than most. They don't have many new tees out there. They don't really have to. The length is always pretty good. So should be a good week."

Defending Champion, Alex Cejka: "it's a tough beast even in good condition. It's a great test of golf"

4-time Champion, Bernhard Langer: " it's going to be a good test. There's a lot of rough out there."

The first ever Senior Open at Carnoustie was also historic for its champion, Bernhard Langer. This was Langer's first Senior Major title, the first victory in a stellar senior career which has made the German undisputedly the greatest player over the age of 50 in the history of the sport.

Langer shot -5 for the four rounds back in 2010, winning by 1 shot over Corey Pavin. The 2-time Masters champion has gone on to win 12 Senior Major Championships, including the Senior Open on four occasions.

The most recent edition staged at Carnoustie, 2016, saw England's Paul Broadhurst lift the trophy.

Broadhurst, a member of the 1991 European Ryder Cup team, won by two strokes from Scott McCarron. An opening round of 75 put Broadhurst on the brink of missing the cut, but he bounced back with a sensational 66 on Friday, and weekend rounds of 68 on Saturday and 68 on Sunday gave him the title.

2007 Open Champion, Padraig Harrington: "You know, this is obviously one of the toughest courses that we play in The Open rota, and you know, it's set up well this year. The rough is nice and high, and certainly in places you really do want to be on your game playing well. It's always the same with Carnoustie. It gives you nothing"

The weather forecast predicts light showers and a breeze over the first two days, with sunny intervals over the weekend. The wind is forecast to be upwards of 16mph on Friday, providing a stern test for those battling to make the cut.

Paul Lawrie won The Open some 25 years ago at Carnoustie, and if he can claim a win on the same course this week he could join the legend that is Tom Watson in completing a truly historic feat. Watson won the iconic 1977 Open at Turnberry, defeating Jack Nicklaus in what became known as the 'Duel in the Sun', and then incredibly some 26 years later he won the Senior Open on the same course.

Carnoustie's reputation as 'golf's toughest test' reached its peak 25 years ago when it was dubbed 'Carnasty' after the world's best players came a distant runner-up to the fearsome Championship links. The leading score through 72 holes was +6, with the aggregate of 290 being the highest winning score in The Open since 1947 at Royal Portrush.

"I think the golf course is set up reasonably tough this week. So it might play a little bit like it did back then" Lawrie said when he spoke to the assembled media at Carnoustie this morning. "But apart from that, the whole game has changed. Technology, balls, everything so it's a different kind of kettle of fish now. But the golf course will be the same. The golf course will still play pretty tough. The golf course here stands test of time better than most. They don't have many new tees out there. They don't really have to."

Each of the top four from the 1999 Open Championship will be playing in this week's Senior Open at Carnoustie - Lawrie will be joined by Justin Leonard, Jean Van de Velde, and Angel Cabrera.

Play will get underway on the Angus coast on Thursday morning at 6.45am with Philip Golding having the honour of hitting the opening tee shot of the 37th edition of the Senior Open presented by Rolex.

Within half an hour of play getting underway the big names take to the course. Phillip Price, Paul McGinley and Shaun Micheel (0715), Roger Chapman, Tom Gillis and Thomas Levet (0725), Angel Cabrera, KJ Choi and Robert Karlsson (0735), Colin Montgomerie, Jerry Kelly and Peter Baker (0745), Miguel Angel Jimenez, Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh (0800), and Steven Alker, Darren Clarke and defending champion Alex Cejka (0810) making the first morning an entertaining one.

Highlights of the afternoon include Michael Campbell, Thomas Bjorn and Rich Beem (1205), Stephen Dodd, John Daly and Scott Hend (1215), Stephen Ames, YE Yang and Paul Broadhurst (1225), Jose Maria Olazabal, Retief Goosen and Ian Woosnam (1240), and Bernhard Langer, Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie (1255) giving the spectators plenty of reasons to go back out onto the course after lunch.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper

Matt Hooper is an Associate Member of the Sports Journalists Association