The Sports Fan Project

^{Carol and I in front of a couple iconic spots at Royal Troon Golf Club during The 152nd Open Championship.}

I know what you’re thinking: Does this whole Around the World in 80 Sporting Events thing only include golf tournaments?

Well, so far, that does seem to be the case, doesn’t it? Event 1 was the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, NC, and here I am about to tell you about Event 2, The Open Championship in Troon, Scotland.

(Sort of like The Ohio State, the Brits have chosen to capitalize the ‘T’ in ‘the’ and simply omit the word British from the title, altogether. Odd, I know.)

There are other sports on the list (see it here) and, in fact, the next three will be non-golf events. Having said that, there is a Solheim Cup and President’s Cup – both golf events – on the horizon later this fall.

But I digress.

My calendar and the sporting event schedule dictates what I’m able to attend and, thus far, that’s been two of golf’s Major Championships. So, just like Xander Schauffele I’ve got a pair of golf majors under my belt this year.

Why The Open Championship?

As previously stated, it is one of golf’s four Major Championships.

But beyond that, it’s one of those iconic events that always seemed so surreal, so distant, and so out of reach to my younger self as I’d click on the television Saturday and Sunday mornings of The Open weekend and find myself pleasantly surprised to be able to watch live golf while enjoying my morning bowl of Fruit Loops.

It became more tangible in 2022 when – purely because I already had tickets to a Pearl Jam concert in London’s Hyde Park around the same time – I submitted my name for The Open’s Ticket Ballot (e.g. lottery) and was successful in securing four passes to the Tuesday practice session of the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf. Our family made a United Kingdom holiday out of the two events.

^{A few shots from our family’s 2022 trip to the United Kingdom. Clockwise from upper left, Alnwick, Scotland; the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh; the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole at the Old Course in St. Andrews; Diagon Alley at the Warner Brothers Studios in Watford, England; the Achilles Statue in London’s Hyde Park; the clocktower at Edinburgh’s Heriot School; and London’s Battersea Power Station.}

Now famililar with the Ticket Ballot process, I decided to tempt fate last fall and submit my name for the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon. Fate was, apparently, on my side as my request was successful for practice sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as Thursday’s competition day.

With these tickets secure before 2023 turned to 2024 and before I’d decided to retire, The 152nd Open Championship became – by default – the first confirmed event for Around the World in 80 Sporting Events.

Where to Stay

Troon sits along the west coast of Scotland and as I began researching possible travel routes, it became clear that flying into and out of London’s Heathrow Airport didn’t make much sense. Proximity wise, it’s about 430 miles away which would be a lengthy drive and connecting through Heathrow to either Edinburgh or Prestwick wasn’t appetizing either. Furthermore, the airfare into and out of Heathrow from Detroit Metropolitan Airport was considerably higher than that to Manchester, England, (especially from Windsor, Ontario’s airport) which lies in the northwest of the country.

Once it was decided to fly to Manchester, the next big decision was to rent a car or rely on the train system to get to the sights we hoped to see. Our family had an interesting experience with the U.K.’s rail system in 2022 (see post here), so after lengthy consultations with my wife Carol (who would be the primary/exclusive driver) it was determined we’d rent. From there, I built out an itinerary of our time abroad that included time in northwestern England as well as the western part of Scotland and the Scottish Highlands.

What I quickly determined was not in my budget was staying near Troon. I kicked the tires on hotels and Air BnB’s in and around Glasgow, but because many didn’t offer parking, I finally settled on a flat in the village of Balloch at the southern end of Loch Lomond which appeared to be about an hour to an hour-and-a-half drive to Royal Troon.

^{Some of the sights around Balloch, clockwise from left, our flat sits in the dormer window above the Blue Lagoon restaurant; Balloch Castle sits in the park near our flat; the harbor near Balloch; and a look out into Loch Lomond at sunset.}

Traveling to Troon

By the time we’d arrived in Scotland – following four days in England – Carol and I had developed a pretty good rhythm for handling driving not only on the opposite side of the car but also the opposite side of the road.

We knew the route our GPS would take to get us from Balloch to Troon would be the most direct route which would, no doubt, include smaller and – as such – narrower roads. With this knowledge we decided to override our GPS – which we’d named Effie for many reasons (what letter does it sound like?;-) – and stay on the more heavily traveled – and wider! – thoroughfares.

It was helpful in that we weren’t confronted with multiple roundabouts on small roads, but it did add about 15 minutes each way to our drive and provided us with an Effie moment when it didn’t exactly state what it meant (or, perhaps we didn’t understand what was intended) that allowed us to see some parts of Glasgow we weren’t expecting to see.

Once back on the highway, it was smooth sailing until we found the inevitable traffic that comes with major events such as this. Still, it was a fairly issueless trip into Troon and to the Park & Ride Lot.

^{Clockwise from upper left, The Open’s Park & Ride Lot, the view from upstairs in the shuttle bus, the shuttle bus queuing at the Park & Ride Lot, and some random signs as we idled through stop-and-go traffic toward said lot prior to Wednesday’s Practice Session.}

The Postage Stamp & Other Troon Sights

Unlike our trip two years ago to the Old Course at St. Andrews, I didn’t have too many memories from my youth and that bowl of Fruit Loops about the Royal Troon Golf Club.

If there were any it’d probably be the short par-3, eighth hole, known as “Postage Stamp.” It plays as the shortest hole of the courses regularly hosting The Open (just 123 yards by the book) and its green’s landing zone is tiny, angular, and surrounded by the ubiquitous pot bunkers (e.g. the moniker Postage Stamp).

So if there was one spot to see at Royal Troon it would be the eighth.

It was a trek to get back there. Like most links-style courses, the front nine go out in relatively linear fashion and the back nine come in similarly. That said, No. 8 was just about as far away from the entry point as a hole could be.

^{A multitude of views of No. 8, from left, a shot of the massive grandstand surrounding the tee, the robotic camera cable seen overhead, a look at the green with players, and the view of the green from the grandstand.}

It did not disappoint. There were queues to get a seat – on a practice day! – and the views from tee to green were spectacular. We lingered to watch a few groups (including Keegan Bradley, Viktor Hovland, and Adam Scott) move through.

I also took advantage of having a local and 3-time attendee of Royal Troon Opens to get some tips for where to set up shop the next day: His choice, the 14th green’s grandstand. His rationale, it’s a par-3 so you’re able to see the tee shots, all of the action on the green, and tee shots at No. 15 as well.

Following his recommendation, we did venture to No. 14 and checked out both the tee and green grandstands in an effort to see how our Thursday might be spent.

We also worked our way over to the massive grandstand at No. 18 and climbed to the top to get a 360-degree perspective of the course and the town of Troon. We were headed to the No. 1 tee grandstand but discovered it was closed for the day:-( Foiled!

^{Clockwise from upper left, the view of the first tee and the Firth of Clyde from atop the 18th grandstand; a player hits out of a greenside bunker at the 14th; a look from ground level through the rough to the 18th green and grandstands; the Firth of Clyde and Little Craigs Island; the scoreboard atop the 18th grandstand (can you spot the author?); the Marine Troon Hotel sits adjacent to the course; 2023 Open Champion, Brian Harman; a ferris wheel sits along the beach in the town of Troon; the Royal Troon Clubhouse behind the 18th green; the view from the 14th tee; a look back up to the seventh tee; and the view from the 14th green.}

All in all, spending the final non-competition day on the grounds at Royal Troon was time well spent. It’s a more relaxed atmosphere, less crowded than competition days, and – it turned out – the best weather of the week. It also allowed us to do some reconnaissance for our return trip on Thursday.

Now if only the partly sunny skies we enjoyed Wednesday would have had the same foresight!

• Next Time: The opening round of competition at the 152nd Open Championship