Lessons learned from the 2019 World Hickory Open

Swedes Sweep World Hickory Titles in Scotland

Special to the SoHG by Rick Adams
(Rick Adams is an ex-pat who is living in Switzerland. This is his first-hand account of the 2019 World Hickory Open.)

East Lothian, Scotland – The Swedes invaded Scotland in force, bringing more players than any of the other 14 countries represented, and went home with most of the spoils, winning the professional division, men’s amateur gross, and women’s amateur gross in the 15th edition of the World Hickory Open (WHO) golf championships, Oct. 21-24, 2019.

The WHO was founded by the late Lionel Freedman in 2005. Last year, the addition of the Archie Baird International Trophy, a team competition, was added and is contested the day before the WHO competition begins. This year’s WHO was played over three rounds on Kilspindie, and the Gullane courses 2 and 3.

The weather for the week was crisp and clear, except for a shower sideswipe on the last day’s back nine. The wind, for the most part from the northeast off the Firth of Forth, was feisty (in the 25-40 mph range) and fickle when attempting to judge its effects prior to a shot. Some holes against the wind were unreachable with hickories, but downwind holes presented birdie opportunities if a player could avoid the legendary Scottish rough.

The new professional champion, Olle Widegren, an Academic All-American at Coastal Carolina University (alma mater of PGA superstar Dustin Johnson), ran away with the title, building a five-shot lead on the first of three individual scoring days with a 67 at Kilspindie GC. He followed with a 68 at Gullane GC No. 3 course, and sealed the victory by driving the par-4 17th at Gullane No. 2 in the finale.

Widegren was only recently introduced to hickory golf in Stockholm by fellow Swede Owe Werner, who won the long-drive title at last year’s WHO. He’d only played about five rounds with hickories prior to the event. 

“I think hickory fits me pretty well,” the new champion told me. “You have to think your way around. I navigated myself around the course very well.” This was Widegren’s first exposure to links golf, and he said, “It kept me very concentrated and focused on what I was trying to do.”

Widegren played on the Swedish Junior National Team that won the European Championship in 2004, where he won the deciding match. He turned pro two years ago.

Runner-up, with four birdies in the final five holes, was English professional and European Tour player Andrew Marshall. He edged out defending champion Johan Moberg of Sweden. The 67 by Widegren at Kilspindie and Marshall and Moberg at Gullane No. 3 matched the record low score in the event’s history. The 2017 WHO champion, Fraser Mann of Carnoustie, a two-time European Tour Senior PGA champion, was 4th, followed by another Swede (originally from Scotland), David Kirkham, joint 5th with Switzerland’s Roberto Francioni.

The men’s amateur gross winner was Mats Gylldorff of Sweden at 17-over-par for the two Gullane courses. (The amateur scores for Kilspindie were thrown out, as several groups were unable to finish before dark.)

Swedish women took the first four positions in the gross score competition: Britta Nord edged Jenny Käck by a stroke, followed by Vivianne Lundman Thors and Angelika Braunsforth. The women’s net category was won by Petra Dudzus and Nicole Haerberli of Switzerland.

George Pledger of the U.K. ran away with the men’s amateur net division with a -12 total. He was also the Stableford scoring leader with 85 points.

The junior division featured three players and was won by Niklas Lindstrom of Finland on scores of 85-78 / 163. 

The senior men’s division (50 years and older) had more than half the entries, 71 total. The gross leaders for 2019 were Euan Bottomley of the U.K. and Jamie White of Scotland, who matched 76-81 / 167.

The low Americans were Deal Hudson and Bill Geisler, the latter a former SoHG President and U.S. National Hickory Champion in 2017. They posted 165s for T6th in the senior gross category. Mike Stevens, also a past winner of the U.S. Hickory Open, finished a shot behind. Hudson was 5th in the men’s amateur net category at -2.

In the “Honorable” category for players 70 years and older, Heinz Andreas of Switzerland posted 99-85 / 184. American Daniel Norstedt finished at 99-95 / 194.

In the Archie Baird International Trophy team championship, staged at Dunbar GC the day before the WHO, Team Japan 1 retained their title; Katsuyuki Fukumoto, Kunihiko Takazawa, Yoshimi Wakamatsu and Jamie White posted better-ball scores of 61-64 for 89 Stableford points. They were followed by the Team United States group of Hudson, Bob Glass, Norstedt, and Ruediger Hillert with 61-68 / 85 points, and the Sweden 2 team of Martin Johannson, Mikael Elofsson, Bjoern Larsen and Frederick Nyman at 72-63 / 80 points.

Countries represented included Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, England/Scotland/U.K., Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE, and the US.

Notes on WHO travel

If a pilgrimage to the home of golf is on your bucket list, or you are thinking of a return trip, consider combining your itinerary to the Old Course at St. Andrews, Muirfield, Royal Dornoch, etc., with participation in the WHO. You don’t need to be a scratch golfer; you just need an appreciation for the traditions of the game. You’ll be provided with a “hickory handicap” if you don’t have one, based on your modern golf rating. And if you need hickory clubs, you can rent a set.

The mid-October tournament dates are outside tourist high season, so you can probably get reasonable hotel / B&B rates (and have better odds in the Old Course booking lottery).

You will discover three things: a wonderful camaraderie among a group of people who embrace this unique niche of the game, the challenge of learning how to swing the type of clubs used by the likes of Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, and the nuances of links golf with its tight turf and bump-and-run approaches.

To date, tournament participation has been first-come, first-served. This year, the field of 120 (limited by available daylight) was full by mid-summer. The organizers are considering implementing a qualifying system – ie, X number of slots per country or qualifying site – similar to the USGA Open or Amateur.

12 Things I Learned Playing in the World Hickory Open Golf Championship in Scotland

1. Stay out of the rough. Stay out of the rough. Stay out of the rough. Especially on links courses such as Gullane. The hay is often ankle-deep, sometimes knee-deep. If you are fortunate enough to find your ball in a playable lie, the long blades of grass will surely grab the hosel, twist the club face, and probably send the ball even deeper into the gorse. My 11 on the 10th is painful proof.
2. Even if you have to leave the driver in the bag and sacrifice some distance, stay out of the rough.
3. Forget about par. Play each hole in the smartest way possible, even if it means laying up to avoid the bunkers. (And the rough – especially the rough.)
4. If you can spare the time, play the tournament course(s) in advance. (I didn’t this time.) It’s easier to hit a shot when you have a sense of where you’re supposed to aim and what club to hit.
5. If you cannot play practice rounds in advance, hire a caddie who knows the course. Then trust what he/she tells you.
6. If those are not options, get a course layout book – plan your strategy hole-by-hole ahead of the round.
7. Keep the ball low. Off the tee and on approaches. Scottish links greens tend not to hold lofted shots (they don’t even show pitch marks!), so assume the ball will release and roll a long way.
8. Catch the ball early. The sand-based turf is firm and unyielding. Move the ball back in your stance a bit.
9. Be strategic. This is true anywhere you play. Short-siding and leaving a pitch over a pot bunker to a fast downslope green is not fun.
10. Enjoy the difference. You can play parkland target golf all over the world. But Scottish links golf is unique, especially with hickories.
11. I discovered that I can drive it as far as some of the WHO professional champions, such as Fraser Mann and new king Olle Widegren, though not nearly as far as big guns like Johan Moberg and Owe Werner. But not bad for a 68-year-old, new to hickory play.
12. There are few things in life more satisfying that a solidly struck shot with a hickory golf club.

For more about the WHO, read Rick’s blog: lovinglifeinswitzerland.blogspot.com/