Royal County Down

I spent Friday to Sunday (13-15 Sept) at the Irish Open, held at Royal County Down Golf Course in Newcastle. I was one of 22 volunteers from Shandon who manned the 13th hole over five days. There were 10 positions on the hole and we rotated through them, keeping things interesting. Here I am on Friday morning walking the dog before my first shift. Paddy will be in the water awaiting a ball.

I did not take the photo below – I wasn't even on the course that day, but I'm sharing this because it is the money shot, taken by another Shandon volunteer. There was so much love for Rory on the course. Pity he imploded on the last few holes on the final day. After leading by two shots all day. I wouldn't say the entire crowd of 50,000 people wept, but most of them were broken hearted.

Our hole was a dog leg right. In the distance below is the tee box. I'm up on a sand dune ball spotting to see where the tee shots land.

The hole is 470 yards. Let's say 300 of that is more or less straight (although there was a diagonal hump crossing the fairway that could send a ball in any direction). The remainder of the fairway wraps around the group of dunes below. So the guy on the right has to hit blind over the dunes in front of him to reach the green (the blue sign in the distance is at the back of the green). The guy on the left drove far enough that he has somewhat better visibility onto the green.

Rory's shot landed on the front of the dunes in a cavity. He hit the ball maybe 150 yards onto the green, leaving a 25 foot putt, which he made to birdie the hole. Unbelievable. Here he is coming up the fairway – at this point I'm on the ropes, preventing spectators from crossing the fairway until after the players pass.

In the shot below, I'm on the green, watching Shane Lowry approach. I took a picture of him putting, but it isn't very good.

One of the most interesting positions is behind the players when they are teeing off. The tee box is at the bottom of a steep, gorse covered hill. Unfortunately balls from the 7th tee box occasionally strayed onto this hill, not far from where I stand with a yellow paddle to indicate direction of flight of the tee shot on the 13th. When a ball goes into the gorse, marshalls swarm over the hill to find it within the three minutes allowed.

After the last players (Rory and Manassero) cleared the 13th, we were asked to come to the 18th to provide crowd control when the hordes swarmed onto the fairway. We provided a human cordon to keep people maybe 80 yards from the green. it was a bit scary, to be honest. Face to face with lots of drunk teenage boys. Afterward, the lady volunteers were invited to stand in front of the pavillion on the 18th green to watch the award ceremony.

And here is the great Dane, Rasmus Højgaard, winning his 5th DP Tour event – at age 23. Imagine.

What I loved about the introduction of all the dignataries (corporate sponsor, politicians, golf executives) was that the only person to get a huge round of applause was the head greenkeeper, all the way on the left. He's been at RCD for 50 years and so is golfing royalty.

All in all I enjoyed the three days. The weather was mostly good. Had it rained, I would not be a happy bunny as there was no shelter. I stayed with Aelish, an old Vanguard chum, and her daughter. It was lovely to catch up with her and she really spoilt me, taking care of Paddy while I was gone 8:30 am to 7 pm. She also took some nice photos, like the next two.

I was meant to go back to Balfast Sunday evening but I was far too tired. So I stayed another night and got to see a fantastic sunrise Monday morning.

13-15 Sept