For all the talk of calm weather and vulnerable old strips of land, it has been impossible to ignore the louder conversation around the sides — the one about storms and a vulnerable old game stripped of a few pretences.
We have long been conditioned to the higher-minded grandeur of golf and yet here, at its spiritual home for the 150th Open Championship, the dirty side of its coin will catch the sun.
It will be showcased via the contentious presence of 24 players who took the silver to join Greg Norman’s merry band of stooges and sponges. It will be showcased by the brazen LIV logos on Patrick Reed’s sleeves and cap. It will be showcased in the absence of sponsors on Phil Mickelson’s gear and that of the other human flotsam.
Phil Mickelson’s unsponsored gear at The Open will showcase the dirty side of golf’s coin
The political and moral chaos thrown up by their defection to a Saudi-backed golf series in the business of sportswashing has succeeded in hijacking one of the great occasions of British sport.
Tiger Woods, normally so reserved in these briefings, has spoken out about it. So did Rory McIlroy, compelling as ever. And when the R&A got involved yesterday they went in with spikes showing — it was par for the week.
As Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, put it: ‘Professional golfers are entitled to choose where they want to play and to accept the prize money that’s offered to them. I have absolutely no issue with that at all.
‘But there is no such thing as a free lunch. I believe the model that we’ve seen (in the first two LIV events) is not in the best long-term interests of the sport as a whole and is entirely driven by money.
Patrick Reed donned three LIV Golf tour logos during his practice at The Open on Wednesday
‘I would also like to say that, in my opinion, the continued commentary that this is about “growing the game” is just not credible and, if anything, is harming the perception of our sport.’
It has. And so we continue to wait and question what happens next in this ugly civil war. What happens to the Ryder Cup? To the world ranking points? And will the PGA Tour’s ban against the LIV golfers stand up to legal examination?
If it does, will that be the back door through which the majors impose a barrier to the rebels, on the basis that those with a tour suspension might be ruled ineligible? Sportsmail understands such an avenue is under firm consideration, and if successful, will this Open at St Andrews be the last in the foreseeable future that is able to boast all the world’s best players?
Reed joined Pat Perez in blaming the PGA Tour for their exit to Saudi breakaway
That would mean tournaments without six men who have shared 10 of the 29 majors since the Open was last staged here in 2015 — Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Reed and Sergio Garcia.
Old or on the slide, has been the whispered retort. But really? On his day, Johnson is arguably the best player in the world. In the galleries, Mickelson is the most popular outside of Woods. At each other’s throats, DeChambeau and Koepka were a mini-series. At a Ryder Cup, Garcia is without equal. Reed? Keep him.
The conversations are no less frenzied around the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, who are also here. Inescapable in all this is the fear that, irrespective of what the lawyers resolve, golf will somehow come to resemble boxing. Not only for the bruises, but also the fragmentation of governance that robs us of the best taking on the best.
Norman, a more ludicrous figure by the day, and ostracised this week from a tournament he won twice, has not included that in his addresses that sound like the ravings of a cult leader.
Which is not to say he is the only entity governed by self interest in this blend of politics and morality: the DP World Tour have taken Saudi money, the R&A list Golf Saudi as an affiliate, and the PGA Tour have always had their own burning craving for gold.
What should not be overly conflated, therefore, is the ethical debate around Saudi money, because that is a separate issue and one that is evidently not part of the rows between the factions.
Stars like Bryson DeChambeau (pictured) risk being banned from all four major tournaments in 2023 for defecting to the Saudi-backed LIV Series, as revealed exclusively by Mail+
It brings emotion and some outcry to their cause, which is possibly helpful, but that is not their battleground. The crux for them is competition — the tours do not want a hostile rival that will weaken them.
It was interesting on that front to observe Slumbers’ response to questions from Sportsmail on Tuesday.
As commendably forthright as he had been about the LIV threat, he was borderline tetchy on the broader matter of whether golf in general should take money from a country with such pronounced human rights abuses, eventually saying: ‘I’m very comfortable in golf globally growing in terms of more and more people and the sport being a force for good.’
It is the sort of line that can make you sigh, even if it has become the stock response of so many sports.
R&A chief Martin Slumbers was critical of the LIV defectors ahead of start of the 150th Open
Doubtless the golf will be a more than adequate antidote this week. Woods is back, which should be treasured for as long as we can say it. McIlroy will bring the usual question of whether his brilliance can be sustained for four rounds.
Matt Fitzpatrick will swing with the confidence of a new major winner. Will Zalatoris, so close so often for a 20-month tour novice, has the form and the game to beat them all. There are so many tales to tell.
And what, among them, will be offered up by this famous, lovely old course and its short par-fours? Is it a relic at the mercy of modern technology on a calm day? Is a round of 59 on the cards if the weather is as gentle as forecast? And is that even a problem?
When set against other discussions, not really.