Richie Ramsay reckons Castle Stuart Golf Links has never played tougher than yesterday’s wind-swept opening round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
The Aberdonian carded a steady level-par 72 in difficult conditions with gusts of up to 35 miles an hour.
Ramsay, whose best finish in his national open is a tied-31st placing when the event was first held at Castle Stuart five years ago, was pleased with his day’s work and said: “That is the toughest round I have played here.
“Even though there is a little bit of space off the tees, it is amazing how tough and tight the course can be when it gets windy.
“It is a great test and I think it will be really beneficial for the golfers who are playing the Open championship at Royal Troon next week to be able to hit shots into a strong wind like that.
“On the second hole, I had 111yd to the pin and hit an eight iron. Then on the eighth I had 208 to the pin and hit a smooth eight iron. That shows how strong the wind is because it is almost 100yd difference yet I was using the same club.
“That is the beauty of links golf.
“I tend to be quite good at calculating how much the wind will affect distance, but also had to take into account the slopes and bounces into the green.
“If the conditions stay like this then I think the golfers who have played here a few times will probably have a little bit of an advantage.”
Fellow Scot David Drysdale also began with a level-par 72 after bogeying two of his final three holes. He said: “I started on the 10th so my final three holes were seven, eight and nine and they were all playing downwind, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It was impossible to pick the right club.
“I hit eight iron from 210yd at the seventh through the green and into the rough.
“That is probably the toughest it has been here. We had one day a couple of years ago that was very windy and similar to this.
“It is still easy enough to hit the fairways but judging how far the ball is going is very difficult. If it was as windy as this at home I wouldn’t go out in it, let alone golf.
“I haven’t had too many good finishes at links courses so hopefully that changes this week. I played really well at Gullane Links last year but my putting let me down.”