SANDY LYLE THE TOAST OF SANDWICH

Lyle almost caught Tony Jacklin’s ball after his Open win at Lytham in 1969. Sixteen years later, the affable Scot would finally land another home win in the game’s oldest Major

- MARK TOWNSEND

A month before the 114th Open Championship, Sandy Lyle’s game was in relative tatters. In the Irish Open at Royal Dublin, bedraggled by both the weather and his swing, the Scot would wave the white towel halfway up the 18th hole in his first round.

“It’s the highest score that I’ve taken since I was 12. I can’t blame the weather for the way it began. I took five putts on the 5th for a seven and that left me deflated,” explained Lyle. “I’ve been working on my swing, but this was not the place to get it right. When I hit my second into the ditch at the 14th and eventually took three putts for an eight, I knew there was no hope.”

Lyle would have needed to hole a 250-yard shot on the 18th to break 90 having just semi-shanked one out of bounds.

A few weeks later, The Open would be back at Royal St George’s just four years after its previous hosting, when Bill Rogers triumphed. Before that, you would have to go back to Bobby Locke in 1949.

David Begg was The R&A’s press officer and his immediate memory of the week was of those who weren’t there in Kent.

“A number of the major Americans didn’t come, which was very unusual,” he recalls.

“There was no Curtis Strange, runner-up at Augusta, and no Ray Floyd, who was also runner-up and had tied 3rd in 1981. Andy North had just won the US Open but he wasn’t there. And Jack Nicklaus missed the cut for the first time ever at an Open. In 1981, he had shot 83 on the first day but still made the cut and finished 23rd.”

Christy to the fore