ADJOURN TO THE JIGGER INN? Bill Murray has been known to hold court at the famous 19th hole attached to the Old Course Hotel.
people singing and performing, and you are so hon- oured to be there. It’s an amazing way they bring ev- erybody together.” After the internal fog of morning lifts, players are faced with the weather of the day, which is often bad enough that whatever elegance and chicness was on display the night before is abandoned. The wind may be blowing 40 off the sea and the rain stings at 45-degree angles. Sartorial concerns are abandoned for survival. The party turns ugly. “Even when the weather is sh--, I love it,” says Dan- ish pro Nicolai Hojgaard. “Your partners get into it. We’re at the home of golf and we don’t have to take ourselves too seriously.” Packing for this event is impossible, but the swag bags can offset that. “They provide a safety net,” Ma- honey says. “People rave about them, and they joke that the gifts they get start to approach the entry fee of the event.” (Which is $25K, and the celebs pay.) Aside from waterproof rain gear, you’ll need lots of gloves, regular and rain. You need mittens to survive the bracing cold from shot to shot. Knit caps are a no- brainer, but the pro shops at each course will sell out of them when the sea turns angry. Two pair of shoes are the minimum, and three is smarter unless you plan on using the hair dryer to dry them in the room after every soggy round. Then, of course, your overstuffed bag filled with layers can be useless as the skies are just as likely to part and send you scrambling back to
the pro shop for something lighter, not wool. Newton says there is no real way to be prepared for the tournament. “No one could have prepared me for the 80-kilometre-an-hour wind, rain, sleet and snow at Kingsbarns on Friday. I felt like I was playing in an astronaut suit, drenched in water.” As a student of the game, the location makes Newton turn to classic pieces. “The Dunhill is where I want to really look like an old-school golfer. It’s not about what you look like, per se, but I’m tell- ing you, if there’s one place that’s photogenic and a place to rock your best golf outfits, it’s definitely the Dunhill. I feel very glamorous there.” Peter Millar and Mahoney get to see their gear in action and up close. “It gives us some incredible opportunities to do weather-wear testing because inevitably there’s a day when it’s rain, sleet, wind, hail, sun, all in the same round.” The weather will punch and punch some more, and eventually it will win. Then when it’s all over, the hard part begins again. Once you arrive at Edinburgh Airport, the lines will be serpentine and never-ending. Yet, it’s all worth it. “One of my favourite things is getting up in the morning super early at the Old Course, and the sun is still rising, and you’re just out there with your caddie hitting balls, and it’s almost dark,” Newton says. “You can’t compare it to any- thing, and it feels so connected to nature and to the history of the game.”
A RELAXED WEEK Rory McIlroy typically partners with his father, Gerry, for the pro-am portion.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 83
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
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