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We woke up late after some midnight ruckus. Oh yes, again and here in the luxurious and wonderful Carnoustie Golf Hotel. Funny how this never happens at privately owned B & Bs. Between 2am and 3 am the noise from next door was of loud conversations, two guys and not in English. It wasn’t brief and seemed to be a party of some sort. Grog grog… I called to the desk sounding very weary, which got a knock next door and a quiet “please keep it down” but to no result. Oh well. We probably needed to sleep in anyway after so many go, go, go days in a row. I was happy to find out the next morning that the fellows would be moving on today so no more sharing a wall with Mr. & Mr. Noise.

At 10 am we had breakfast—how about kipper and eggs? Sound Scottish? I always have haggis in Scotland, but so far this trip, none on the menu. Maybe we’re just not staying in the right places this year, but the kipper was very Scottish and quite delicious! John’s eggs Benedict was even better. Every bite with a view of the Championship course…it was a lovely start to the day.

We were scheduled to meet Kerr at the shop 30 minutes before our tee time so that we could pay our guest fee and arrange to use the practice hitting bays. This is something added when they built the new clubhouse in 2018, seems like just a few years ago …Back then, there was a webcam on the old hotel which gave me many peeks into the weather and conditions as people played the course thousands of miles away. Now, with the new clubhouse and hotel, no webcam, but with wonderful hitting bays and simulators so you can see the distance and shape of each practice shot. Nice! We managed our own sneak peeks by watching players out the window. It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day.

Everything to schedule, we met Kerr, fussed around a bit and met again on the first tee. At Carnoustie as with other elite golf courses in Scotland, the starter met us with a warm handshake. Even though we were Kerr’s guests, we were given complimentary course guides, pencils, tees— a free gift, so to say. So there we were, ready to tee off. 

I was to tee off on the black tees, the guys would use the green tees. Often, throughout the course, I got a slight advantage, but about fifty percent of the time, we teed off together. The first is one of those. John hit first, Kerr hit his “breakfast ball” way out there and I made it past the burn (man made river) to the fairway where it rolled nicely. Good start to all of us.

I’m happy to report that John and I did well and received compliments from Kerr. Kerr hit so many miraculous shots especially considering his wounded knee and ankle. Nice to see him driving long and putting straight!

I prided myself on a slew of bogies and a par on #6-Hogan’s Alley, and the last #18-Home. Good score!  The greens were rolling great, and none of us lost a ball! This course is all set for the Dunhill Classic coming in two weeks— Carnoustie, the Old Course, and Kingsbarns . Great Scottish golf, world class players. See lots of pictures below.

After the game, we agreed to meet up for dinner at 6:30. That gave me time to use the spa facilities again— so perfectly refreshing after a great game

Good night!