ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The sun is setting over the birthplace of golf, casting the majestic Old Course in rose gold. Massive grandstands are in place for the 150th Open Championship and the flags atop them snap in the steady breeze. On a giant banner under the leaderboard, this year's slogan: "Everything has led to this." The tournament runs Thursday through Sunday.
With the spectators gone for the day, the course is empty. But there's a soft thrum of pop music in the distance, and, as you walk toward it, the happy chatter of kids playing soccer. The sound is coming from behind the Old Course Hotel & Spa, the posh digs this week of Tiger Woods and other stars of the game.
The sound goes louder still as you approach the manicured playing fields behind the hotel, now populated with tidy rows of tents that sprawl like streets of a neighborhood. Blue tents over here, smaller green ones over there, and tan ones in the middle that each have a small solar panel about the size of a political lawn sign.
