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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Joshua Searle

What are the conditions at St Andrews? Weather & wind for the Open Championship

These are the conditions to expect throughout the week at this year’s Open Championship on the Old Course. (PA)

The 150th Open Championship gets underway on the Old Course at St Andrews on Thursday.

Golf’s biggest stars will descend on the sport’s spiritual home for the final major of 2022.

A star-studded field will be hopeful of scoring low this week, as calmer conditions are forecasted at St Andrews, removing some of the threat the old links course can provide.

Branden Grace created history when he became the first man to shoot 62 in a major during the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale, while Ross Fisher holds the course record at St Andrews following a 61 in the Dunhill Links three months later.

Rory McIlroy (PA)

Jack Nicklaus responded, “So what?” when asked about fears of similar scores this week, while Rory McIlroy predicted that the firm and fast conditions would provide an adequate defence against some of the game’s biggest hitters.

Open Championship weather forecast

These are the conditions to expect throughout the week at this year’s Open Championship on the Old Course.

Thursday

The morning wave will get the best of the conditions on day one of the 150th Open Championship, with very little chance of rain and winds of around 9 or 10mph.

Thursday’s late wave of tee times could experience some significant showers between 2pm and 4pm, while they’ll experience gusts of around 18 or 19mph.

Friday

Friday looks set to play easier than Thursday, but those in the early wave on Thursday will again get the best of the weather as they tee off late on Friday.

The wind will be fairly consistent throughout the day but will gust stronger in the morning than in the afternoon.

Saturday

With the field cut in half on Saturday, we may see some low scores from those further back from the lead, with winds of 4 or 6mph in the morning.

It will get steadily harder throughout the day, with the leaders likely to face gusts of between 17 and 19mph by the time they are playing the back 9 on Saturday.

Sunday

As the championship reaches its conclusion, it is unlikely the destination of the Claret Jug will be decided by the weather conditions.

The final day of the tournament looks set to be the most consistent throughout the day, with winds rarely exceeding 10mph, and gusts steadily between 14mph and 16mph for the duration.

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