Luck of the draw

Imagine for a moment you are playing in your first professional golf tournament. I’m sure most of you have done that before at some point so it won’t be a huge stretch. Your first round is on Thursday, would you prefer to play in the morning or afternoon?

If you play in the morning, you’re will play in the afternoon on Friday which is generally the preferred schedule for most professionals. If you make the cut, you’re not sitting around for up to 24 hours before the weekend action begins.

If you weren’t just imagining this and in fact you were in a professional tournament, you have no choice. It is the luck of the draw and we’ve seen it shape the outcome of many a golf tournament before.

It is often most obvious at The Open Championship. At Royal Birkdale last year the Thursday morning players bore the brunt of windy conditions which subsided considerably for the afternoon tee times. Greg Norman teed off in the afternoon that year. The Friday then threw up better morning conditions than the afternoon.

There is a danger the draw can have a big say in the outcome of the Australian Open at New South Wales Golf Course this week. Situated with one edge on Botany Bay and the other on the Pacific Ocean, the weather can change fast and be brutal.

This is why there has been so much talk about the draw this week even before a ball has been hit. Luckily, it appears conditions will be better than those we’ve already seen this week as it would be a pity to see somone miss the cut purely due to the luck of the draw.

2009 Australian Open draw

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