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Rotten weather can blight any round of golf, but the impact of the elements is significantly heightened on the naturally exposed links courses that host The Open.
TheOpen.com’s new series looks back on days when players at golf’s original Championship faced particularly extreme conditions.
We begin by recalling a diabolical Saturday storm at Muirfield in 2002, which caused dramatic movement on the leaderboard.
“It's the most amazing thing I've seen for a very long time at this Championship,” said Ernie Els, who would go on to lift the Claret Jug the following day. “It was one of the most difficult days that I can ever remember. You just can't believe how the conditions were.”
Els’ caddie, Ricci Roberts, added: "We were fortunate in a way that we only had to play 14 or 15 holes in this monsoon, but I have to say it was probably right up there with one of the hardest days ever on a links golf course that I've ever seen. That weather was brutal.”
For more details on a dramatic day and footage of players battling the storm, visit: https://www.theopen.com/Latest/Muirfield-2002-Toughest-Open-Weather.
The R&A