ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — They don’t take major championships away from the winners who get a break or two along the way to lifting and kissing the trophy.
Whoever emerges with the Claret Jug at this 144th British Open on Sunday after the inconveniences this week already has presented — with good and bad tee-time draws and Friday’s three-hour weather delay that left 42 players still on the course when darkness set in — is going to be the winner, and there will be no question he has earned it.
The player who not only plays the best on the golf course, but also beats the rest of the field with the power of the most positive attitude off of it will emerge the winner.
“Expect inconveniences and to be uncomfortable and embrace it,’’ Zach Johnson, who is 7-under and three shots out of the lead, told The Post on Friday. “If you don’t have the right attitude at this tournament, then don’t bother to come here.’’
When Louis Oosthuizen won the 2010 British Open the last time it was played at St. Andrews, he had the perfect draw with respect to the horrific weather that foiled the chances of many others in the field.
Nevertheless, an asterisk was not printed next to his name in the record book.
When Ernie Els won the 2002 British Open at Muirfield, Tiger Woods’ bid to win a third consecutive leg of the Grand Slam was sabotaged by one of the worst storms anyone ever has had to play through in a major championship. Nevertheless, that did not deter from Els’ celebration or from his record.
Pot luck as it relates to the predictably unpredictable weather plays more of a role in the British Open than in any other major in golf, and a proper attitude is paramount to enduring it. Those with a bad attitude and ticked off at the bad breaks that are sure to come are the ones who miss cuts or tumble down the leaderboard.
This week’s Open at St. Andrews has provided the perfect example of that. Depending on which end of the tee-time sheet a player happened to be on, there was a huge difference in the weather conditions in which he played.
Take Englishman Danny Willett. When Willett walked off the Old Course on Thursday night, battered from the winds that blew off the North Sea, but buoyed by the 66 he had just posted to inch within one shot of the first-round lead despite the difficult conditions, he was asked about the ominous weather forecast for Friday.
“It could be Armageddon-type stuff by the looks of the weather forecast,’’ he said. “When the wind and rain gets up it can be a lottery.”
Well, look who won the lottery … and continued to play great golf.
Willett took advantage of the three-hour weather delay in the morning thanks to torrential overnight rain and winds, and surged to 9-under with a second-round 69. That gave Willett the lead until Dustin Johnson got to 10-under later in the day.
“In a major championship, you need a little bit of luck and to hit the right shots at the right time and, if it’s your week, it’s your week,” Willett said. “We’re pretty fortunate we didn’t have to play in the rain. The last time Louis won, he got the good side of the draw and there’s a few guys that got the bad side of the draw.
“That’s an Open. I was on the wrong, wrong side of the draw at St. George’s my very first Open Championship. It happens. I think everyone says over a career, 20, 25 Opens, hopefully it’s going to even itself out.’’
This was Johnson’s first thought when woke up for his early tee time and went to the course: “Let’s hope there’s a delay.’’
“But I thought that mindset was pretty far-fetched, considering it is the Open Championship, and you expect brutal conditions at times,’’ Johnson said. “You expect the first tee, ‘Here you go, here’s your peg, here’s your ball, whatever is presented, go play.’ Clearly they made the right decision. The course was unplayable.’’
Geoff Ogilvy, who played under the better Friday morning conditions and shot 68 to stand at 5-under, said: “You go out with the best intentions to have the best attitude you can. Sometimes you feel like you get hosed at this tournament. You feel like you’re on the wrong side of the draw when it’s windy, regardless if you are or you’re not.
“It’s tough for everyone, but you kind of expect that here.’’
Those who embrace it survive and give themselves a chance to win. Those who don’t miss the cut and go home early.