In the waves that rose and crashed on to the shores of South Beach, the local kite surfers were having the time of their lives.
How could they not? Gusts that reached 34mph made conditions ideal for this extreme sport. They were doing loop-the-loops, taking off so high you wondered if they would end up on the flight path that runs above Royal Troon’s seventh fairway into neighbouring Prestwick Airport.
But for the golfers on the other side of the dunes? You would call this torture. The only crashing here was the sound of giants falling one by one, their scorecards vandalised by a succession of bogeys, double bogeys and worse, their games being blown out of this 152nd Open Championship.
In a curious way, though, this is what makes this tournament so compelling. You may well have had the privilege of cradling the Claret Jug as proudly as a father holds a newborn baby but past achievements mean nothing on days of this nature.
All you can do is hang on and hope you don’t fall into the abyss.
Conditions at the Royal Troon were worsened by gusts that reached 34mph on Friday
Rory McIlroy's recent struggles continued as he exited The Open prematurely
There would be no such luck for Rory McIlroy. If Thursday was bad, day two was even worse and the unfathomable 20 minutes he spent on the fourth hole in particular was the sporting equivalent of seeing a car crash in slow motion.
Perhaps it simply wasn’t realistic to think McIlroy could get into contention after his nightmare at Pinehurst last month and all that emotional scarring, but he didn’t stand a chance after he thwacked, hacked and clunked his way up the 599-yard par five.
A wild drive ended up under so much undergrowth you might have thought a strimmer was the only way to free it, but McIlroy elected to try a recovery iron. He swung and uprooted plenty of grass but his ball only moved a matter of yards. If the world had not been watching, he would have been inclined to scarper.
The Open website describes the fourth as ‘possibly the best birdie chance on the course’, but you read that with a wry smile as McIlroy went from one dead end to another, eventually scribbling down an eight. His fate had been sealed.
Bryson DeChambeau, who profited from his combustion at the US Open, had done something similar on the sixth on day one and every weekend golfer will have been familiar with the pose they pulled: one hand on a hip, one arm outstretched holding a club, a disbelieving headshake.
Whatever McIlroy — Champion Golfer of the Year in 2014 at Royal Liverpool — tried, he failed. Bump and runs were overhit into bunkers, punched approach shots missed the targets by miles and putts never looked like dropping.
Down through the field McIlroy slithered, into the depths where he found himself in distinguished company with past winners.
John Daly (1995, St Andrews) and Ernie Els (2002, Muirfield) had withdrawn after posting 82 in their opening rounds but there were many more. Todd Hamilton, shock hero of the 2004 renewal here, battled through but finished on +20, following an 82 with an 80. Justin Leonard, another previous course-and-distance winner (1997), was just ahead on +16 with last season’s US Open champion Wyndham Clark.
Then there was Tiger Woods (Open wins in 2000, 2005 and 2006) on +14. He had made it clear a round in the 60s was going to be needed for him to stick around for the weekend after Thursday’s laborious trudge, but he had the kind of round where muffled groans followed his shots rather than excited yelps.
‘It wasn’t very good,’ said Woods. ‘I made a double there at two, right out of the hopper, when I needed to go the other way. I was fighting it pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make birdies and consequently made a lot of bogeys.
Whatever McIlroy — Champion Golfer of the Year in 2014 at Royal Liverpool — tried, he failed
‘I’ve always loved majors. I just wish I was physically sharper coming into them. It tests you mentally, physically, emotionally and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be.
‘I was hoping I would find it somehow. Just never did. Consequently, my results and scores were pretty high.’
Plenty will wonder whether this will be the last we see of Woods but, in his mind, that isn’t the case. Portrush in 12 months’ time remains on the agenda, as he said it is ‘definitely’ his intention to play in Northern Ireland.
What shape his game will be in then, nobody is able to say, but that Atlantic coastline can be just as unforgiving as this corner of Ayrshire, and who is to say the course Shane Lowry conquered in 2019 won’t end up like another graveyard for champions?
For so many were buried on this frenzied Friday: Cameron Smith (2022, St Andrews) along with Stewart Cink (2009, Turnberry) and Henrik Stenson (2016, Troon) fell by the wayside, along with Francesco Molinari (2018, Carnoustie) and Louis Oosthuizen (2010, St Andrews).
Tiger Woodshad the kind of round where muffled groans followed his shots rather than excited yelps
This was as brutal as you could imagine — Zach Johnson, a US Masters winner in his time, also departed — and just thankful to keep his head above water was Matthew Fitzpatrick, who scrambled into the clubhouse on +6 and closed the door with the relief of someone who had escaped a pack of wild dogs.
‘The conditions are bizarre,’ Fitzpatrick, the US Open winner of 2022, grimaced. ‘It’s tough. There’s no two ways about it. You have just got to stick in there.’
It’s what champions are supposed to do — but sometimes it is simply impossible.
