Alex Shoumatoff Quotes

When one thinks of golf and Scotland, the first thing that comes to mind is usually St. Andrews, especially the famed Old Course.

St. Andrews by far is my favorite golf course in the world. It's where the game all started, it's why we have 18 holes instead of 22 and I think the history behind St. Andrews is amazing. There is no other golf course in the world that can say that every great player who has ever played the game has played that golf course.

I like the course, the history - everything about St. Andrews.

I gather most people don't remember that when the U.S. Open first went to Pebble Beach in 1972, a big deal was made of the Open going to a public course for the first time.

Since 1934 every accomplished player in golf has come to the Augusta National looking for an introduction into history.

If I had ever been set down in any one place and told I was to play there, and nowhere else, for the rest of my life, I should have chosen the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Sir Guy Campbell's classic account of the formation of the links, beginning with Genesis and moving step by step to the thrilling arrival of 'tilth' on the fingers of coastal land, suggests that such notable features of our planet as dinosaurs, the prairies, the Himalayas, the seagull, the female of the species herself, were accidental by-products of the Almighty's preoccupation with the creation of the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Until you play it, St. Andrews looks like the sort of real estate you couldn't give away.

There was a time when caddies couldn't wear shorts.

My father was a very good golfer and he got me started early. My grandfather played, too. It was just something that the Kroft family did. I kind of grew up on the golf course.

When I drive into Augusta and down Magnolia Lane, there's just a spirit and nostalgia about it that you experience nowhere else. Why? Because it's the same place every year.

To win at Augusta and to win The Open Championship at St. Andrews, it's hard to put it into words as a golfer, as an athlete, as a guy - I'm not rich in history, I can tell you that. I'm not a great historian.

As a kid, I remember John Daly bombing it around St. Andrews in 1995 to win the British Open, and people say we are similar in a lot of ways.

We know that golf is an ancient game with great history and tradition, but our golf is only 10 years old so don't judge us too harshly.

Pete Dye introduced me to golf course design back in the 1960's. He came to my hometown Columbus, Ohio to work on The Golf Club.

Somebody made the statement that Donald Trump has built or owns the greatest collection of golf courses, ever, in the history of golf. And I believe that is 100 percent true.

I've been fortunate over my career to make a little history on the 16th hole at Augusta National.

To have the opportunity to complete the slam at the Open at St Andrews, the home of golf, is something I will never ever forget.

I love the way the game of golf is lived and played in Scotland. I always have.

I'd happily cover the British Open every year until St. Andrews slides into the sea or Scotland runs out of beer, whichever happens first.

That is what I love about golf, you can go play somewhere where all the greats have played.

It's the Tiger Woods effect. What he was able to accomplish at such a young age - he drew me to the game, and I can only speak for myself, but a lot of the players that are my age saw Tiger in his prime when we were all teenagers. We all wanted to be like him.

I've always felt like I was going to win a British Open at St. Andrews. That place is suited for me.

Just as many golfers feel a kinship with Ben Hogan or Bobby Jones after studying their lives, such is the closeness I feel with Lawson Little Jr. Little quite simply is the most underappreciated golfer of the first half of the 20th century.

Scotland is a great country. It's integral to the U.K.