If Ben Hogan was affectionately known as the Wee Ice Mon in 1953, then Carnoustie in 2018 has a genuine Ice Man, writes Nick Rodger.
Haraldur Magnus will become the first Icelandic golfer to play in the Open Championship when he gets cracking today.
With its population of around 340,000, Iceland has provided some cheery sporting stories in recent years with the nation’s qualification for football’s European Championships and World Cup proving that guid things come in sma’ bulk.
Perhaps the Open’s official starter will do the ‘thunderclap’ chant favoured by the nation’s fitba fans when Magnus takes to the tee today?
Having progressed through the 36-hole final qualifying shoot-out earlier this month, Magnus is relishing the prospect of a first major appearance.
The 27-year-old, who is a relative newcomer to the professional scene, currently competes on the third tier Nordic Golf League but has earned only £3500 this season. Merely by playing this week, he’ll earn at least £3790. And if he makes the cut he’s guaranteed a five figure sum.
His native land is a fairly short hop away from Scotland on a plane but the firm, fast links of Carnoustie is a world away from his home course.
“We’re just way up north on a frosted island, so it’s as good as it can get and you have to give credit to all the green-keepers,” Magnus said. “We have some unique courses, some lava-surrounded courses. Many amateurs have 13 clubs in their bag and a lava club. It’s an old, rusty thing which they can hit off rocks.
“I got introduced to golf when I was 12 or 13, and started playing for real when I was 15 when I quit football.
“Golf in Iceland is hugely popular, it’s the second most popular sport. We have the most golf courses in the world per capita. Even though there are only 20 18-hole courses and 40 to 50 nine-hole courses.
“It’s a five-month season but for those five months, it’s long because we have a month where it’s 24-hour daylight and have tournaments where international tourists tee up at midnight. Those five months you can really take advantage of practising.”
Magnus’ golfing exploits have captured the imaginations back in his homeland. The added interest is provided by the fact that his coach is the brother of one of Iceland’s most celebrated footballers, Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Open circus is taking a bit of getting used to, mind you.
“I’m a bit of a loner, I keep to myself so I’m a little bit uncomfortable with it all, to be honest,” he said. “I get a lot of coverage but I don’t really care that I’m the first [Icelander] to play in the Open.
“I think it’s awesome to be in a major but whether there had been none, 15, or 100 before me, it doesn’t matter to me.
“Hopefully this will be an encouragement. We have a lot of good, young kids and I don’t think I’ll be the last one to play a major from Iceland.”
And on the rock hard fairways here at Carnoustie, that lava club may come in handy...
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here