Steroid-injected Carnasty from '99 a thing of the past

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- The greenbacks are passed freely, though not always happily, after players finish their practice rounds at most events.

A betting pool is established within the various foursomes, with guys kicking in a predetermined amount and setting a target tally to shoot for based on the venue at hand -- with the winner amassing the most birdies, eagles, greens found in regulation, whatever.

Lost in a sea of grass at the new Carnoustie, Justin Leonard remembers 'Carnasty' all too well. (Getty Images)

Given the daunting test that faced them at the 1999 British Open, it was agreed that the pot of gold would be paid to the professional who finished the round without a double-bogey. It was a humbling goal that week at Carnoustie Golf Links, yet entirely realistic, as it turned out.

"No money changed hands," Lee Janzen said.

Nobody's British pounds took a pounding, yet within days, everybody felt flat broke and busted.

The game's most historic event this week returns to Carnoustie for the first time since 1999, a tournament recalled as the most controversial major championship of the past quarter-century. Thanks to a wet summer and an over-the-top course set-up, Carnoustie eight years ago generated the kind of enmity and general confusion reserved hereabouts for haggis, kilts and warm beer.

"The set-up was unfair and ridiculous," Tiger Woods said last week.

There were no ifs, ands or butts about it, and the mastermind behind the '99 Carnoustie castigation is back -- and well-rested, to boot. John Philp is the controversial groundskeeper at Carnoustie, a man who rules with an iron rake gripped by an iron hand. In June, he was briefly suspended by club officials for berating a young employee for taking too many cigarette breaks. Smoke 'em if you've got 'em, fellas, because the Constant Gardener is back on the job.

Scotland's Paul Lawrie came from 10 shots back on the final day in 1999 with a 4-under 67, then outlasted Justin Leonard and a wobbly Jean Van de Velde in a playoff to complete one of the most memorable Sundays in majors history. That is, if you forget about the bigger picture. The trio finished regulation at 6 over.

"Making up 10 shots on that course, there was no way you would think it was conceivable," said American Rich Beem, who made his British Open debut in '99. "A 67 over there, that might be the best round in the history of golf."

Given the bloodshed elsewhere, he has a point. Leonard, who had won the British Open title two years earlier, tried to put his runner-up finish at the Carnoustie carnival in perspective.

"It's hard to gauge how well you played when you are shooting 6 over or whatever we were doing," Leonard groused this month.

What weren't they doing? That's a better question.