Forget what Bobby Jones said about playing against “Old Man Par.” Jones also faced flesh-and-blood opponents, often in match play, the game’s most intense format, particularly in team competition.
Ask anyone who has taken part in the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, the Walker Cup or the Solheim Cup. The stakes feel greater when you’re playing for something other than yourself.
That pressure will be on full display starting Monday at Trump Turnberry in Scotland, host of the 2026 Bridges Cup, an elite event that pits top U.S. mid-amateurs against an international squad in partner and singles matches. In a format that leaves nowhere to hide, the result will go to the roster that best rises to the moment.
The stage will matter, too. Trump Turnberry’s venerated Ailsa Course, with its imposing bluffs, shifting winds and punishing bunkers, rewards nerve as much as skill. On a layout without a weak link, these three holes stand to play an especially pivotal role.
No. 9 — par 3, 175 yards
On a links that looks like it has been around forever, the spectacular 9th hole is relatively new. It was completed in 2016 when Martin Ebert carried out an ambitious renovation of the Aisla Course. As part of the work, Ebert converted a par 4 into this dramatic one-shotter, which plays alongside the Turnberry lighthouse across an inlet, with nothing but misery to the left, where big bunkers — and an even bigger ocean — await.
The smart play starts the ball left-of-center — a risky line — and lets the wind bring it back to the right. A short, run-up approach is also an option to take the trouble out of play. Either way, it’s a nervy finish to the front nine. The player who hits first here has a chance to put the screws to his opponent by sticking one tight.
No. 10 — par 5, 510 yards
At Trump Turnberry, the turn turns up the demand. Depending on the wind, the 10th green is reachable in two, but going for it means taking on the donut bunker that guards the layup zone, with a cliff dropping away on the left. Finding the sand leaves an awkward third, some 85 yards to the putting surface. Everything from eagle to triple-bogey is in play here. Getting aggressive can lead to glory. It can also result in a lot of pain. This is risk-reward golf at its exhilarating best.
No. 18 — par 4, 465 yards
It’s impossible to play the 18th without feeling the weight of history. This is where the “Duel in the Sun” concluded in 1977, with Tom Watson answering an improbably birdie by Jack Nicklaus to edge the Golden Bear by a single shot.
The hole carries the name of that famous duel, but birdie is not easy to come by. The tee shot calls for both power and precision, avoiding bunkers on the left without straying into the gorse on the right. A bunker-guarded green, shot through with wrinkles and ringed by run-offs, makes for a white-knuckle approach. Gauging the firmness of the ground is crucial here. Just ask Watson. In 2009, at the improbable age of 59, he needed a par on the 18th to claim his sixth Claret Jug, only to see his dead-eye approach bound beyond the pin, leading to a bogey that dropped him into a playoff with eventual winner Stewart Cink.
