Tuesday, January 16, 2007

HANDS UP THOSE WHO KNOW
FROM WHERE CARNOUSTIE
GOT ITS NAME
As you all know - or should know - the Open championship returns to Carnoustie from July 19 to 22 for the first time since Aberdonian Paul Lawrie won the Claret Jug in 1999 after that incredible play-off against the unforgettable Jean Van de Velde and ..... ?
Not many people remember the name of the third man in the play-off quite so easily , even though he had won the Open only two years earlier at Royal Troon.
Give up? It was American Justin Leonard.
To get to the point of this preamble about Carnoustie .... I was clicking through the quite informative Carnoustie Golf Links website looking for the precise dates of this year's Craw's Nest Tassie amateur tournament, when I came across the following interesting item about the place we Scots pronounce Car-NOUSTIE while Americans put the emphasis on the first syllable, i.e. CAR-noustie.


HOW CARNOUSTIE GOT ITS NAME

The name Carnoustie probably derives from two Scandinavian nouns, “car” meaning rock and “noust” meaning “bay”. However, there is more fanciful explanation that some local inhabitants prefer.
Those individuals will tell you that the town got its name from the Battle of Barry in 1010 in which the Scottish King, Malcolm II, repulsed a band of Danish invaders led by their general, Camus.
History suggests that the Battle of Barry was a bloody affair that raged for hours until Camus was put to the sword. To this day, a cross in the ground of the Panmure Estate marks the spot where he was buried.
Legend has it that the Norse Gods were so incensed by the loss of their favourite warrior that they put a curse on the neighbourhood, letting thousands of crows loose on Barry Sands.
Soon, the crows colonised the woodland on what is now Buddon Ness, their numbers growing to such an extent that the area became known as Craw’s Nestie, later corrupted to become Carnoustie.
The village was elevated to burgh status in 1899 and at that time local officials adopted a crest featuring three crows flying over a leafy tree.
Later, in 1927, an annual amateur tournament was launched. Originally, it was rather unimaginatively titled the Carnoustie Corporation Trophy but, after a while, that name was dropped in favour of the more colourful Craw’s Nest Tassie (a tassie is an old Scots word for a drinking cup).
SO NOW YOU KNOW - COURTESY OF THE CARNOUSTIE GOLF LINKS WEBSITE.

+The dates of this year's Craw's Nest Tassie tournament are September 2 t0 8. Don't delay if you want to get your entry in alongside the army of English club players, not to mention those from overseas, who support this week-long stroke-play then match-play event which was once one of the leading amateur tournaments on the Scottish golfing calendar.

+Perhaps worth drawing your attention to another competitive opportunity to play this year's Open championship venue - before they let the rough grow - and that's the Carnoustie Country Classic from May 14 to 17. Four Stableford points rounds over Montrose, Panmure, Monifieth and Carnoustie.

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