TROON, Scotland — Tickets for the 152nd Open Championship are sold out, but there still might be one brilliant way to take in the action if you have a deep wallet and act fast enough.
The ultimate entry pass to Royal Troon this week would be to buy the house that sits squarely between the second and 16th green at the famed golf course. That’s right, there is one house in the middle of the action and one of the two units is on the market.
In fact, at lunch-hour local time on Monday, Tiger Woods could be seen from the front door, and only a few minutes earlier he was just like one of us. The 15-time major champion was wandering around in the long grass left of the par-5 16th fairway looking for his errant tee shot. He didn’t find it, and dropped a ball to hit toward the green. Woods then wowed the biggest of a modest crowd in these early days of a big week with a 50-yard pitch shot that nestled three feet from the hole.
To the left of the 16th green is 16 Crosbie Road and what sits there is known as Blackrock House, a private residence right in the middle of the golf course. Number 12 and 14 Crosbie Road are nowhere to be seen near the lone house. The quirks and charm of links golf and the season’s final major champioship are plenty, but a single house in the middle of the course is tough to beat.
According to the real estate company Strutt & Parker, the house has only been on the market for less than a week and a selling price has not been decided on.
But with plenty of free advertising to the whopping 250,000 spectators expected to be onsite this week, you better get on the phone now.