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Golf's Storied St. Andrews Old Course Gets Facelift

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And let's move now from the soccer field to the historic greens of St. Andrews, the golf course in Scotland, said to be the birthplace of that sport. The Old Course, as it's known, is getting its first facelift in many decades. The chief executive of the royal and ancient golf club of St. Andrews said that in order to make sure the course remains challenging for modern professionals they are going to quote "stiffen its defenses." That will mostly involve changes to the bunkers or sand traps, adding new ones, making some existing ones bigger and moving them closer to the greens. Work is expected to be finished - or you could say up to par - before the British Open returns to St. Andrews in the summer of 2015.

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MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.