Shane Lowry arrived in the small town of Sandwich to defend his unusual two-year reign as the British Open champion, and the first words out of his mouth when he was asked to assess Royal St. George’s Golf Club weren’t at all about the course. 

“Yeah,” Lowry began saying, “so the weather…” 

The British Open, which began on Thursday, was the missing piece from golf’s pandemic disruption. The Masters was rescheduled. The U.S. Open was delayed. But the British never happened in 2020, leaving Lowry with the Claret Jug for an extra year. 

The British Open’s return means the return of major links golf, endless lectures about the sport’s history and another opportunity for Englishmen to come up short on their home turf. 

It also reintroduces weather at a golf tournament unlike anything the players experience in the states. 

Almost every British Open is affected by the weather. British Opens at Royal St. George’s are defined by it. 

There are famous stories of torrential conditions turning this patch of grass into golf’s equivalent of a horror movie. But even if it’s sunny, as the current forecasts predict, that could be the problem. Royal St. George’s is filled with blind shots and undulating fairways that, especially when the course is dry, can take a wonderful shot and send it rolling somewhere miserable. Players began the action in the opening round with a rarely pleasant middle ground: the rain from earlier in the week had softened the course, but the sun hadn’t baked away the moisture—yet. 

“That is what this golf course is all about,” said Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive. “That plays with your mind, and I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s a great challenge.”

Weather comes down to location. And the location of this Open Championship is a tiny town in southeast England that lent its name to putting something between a couple pieces of bread. 

A general view of No. 3 at the Royal St George’s Golf Club.

A general view of No. 3 at the Royal St George’s Golf Club.

Photo: David Davies/Zuma Press

There are sandwiches nearly as big as Sandwich. It is home to roughly 5,000 people, which means its population is septupling as more than 30,000 fans stream in to watch the golf. There may not be a smaller place in the world that routinely hosts such a major sporting event. This is the 15th time Royal St. George’s has hosted. For this one, the train platform was expanded so it could fit 12 carriages. 

It’s a town that’s home to medieval history, international food lore—and, more importantly for these golfers, it’s the only course in the British Open rota in this part of England. 

“Being a coastal location, the weather can be temperamental here, especially combined with the proximity to the channel and the near continent,” Lawrence Howard, a senior operational meteorologist with the U.K. Met Office who’s embedded at the Open, wrote in an email. 

Howard and others can keep close tabs on the weather at a temporary meteorological office, part of the United Kingdom’s national weather service, set up at Royal St. George’s. That happens at other major events too, but the readings are particularly important for this British Open not just because of the conditions that could arise, but also the alternative. The closest static weather observation station to Sandwich is miles away in another town entirely, and the microclimates mean the conditions there could be entirely different. 

Like many other towns that host British Opens, Sandwich is near the water, which often produces higher wind speeds. Unlike the others, it’s about as close as possible to continental Europe. That changes both the direction of the prevailing southwesterly wind in the U.K. and the actual weather. Already this week, a thundery plume arrived from the near continent to the south to wreak havoc. 

Golfers in 1938 found out just how miserable the weather in Sandwich can be. 

Significant flooding that year moved the Open Championship from a nearby course, Royal Cinque Ports. Somehow that may have been preferable to what unfolded at Royal St. George’s. 

“Never in memory has there been such a wild wind during the open,” a 1938 Associated Press story said afterward. 

By the time the tournament was done, an Englishman named Reggie Whitcombe won at 15 over par in a tournament that was both absurd and terrifying. One player drove the green on a 384-yard hole—and this was long before drives anywhere near that long were thinkable. Another player watched his shot clear a water hazard and then get blown back in. Whitcombe’s final-round 78 was one of only seven scores under 80 in the final round. 

Scoring was so difficult because standing upright was. The wind snapped flagpoles. It blew the sand out of bunkers. The exhibition tent was ripped up and so thoroughly destroyed that pieces of it were found at another golf club in Sandwich about a mile away. 

Spectators view play from a small hill at Royal St George’s.

Spectators view play from a small hill at Royal St George’s.

Photo: andy buchanan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The last two winners of the Open at this course reflect just how unusual it can be. Ben Curtis (2003) and Darren Clarke (2011) both won their first—and only—majors at Royal St. George’s. When the wind, along with cruel and hilly fairways that can take a perfect-looking drive and send it somewhere unfortunate, can torpedo the best golfers in the world, it can come down to which one person can stay afloat over 72 holes. 

It’s possible for the course to be forgiving. Greg Norman, in 1993, won at 13 under. And Lawrence Howard, from the U.K. Met Office, says that after Monday’s storms there’s a chance for “rather favorable conditions developing this week, with plenty of dry and sunny spells.”

Yet even too much sun can be troubling. Rory McIlroy recalled Curtis’s win in 2003, when the course was so “crispy” that on the undulating terrain, normal looking shots were sent wayward. That type of baking effect can only happen at this Open course because it’s in the south.  

“It looked like a bit of a pinball machine out there,” McIlroy said. 

He doesn’t expect that to be the case this week. But that’s because he expects a different sort of problem. “You’ve got some really thick, juicy rough on either side of the fairway, which you just have to avoid,” he said. 

“It’s pretty diabolical,” Bryson DeChambeau said. 

McIlroy was fortunate because he arrived Sunday and could get a full practice round in. Lowry wasn’t as lucky. He only got in 12 holes on Monday because of the weather and found that the course was soft. Too soft. 

Lowry, an Irishman, then made a plan to play late practice rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday so he could get a taste of what this British Open may be like. He understands that between the wind and a lack of rain, the course could play entirely differently once it begins. 

“Just trying to get a feeling for how fiery the course could actually play come Thursday,” he said.

Jordan Spieth tees off on the 15th hole during the first round.

Jordan Spieth tees off on the 15th hole during the first round.

Photo: lee smith/Reuters

Write to Andrew Beaton at andrew.beaton@wsj.com