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International: How much have golfers improved? No gutties, more glory
國(guó)際：當(dāng)代高爾夫球手的水平有多大進(jìn)步？要榮譽(yù)，不要古塔球
Comparing modern golfers with champions of old is trickier than escaping from a pot bunker with a niblick.
拿現(xiàn)代高爾夫球手和多年前的冠軍作比較，難度可比用9號(hào)桿撈出鍋狀沙坑里的球還大。
The winner of this year's British Open golf tournament, which started on July 16th on the Old Course at St Andrews, will pocket ￡1.15m ($1.79m) .
今年，贏得英國(guó)高爾夫公開(kāi)賽（該賽事于7月16日在圣安德魯斯老球場(chǎng)進(jìn)行）的選手將會(huì)入賬115萬(wàn)英鎊（179萬(wàn)美元）的賽事獎(jiǎng)金。
Golf was not always so lavishly rewarded.
高爾夫賽事的獎(jiǎng)金并非一直如此豐厚。
The first time the Open was played at St Andrews, in 1873, the first prize was ￡11 (￡1,079 in today's money) .
1873年，在圣安德魯斯老球場(chǎng)舉辦的首屆高爾夫公開(kāi)賽上，第一名的獎(jiǎng)金是11英鎊（相當(dāng)于現(xiàn)在的1079英鎊）。
There was no sponsorship, no TV (for obvious reasons) and only a handful of spectators braving the blustery Scottish weather.
那個(gè)時(shí)候該項(xiàng)賽事既沒(méi)有贊助也沒(méi)有電視轉(zhuǎn)播（這些都是明擺著的），只有冒著蘇格蘭大風(fēng)前來(lái)觀賽的寥寥觀眾。
The prize money was a welcome windfall for the champion, a local caddy called Tom Kidd, but he still died poor 11 years later.
一名叫做湯姆-基德的當(dāng)?shù)厍蛲罱K摘得了桂冠，從而獲得了賽事獎(jiǎng)金，然而盡管得到了一筆令他欣喜的意外之財(cái)，他仍然在11年后死于貧窮。
He is thought to have sold his clubs and his champion's medal to pay for booze.
人們認(rèn)為他為了償還酒錢(qián)，可能早已賣(mài)掉了自己的球桿和冠軍獎(jiǎng)牌。
It is not only the rewards that have improved.
如今，該賽事提升的不僅僅是獎(jiǎng)金的數(shù)額。
Because the Open has been played at St Andrews—the home of golf—more often than anywhere else, it is possible to measure what has happened to scores over a century and a half.
由于公開(kāi)賽在高爾夫的發(fā)源地——圣安德魯斯鎮(zhèn)舉辦，這里舉辦的次數(shù)比其他地方都多，因此便于將過(guò)去一個(gè)半世紀(jì)以來(lái)選手們的成績(jī)進(jìn)行比較。
They are vastly better today.
如今，選手們的水平的確提高了不少。
Kidd took nearly 90 shots for each 18-hole round he played.
當(dāng)年基德?lián)]出了將近90桿才將每局的18洞打完。
Any competent modern amateur could do that.
這樣的成績(jī)當(dāng)代任何一位業(yè)余球手都能做到。
Louis Oosthuizen, the Open champion in 2010, averaged 68 shots a round, even though the course is now 7,305 yards, up from 6,577 in Kidd's day.
2010年高爾夫公開(kāi)賽的冠軍路易-烏修仁打完每局平均只要68桿，這還是在球場(chǎng)長(zhǎng)度從基德時(shí)代的6577碼延長(zhǎng)到今日7305碼發(fā)生的情況。
Yet the comparison is not fair, says Scott MacPherson, author of a history of St Andrews.
但是這樣的比較是不公平的，《圣安德魯斯的歷史》的作者斯科特-麥克佛森這么說(shuō)道。
In Kidd's day, sheep rather than mowers kept the grass short, so the greens were bumpy and unpredictable.
在基德的那個(gè)年代，球場(chǎng)的草坪主要靠綿羊而不是割草機(jī)來(lái)完成修剪，所以草地顯得凹凸不平，讓選手捉摸不定。
And Kidd played with primitive equipment.
而且基德使用的也是更原始的裝備。
Winston Churchill once said that, “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.”
丘吉爾就曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)，“高爾夫是用十分蹩腳的用具把一只很小的球打進(jìn)更小的球洞的游戲。”
That was certainly true in Kidd's day.
這在基德的那個(gè)年代千真萬(wàn)確。
He used wooden-shafted clubs (which tended to warp) and a “gutty” ball (made of the solidified sap of the Malaysian gutta-percha tree) .
他使用的是木制桿頭的球桿（還帶點(diǎn)彎曲）和“膠質(zhì)”古塔球（由固化的馬來(lái)西亞杜仲樹(shù)樹(shù)液制成）。
Gutties were better than the leather-wrapped, feather-stuffed balls they replaced, which often exploded in mid-air.
膠質(zhì)球以更優(yōu)異的性能一度替代了用羽毛填充在皮囊里的（這類(lèi)球飛到空中常常會(huì)爆炸）羽毛制高爾夫球。
But nobody could hit one more than about 200 yards—as far as a 12-year-old might hit a modern synthetic golf ball with a graphite-and-titanium club.
但是人們從未將這種球擊出200碼以外的距離——這與當(dāng)下一位12歲的少年用石墨和鈦制球桿揮擊現(xiàn)代合成用球如出一轍。
Still, today's golfers could almost certainly have beaten yesterday's.
盡管如此，今天的高爾夫球手幾乎肯定可以擊敗他們的前輩們。
They practise longer, lift more weights and use motion sensors to analyse tiny errors in their swings.
如今，球手訓(xùn)練時(shí)間更長(zhǎng)，力量訓(xùn)練的負(fù)重更大，揮桿結(jié)束后還會(huì)使用運(yùn)動(dòng)傳感器來(lái)分析自己每個(gè)微小的失誤。
Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament favourite until he pulled out with an injured ankle on July 8th, has built a gigantic practice ground in his backyard, complete with a replica of St Andrews' “Road Hole” bunker, a notorious black hole for errant approach shots.
因腳踝受傷，已于7月8日退出公開(kāi)賽的奪冠熱門(mén)羅里·麥克羅伊就在自家的后院里建了一座大型高爾夫訓(xùn)練場(chǎng)。這座訓(xùn)練場(chǎng)帶有圣安德魯斯老球場(chǎng)“魔鬼沙坑”（臭名昭著的地獄地堡，近距離切球的噩夢(mèng)）的仿建模型。
They face competition from all around the world.
他們面對(duì)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)來(lái)自世界各地。
This year's Open features players from 24 countries; in 1873 the field consisted of nine Scots and an Englishman.
今年參加公開(kāi)賽的選手更是多達(dá)24個(gè)國(guó)家。回望1873年的那場(chǎng)比賽，參賽選手只有9名蘇格蘭人和1名英國(guó)人組成。
譯文編自卡ka
