CARNOUSTIE, Scotland

Jordan Spieth figured someone from the R&A would be waiting for him when he pulled into the parking lot at Carnoustie to take back the silver claret jug. Instead, he was part of a ceremony with enough pomp to drive home the point.

His reign as British Open champion was over.

“The traditions of the Open are very special,” Spieth said, “even if you’re on the wrong end of that one.”

This “tradition” is only a few years old, though typical of the august manner of this major, nothing was left to chance. Spieth was to arrive in a car provided by one of the R&A’s sponsors, and as it drove slowly down a dirt path behind the grandstands on the first hole, cameras moved into position. The door opened and a woman slowly emerged from the back seat. That’s where Spieth would be sitting. This was just a rehearsal to make sure the cameras had the right angle.

It’s far more enjoyable to pose with golf’s oldest trophy — it first was awarded in 1873 — at the 18th hole on Sunday, not the first hole on Monday. That’s the task that awaits Spieth, and it figures to be a monumental one.

Only four players in the last 50 years have repeated as British Open champions, the most recent being Padraig Harrington in 2008.

More than history, it’s the nature of Carnoustie that figures to be the stiffest challenge — or at least on Monday, the most mysterious one. A dry summer has turned the links into a combination of brown (fairways), yellow (wispy rough) and green on the tee boxes and putting surfaces.

That translates into the fastest conditions at an Open since Tiger Woods won at Hoylake in 2006. That was the year Woods hit only one driver — yes, he missed the fairway — and relied mainly on long irons off the tee because the golf ball was running forever.

Early samples indicate this might be just the opposite.

Because the rough isn’t up, and because it’s difficult to judge how far shots will roll out on the fairways, the answer might be to just smash driver over the trouble. Jon Rahm said he planned to hit driver every day on the 396- yard opening hole.

Spieth would not have imagined when he left Royal Birkdale last year with that wild finish and his name on the jug that he wouldn’t hoist another trophy. His only close call this year came in the Masters, where he started the final round nine shots behind Patrick Reed and nearly caught him until a bogey on the last hole for a 64. He finished third.

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