Carnoustie effect teaser
Carnoustie effect is a term arising after the 1999 Open Golf Championship at Carnoustie, Scotland, when the world's greatest players failed to play to theoretical par for the distance. Even the winner finished six strokes over par.
Complaints about the difficulty of the ancient Carnoustie course, which is played over every day by local residents, were loudest from the most fancied professionals. Their frustration inspired the phrase 'Carnoustie effect', meaning the degree of trauma experienced when what is undertaken in confident spirit founders on unforeseen difficulties. The phrase is not confined to golf, but can be applied to any undertaking which goes wrong when unsuspected difficulties are encountered. The term has been used of military operations which have gone awry after being started in expectation of easy victory, as well as to money lost on stock markets when gains had been anticipated.