Shawn Zack
HOYLAKE, ENGLAND — If there’s a bugaboo in the wind and rain at this 151st Open Championship, it’s at least clear that it’s been sprayed onto the green and yellow turf in unmissable white paint. It’s off limits, of course – not only on the perimeter of the property, but also inward, along the right-hand side of the 3rd and 18th holes. Disturbingly close to the action. Just enough to scare you.
In-house OB has long been a thorn in the side of some competitors, as well as a subset of golf course engineering demons. (Want to piss off a professional? Ask them about their worst indoor out-of-bounds experience, including Rory McIlroy.) in Golf course boundaries, why would it be Outside from the border? Fair question, and one for which Brooks Koepka has a simple solution.
He said, “It’s okay.” “Just don’t hit it there you won’t get in trouble, right?”
right. But the reason it’s in this tournament has more to do with historical quirk than purposeful harm to players.
One hundred and fifty years ago, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club was known as the Liverpool Hunt Club, not as a thriving club-and-ball course, but as a horse’s field. In the 1870s, the ponies fanned out around the northern section of the property, making a right turn where the third hole banks on the right, then back toward town near what is now the start of the 18th fairway. What remains is the hill system in which the track rails once stood. Over the next few decades, the game of golf dominated the lands and fascinated the locals, so much so that it began to take precedence over horse racing. Liverpool Hunt Club has taken a step back and Royal Liverpool Golf Club has taken a permanent step forward.
This week, that bit of club history will be on the back of every player’s mind as they pick clubs on the 3rd and 18th holes.
First, let’s look at par 4, where a common play will be a drill that, in the corner, leaves about 180 to 200 yards on the green.
John Rahm was thinking about it a lot during his first lap around the course on Monday.
“The only good thing about this is that if it goes right, it shouldn’t [to the O.B]Ram said to a cart box as he put the tee into the ground. He is right about that. Shooting a 215-yard shot into the wind leaves more room for error before cornering the racetrack hurdles. There is a little sanctuary of safe haven there for the lying player. But then it’s another 200-yard approach. Four iron, 4 iron can do the trick for many. There is nothing really comfortable about it.
Just in the right way we deal with more strategy in mind for the best in the world. After the Ram played his approach to the green, caddy Adam Hayes entered with a tip.
Hayes began with a hypothetical drawing, pointing out a set of visual signs of Ram. Cover to cut Hayes’ imagined corner is 254 yards—that’s easy—and “you can hit as far left as you like.” The ore will be jagged, and if you bump it past tall things, it all falls apart. Suddenly this strange and devious thing turns into a bird’s hole.
This thought process is already on full display. Players were hitting at least two, if not three, shots from the first. Long iron, maybe a hybrid, then a driver. See where it ends up. Imagine what it would look like when the strokes are already calculated and the winds are different.
The eighteenth features just as much, if not more, OB. The boundary runs just above the right hand side of the par-5, and near the green, just a step or two from the right fairway. You have ruined rounds before and will ruin rounds again. But local favorite Matthew Jordan, a member of Royal Liverpool, is the only detective we really need on the subject. He’s played the course countless times since the hole was lengthened, and hardened into a sound opinion about the whole thing.
“I think it’s much better,” Jordan said. “I think it makes it a proper risk-reward hole. If you hit a good drive you can go for it. Then even coming out on the left, it makes it more difficult to putt because it’s a little bit longer now. I think, from my perspective, the 18 in particular was a nice change.” .
We were convinced by the locals. Now another 155 professionals have access to them. Or maybe only 154.
Koepka delivered his “don’t hit there” quote early in his Tuesday morning press conference. He was blunt and short. On to the next question. But a few minutes later, on a completely different topic, he brought it up again.
As he played his approach to the third, waiting for a left-to-right wind, he said matter-of-factly, “So am I Going To miss that left.” Why, because the only thing on his mind is that white paint on the right. That kind of tells the OB’s own story. He’s always right there in the back of your mind.