A flatter series of bunkers along with the multitude of the sandy deterrents has some players struggling to figure out where to play tee shots and approaches at Royal Liverpool with the 151st Open Championship underway.
Much had been made about how grounds crews had flattened the bunkers in advance of the tournament, a move that doesn’t allow wayward shots to settle comfortably in the middle.
The result has been an array of difficult lies for players, some in fairway bunkers and others while cozying up to the greens.
Shane Lowry, who finished his opening round with a 1-over 72, was one of those who said the prospects are daunting.
“You stand on every tee and almost every bunker is in play. You’re standing there and you’re kind of trying to figure out what to do because if you lay back, long way in, it’s quite tricky, and you’re just playing for pars,” Lowry said. “If you take it on and hit a bad shot and end up in a bunker, it’s a penalty shot basically.”
“Yeah, it does ask a lot of questions, this golf course, but it’s the most well-bunkered golf course that we play. They’re everywhere, and they’re very penal.”
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Lucas Herbert found this out the hard way as he came to the new 17th hole at 3 under par, but had a heck of a time with the par 3 as he found one of the greenside bunkers. He left the hole with a 6 and relinquished his short-lived lead.
What can happen on the 17th hole.
Lucas Herbert held a share of the lead on the tee.
He walked off the green with a triple-bogey. pic.twitter.com/8mte7POa5p
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 20, 2023
Matthew Jordan, who finished in the thick of things with a 69 on Thursday, said the difficulty of the hazards was unfamiliar.
“I haven’t seen the bunkers like this at all. I don’t know who’s annoyed the green keeper, but yeah, to have them — they’re just so flat and they’re so penal. You just can’t hit it in any bunkers whatsoever.
“We know how penal fairway bunkers are, but even the greenside bunkers this week you can drop two shots just like that.”
Scottish star Richie Ramsay got into more detail on the bunkers, saying they will add a full stroke to each player’s total over the course of the tournament.
Connor Syme plays a shot from a bunker on the 15th hole during the first round of the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
“It’s heavily, heavily underrated how much of a difference that makes,” Ramsay said. “If the ball goes up, it’s obviously giving you loft straight off the back, but when the ball comes down it obviously will feed in more into the middle of the bunker.
“I got caught today on one sort of leg, knee up on the side. It’s just part of links golf. You’ve got to take it on the chin. But you’re very wary of hitting into a bunker knowing that you could be like a foot from the face with seven feet in front of you.
“So you’re going to see a lot of guys, like I say, maybe right up against the face trying to hit it as hard as possible. Matt had one today where he did well to get out, and it just popped out with a bit of forward spin and it got over the lip of the bunker, but he wasn’t far off playing that out sideways.
“I think over the course of a tournament, it’s worth at least an extra shot, make it harder. I would say definitely.”