Open Reads, Sunday Edition

John Huggan has an overview of Hoylake similar to his Golf World story, but with this interesting addition:

It is also difficult to argue in favour of the new greens introduced by architect Donald Steel. Amid 15 putting surfaces sympathetic to the surroundings now sit three - the first, second and fifth - that stick out like blue scarves at Anfield. While it is hard to shoot down the R&A's argument that the change to the course running order is all to do with the strength of the finish, suspicion lingers that the inappropriateness of the new greens was also a factor in the decision.

Doug Ferguson offers the American perspective on Hoylake heading in the practice rounds.

Phil Mickelson got his first look at Hoylake a week after his collapse at the U.S. Open. Mickelson has been cramming for majors over the last few years, taking eight hours for each practice round to study every nuance, figuring out whether he needs two drivers or four wedges.

"I think it was really important that I went over," Mickelson said. "I thought I knew what types of shots were going to be expected at Hoylake. They're totally different. I thought I was going to be hitting certain shots, and I'm not going to go into detail because I'm going to let everybody else figure it out."

Tim Glover tries to figure out who will be the next surprise American winner of the Open.

So who will be the man from nowhere, the stranger to strike fear into Hoylake? America has any number of bounty hunters lurking in the undergrowth, including J J Henry, who qualified by winning the Buick, Sean O'Hair, Bart Bryant, Brett Quigley, Brett Wetterich, Ben Crane, Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan, who all sound as if they have been made up by Raymond Chandler.

Matthew Goodman files an extensive profile on Nick Faldo for The Sunday Times.

While James Corrigan has this bizarre story about Ian Woosnam and his plans to text message players to find out who they want to play with in the Ryder Cup and why.

For only the second time in 25 years, Ian Woosnam will not be at The Open, but as the incumbent European Ryder Cup captain the Welshman will still be in the news. And the revelation that he is going to employ revolutionary techniques in forming his pairings will be raising eyebrows as the field gather.

"I'm going to be texting the players," said the 48-year-old. "I'll ask them, 'Can you text me the three players you'll prefer to play with, and why?' I care about their opinions and want the truth. I'll take players' advice on board and be very much a players' captain. But everybody should be prepared to play with anybody and if they don't, that will create a rift straight away."

Take that Hal Sutton!

Stone On Ogilvy

Peter Stone of the Sydney Morning herald catches up with Geoff Ogilvy on the eve of the Open Championship:

Now, it's time for the euphoria to subside. It's back to business and another major - the British Open Championship starting at Hoylake on Thursday. Ogilvy left Melbourne on Thursday and plans to play his first practice round on the championship course this evening.

Before then he will play other links courses in the Liverpool area, anonymously he hopes. "I'll just try to sneak on somewhere, try to hide who I am. Just pay my £40 or £50 green fees," he said. Good luck.

Alliss Doesn't Agree With Whitten's Take On Hoylake

Liam Murphy of the Daily Post has the story:

And Alliss dismissed the criticisms of Ron Whitten, the golf architecture editor of the world's biggest selling golf magazine Golf Digest, that the Royal Liverpool Golf Club course was not up to the modern game.

The magazine caused a furore when it published the article by Whitten, one of its senior writers, who claimed the course was not up to the standard needed for modern professional golfers.

Mr Whitten later told the Daily Post: "I do not feel it's worthy any longer of being host to the Open.

"I'm not saying it's a bad golf course, but I'm saying it's not a course which in my opinion should be hosting the Open."

He added: "For its history, it's a great old club, and for everyday members I'm sure it's a delightful place to play, but there is a different standard for the best golfers in the world."

But Alliss, who said he had not seen the original article, said: "We will just wait and see.

"If the wind blows we will see if this man knows anything about the game.

"It's a wonderful course, and all our links championship courses are made by the wind conditions. If there is a wind, it's a very formidable golf course."

British Open Podcast

The latest Golfdom podcast conversation between yours truly and editor Larry Aylward is now posted for your listening pleasure.

Golf World British Open Preview

Plenty of fun stuff in the Golf World British Open issue, starting with John Huggan's course preview and Nick Dougherty's take on the in-course O.B.:

"The 16th/18th gives you a real eagle opportunity," contends European Tour pro Nick Dougherty, a native Liverpudlian who has played Hoylake countless times. "At the same time, if you leak your drive [on the last hole] just a little you can easily one-hop the drive out-of-bounds given the way they have cut the rough back there. So lots of numbers are possible. That makes it a great finishing hole. On the real 18th, not much was going to happen.

"And I have never minded the internal O.B.," Dougherty adds. "It's done in the right way at Hoylake. On some courses it looks strange, but the humps they have there work somehow. It looks natural because it is--and every time it makes the hole better."

Dougherty, an eloquent and engaging young man, makes a valid point. Is a slightly unusual internal out-of-bounds any more outlandish than some of the stunts that have been pulled at other great old courses over the last few years? The list of previously unthinkables is growing steadily: the sudden proliferation of rough and trees at Augusta National; the new tees (that were on other golf courses) at St. Andrews for the 2005 Open; the carnage that was Carnoustie in 1999 or Bethpage in 2002, where one tee was placed so far back many players could not reach the fairway.

John Barton writes about those legendary sons of Hoylake, Harold Hilton and John Ball. 

Dave Shedloski looks at the demise of ABC golf and how the team is dealing with the final year of coverage. The network insists that it is staying on until 2009, the year its deal ends with the R&A. 

And don't miss Geoff Russell's mid-year report, which included the astounding handling of Bob Tway's request to attend a funeral and other information. 

Ogilvy On Links Golf and Hoylake

In a Reuters story by Miles Evans:

"It's my favorite tournament of the year, without a doubt," the 29-year-old told reporters after returning to his native Australia following his one-shot victory at Winged Foot last month.

"I love the challenge because we don't get to play that kind of golf that often. It's like riding a bike, as soon as you get out on a course like that you just remember how to play.

"I won't expect to win, but I'll feel like I can win. My goal each week is to have a chance on Sunday and that will be my goal at Hoylake.

"We only play courses like that once a year. It's nice to see the ball rolling on the floor when it lands. You never really forget how to play like that."

Is The Open Really Open?

Golfweek's Alistair Tait makes some good points about the Open Championship qualifying, which is down to 12 spots after all of the exemptions.

Here are the recent qualifiers according to the R&A, with two spots remaining:

<sup>Qualifiers for The Open
 
Recent qualifiers for The Open through exemption categories 8, 15 and 16 and at Local Final Qualifying are: -
 
8. The leading player, not exempt, in the first 10 and ties of the 2006 Open de France, the 2006 Smurfit European Open and the 2006 Barclays Scottish Open. *
 
Marcus Fraser (Australia)
Anthony Wall (England)
 
15. First 2 USPGA Members and ties not exempt in a cumulative money list taken from the USPGA Tour Players Championship and the five USPGA Tour events leading up to the 2006 Western Open.
 
JJ Henry (USA)
Billy Andrade (USA)
 
16. The leading player not exempt having applied 15 in the first 10 and ties of the 2006 Buick Championship, the 2006 Western Open and the 2006 John Deere Classic. *
 
Hunter Mahan (USA)
Matthew Goggin (Australia)
 
 
* Still to be played

 
Local Final Qualifying
 
Conwy (Caernarvonshire)
Jon Bevan (Wessex Golf Centre)
Warren Bladon (Unattached)
Mikko Ilonen (Finland)
 
Formby
Jim Payne (Southport & Ainsdale)
Andrew Marshall (Unattached)
Darren Parris (North Foreland)
 
Wallasey
Danny Denison (A) (England)
Gary Day (Cookridge Hall)
Marcus Brier (Austria)
 
West Lancashire
Nick Ludwell (Selby)
Gary Lockerbie (Unattached)
Adam Frayne (St Mellion)</sup>

Finegan on Hoylake

Jim Finegan offers a short and sweet Links Magazine introduction to Royal Liverpool.

To Play The Scottish Open?

John Huggan wonders if it's a good idea to play the Scottish Open on mushy Loch Lomond before turning to links golf at the Open Championship.

Famously, Tiger Woods has never felt inclined to make his way to the bonnie banks, preferring instead to warm up for the game's oldest and most important event on the links of Ireland with various friends and assorted millionaire bookmakers. And many have followed suit, or are going to. Take Michael Campbell.

"For about the past five to six years, I have been playing the Scottish Open the week before the British Open, but not this year," said the 2005 US Open champion only the other day. "Unfortunately, Loch Lomond is not the ideal course to hone your game in readiness for a British Open.

"It is just common sense to warm up by either practising on a British Open host venue or on a similar links-type course. Phil Mickelson has already been over to Hoylake getting used to the course and that's what I will be doing."

And... 

...it is the softness and invariable wetness of the beautiful Tom Weiskopf-designed layout that is keeping them away. Four days of hit-and-stick golf is hardly the best preparation for the fast-running links that is Hoylake. Think chalk and cheese.

Add in the fact that top-level golf is these days hardly ever played by the seaside and the case for absenting oneself from the undoubted charms of Loch Lomond is a tough one to answer. Like it or not, the game's best players are increasingly a one-dimensional bunch. It isn't that they are not capable of playing the wide variety of shots called for on a humpy-bumpy links; they are. It is more that, on circuits and courses that more and more offer the exact same challenges and shot-values week after tedious week, they are simply not called upon to do so. With neglect comes less competence.

Ferguson On British Open Qualifiers

AP's Doug Ferguson compares the British and U.S. Open qualifiers and clearly isn't too impressed that only 12 spots go to qualifyings in England.

When the dust settles, only about 56 spots are awarded to those who compete in 36-hole qualifiers - 44 of those going to "International Final Qualifying" held in Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States.

"We feel we have a good balance, in particular a good international balance," R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. "Our exemption criteria covers overseas tours that the U.S. Open doesn't. We believe we're reaching out to the players."

The U.S. Open now has overseas qualifying in Japan (three spots available) and Europe (eight spots). Michael Campbell came out of the European qualifier before winning last year at Pinehurst No. 2, and he might not have come to America to try for a spot in the field.

USGA executive director David Fay considered adding more spots overseas, but didn't want the U.S. Open to become a closed shop.

"You run up against numbers," Fay said last week at Newport Country Club. "They (British Open) get 2,100 or 2,200 entries. We're pushing 9,000 entries. We want to retain the openness of the Open. We have more than half the field come through qualifying."

Almost half, anyway. The U.S. Open field included 76 players who had to qualify, including 26 who went through 18-hole local qualifying and 36-hole sectional qualifying. That amounts to 49 per cent of its field.

The British Open will end up with only 56 players from 36-hole qualifiers, or 36 per cent of the field.

"We think we run the most democratic golf tournament in the world," Fay said. "If you have the ability, you can give it a shot."

Hopkins On Whitten's "Astonishing Attack" On Hoylake

John Hopkins considers Ron Whitten's Golf Digest criticism of Hoylake as a modern day major venue, and offers a rebuttal from the R&A's own in-house designer, Peter Dawson.

It is safe to predict that a few eyebrows would have been raised at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on The Wirral yesterday when word reached it of an astonishing attack in the present issue of Golf Digest, the world’s biggest and best-selling golf magazine. The course that will stage the Open next month is fiercely criticised by Ron Whitten, the architecture editor of the magazine, who calls it “Royal Out of Bounds” and says it is no place for a major championship in the 21st century.

Hoylake is regarded as one of the sternest of all links, and the club has a wonderful history in golf. It slipped from the rota of Open courses after 1967 because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, organisers of the Open, felt that there were too many problems meeting the requirements of an Open.

And...

Some of Whitten’s displeasure is based on his belief that the course does not have a par five that cannot be reached in two with an iron and many of its par fours are not as long as they look on paper. He also does not like the rerouting of the course. It was done because the R & A wanted a more gentle start than the old 1st, which had out of bounds on both sides, and a stronger finish than the old 18th. The 17th has now become the 1st, the old 1st is the 3rd and the par-five 16th is the 18th.

“I simply don’t agree [with the criticism],” Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R & A, said. “Those who have played Hoylake have been very complimentary about it.”

The only thing astonishing about the "attack" is that Whitten didn't even focus on the most egregious change of all: Donald Steel's mangling of the old H.S. Colt designed road-perched green on the par-4 17th (No. 2 in the Open).  

It's also a bit disconcerting to read about a 7,200+ course being outdated and questioned as a venue for failing to "keep up with the times," with no mention why this happened or whether this is a reasonable occurrence. The message seems to be: modernize your design at all costs. 

Whitten On Major Venues

Noticed this in the table of contents for July's Golf Digest:

Back to Royal O.B.
Royal Liverpool is no place for a major in the 21st century.
By Ron Whitten

It is interesting to see the continuation of Whitten's shift from defender of major venue changes to questioning the relevance of older venues in the modern game and attempts to set them up in the face of massive change over the last ten years.

You may recall his preview of Augusta's changes was less than flattering after having been an initial defender in 2001-02, while his Winged Foot preview appeared skeptical of the USGA's tiered rough and was marked by an underlying tone that rain may could easily render the course defenseless.

It's nice to see someone at Golf Digest putting their name on strong commentary. And it's great to see someone provoking reader thought on the technology issue, its impact on classic courses and setup, and the ramifications for the game in general. 

Rearranging the Furniture

Mike Aitken on the reshuffling of holes at Royal Liverpool Hoylake:

Donald Steel, the architect who oversaw the latest round of changes, modestly insists he has just "rearranged the furniture".

Nevertheless, even Steel concedes the decision to open the batting with what was previously the 17th, means Hoylake will now confront the game's best players with "as stout an opening hole as any on the Open rota".

The old first, now the third, with out of bounds on the right, is as fierce as ever. After once sending five balls out of play there, Jamie Anderson, the winner of three Opens, rued: "My God, it's like playing up a spout."

Change has been gradual at Hoylake rather than violent with the links showing a modest increase in length of 122 yards, to 7,258 yards, compared to the Amateur Championship in 2000. More telling was the rearranging of certain holes so that the par-5 16th, where de Vicenzo struck that famous 3-wood, has become the new 18th.

"We have slightly rearranged the way the holes are played to set competitors a more challenging finish," explained Dawson.

"The last three holes add up to nearly 1,600 yards and the 18th in particular has enough room around it to meet the [spectator] demands of a modern 72nd hole. Measuring 560 yards, the last will present a birdie opportunity, but as a left to right dog-leg with out of bounds ever present on the right, it will also be a hole for potential disaster. A lot will happen over those holes and anyone in the lead with three left to play may not be in the lead at the end."

Tait on R&A and Links Golf

Alistair Tait writes:

Credit goes to the R&A for remaining loyal to the tradition of taking the Open Championship to seaside links. All I can say is long may it continue. Given the abundance of links golf in these isles, it is sad that the game's top players only play links golf twice a year at most – the Open Championship and the insipid Dunhill Links Championship.

So enjoy the pictures on your TV screen of this year's Open Championship over the glorious links of Royal Liverpool. Revel in the joy of watching the game's elite play the game as it was first played all those years ago on the windswept coast of the Kingdom of Fife.

Too bad we don't see the big boys playing links golf more often. Too bad the game's oldest championship isn't taken to more traditional courses in the British Isles.

Open Media Day This and That

The various British outlets each covered the Open Championship media a bit differently.

Mike Aitken wrote in the Scotsman about the vaunted ball study and the attempt to cajole shorter flying balls out of manufacturers on the one-year anniversary of the original request.

The Royal and Ancient reported yesterday progress had been made with golf's manufacturers on providing prototypes of a ball which will travel shorter distances than the ones currently in use.

A year ago, the R&A invited companies to send in balls for testing which fly 15 or 25 yards shorter than existing models. "We requested sample balls from top manufacturers for testing and progress has accelerated recently after balls - and in some cases clubs as well - were submitted for testing," reported R&A chief executive Peter Dawson . "The next step is testing. But we're concerned if we get a shorter ball someone will design a clubhead which will get back most of the reduced distance."

"Don't run away with the idea that we're going to see a shorter ball by the end of the year," cautioned Dawson. "Right now we're dealing with the scientific side of things. The philosophical aspect is a different question."

David Smith reported that the R&A is attempting to get the other major associations to get moving on drug testing.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Gold Club which promotes The Open, said: "There is no particular evidence of drugs helping you in golf, and there is no particular evidence of anyone taking them.

"I certainly don't think we've got a sport in crisis but I think golf would be wise improving that rather than just relying on its reputation."

He said: "We've taken the view that it is not possible for the organisers of one event like ourselves, with the Open Championship, to introduce an anti-doping policy in isolation of what goes on in the other 51 weeks of the year."

Douglas Lowe writes about the organizers' desire to not call the host course by its official name.

The club is called Royal Liverpool, but organisers have requested that the championship on July 20 to 23 be referred to as the Hoylake Open, referring more accurately to the town where the club is located with views over the Dee estuary to the Welsh mountains.

And he offered this story from Dawson:

Despite this long history, an American professional is said to have called the R&A to ask if this was a new course.

"He is a senior professional who shall remain nameless," said Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A. "You might imagine we were a little bit bemused by the question, but it does show that we have been away for far too long."

And this gem:

There are fears that the world's top players might take it apart, but that is a view not shared by Martin Kippax, the R&A's championship convener, who assured the course would not be tricked up.

"It is like any other links course," he said. "Regardless of length, it depends on the weather conditions. If we get a warm, wet spring and some real growth in the rough, and if the wind blows, it will provide a very stern test.

"Nobody has made a monkey of any of the Open champion-ship courses and Hoylake is no exception."

He must not have seen the Road hole last year.

James Corrigan reports that the R&A seems upset no women have entered qualifying:

Talk about a change of heart. After 145 years of refusing to allow the fairer sex to play in their precious Open Championship, the Royal and Ancient revealed itself yesterday to be now seemingly just as desperate to have a female entrant. It did so by admitting that it is considering sending out letters to the leading women players reminding them that they can now try to qualify.

"We did not open it up to them last year hoping women would not enter," said the Royal & Ancient chief executive, Peter Dawson, at Hoylake, the Liverpool course that will host its first Open in 39 years from 20 to 23 July.

"Having done that, it will be a shame if they do not take advantage. Maybe we should write to them individually."

Hey, what a good idea!