Bunkering down

New traps, added length put bite back into Royal St George's

By John L. Byrwa, PGA.com Managing Editor

To prepare for his 15th career appearance in the Open Championship, Craig Parry recently played a practice round at Royal St George's Golf Club. It's a good thing, too, because the Aussie affectionately known as "Popeye" needed a refresher course on seaside links golf.

"We gave him a quick rundown before he went out, but he came in afterward and said, 'Wow, I'd forgotten how often the ball falls off the fairways and greens,'" said Andrew Brooks, the head professional at Royal St George's, site of the 132nd Open Championship.

"So, local knowledge is imperative."

As are an obedient driver, smart ball placement, keen club selection and, most important, a calm demeanor.

"Patience is definitely required," according to Brooks, who has been at Royal St George's since 1995.

After undergoing the most dramatic changes to any Open Championship course in recent history, Royal St George's, lengthened by some 246 yards by renowned designer Donald Steel, is not expected to yield the type of gaudy scores we've come to expect in recent Opens. To wit, 10 of the last 15 Opens have been won with scores of 10-under par or better. Of the 15 Opens before that, only four winners finished at 10-under or better.

Nine of the 18 holes at Royal St George's have been altered, with par increased from 70 to 71. And in an effort to ensure we don't see another Open champion complete four rounds without ever stepping in sand, as Tiger Woods did during his runaway eight-shot win at St Andrews in 2000, two bunkers were added to the 455-yard, par-4 eighth hole and the menacing fairway bunker on No. 4 - now a 497-yard par-5 -- brought back into play with a new back tee.

The eighth hole will be particularly challenging for those unfortunate enough not to find grass off the tee.

"No. 8 has two new traps on the right-hand side of the fairway 280 yards out," Brooks said. "They're typical seaside bunkers that gather the ball in from 2 to 3 yards from the right.

"These bunkers are quite fair, but if they end up against the face, they'll have to come out sideways. The carry from there (to the green) is 140 yards, and you cannot reach the green if you're too far up the side of the face."

Those players who do manage to miss the sand off the tee must then overcome another challenge, one that is much more difficult to predict. Characteristic of all seaside links courses, the fairways at Royal St George's feature severe humps and undulations that can take a tee shot smacked down the middle and fling it into unfavorable rough.

"The strength of St George's is the further you hit your drive, the fairway narrows dramatically and you've got the fallout into the semi-rough," Brooks said. "Despite hitting it miles, you have to be aware of where to hit driver. Coming out of the semi-rough, you have a number of cross traps, so you have to have a good lie to fly it across the bunkers. Control is not easy here."

Neither is the run for home. Starting with the 14th hole, a 550-yard par-5 that usually plays into the wind, the final five holes will go a long way in determining who hoists the Claret Jug come Sunday afternoon.

With a new green location pushed back 43 yards and hard against the out-of-bounds fence on the right, No. 14 will test not only one's shot-making abilities but their intelligence as well. Approximately 51 yards short of the green are two deep pot bunkers that protect against a run-up second shot. Only problem is if you bail out to the left, you're left with a difficult mid-wedge shot to a narrow green that slopes from left to right. And if you choose to challenge the green from the right, you're flirting with the O.B.

"This is a big hole, very dangerous," Brooks said. "A slight push, a poor kick and you're gone. Against a left-to-right wind it is no fun."

No. 15 is "a great little par-4," Brooks said, which is funny considering that it's 475 yards long and plays into a prevailing wind. A new bunker added about 280 yards from the tee eats into the fairway from the right and compliments the one on the left. Again, a monster drive may not do you any good, as the fairway between the two bunkers narrows to 25 yards. From there, you've got 175-180 yards to a pear-shaped green protected by a basin on the right.

The par-3 16th plays to only 163 yards and offers a large, inviting green. But the eight bunkers that surround the green make attacking the pin a tricky proposition, especially in windy conditions.

Next is No. 17, a 428-yard par-4 with a narrow, washboard fairway leading to a plateaued green that is generously wide but only 25 yards deep. "It's a dangerous hole, but very innocent looking," according to Brooks.

Brooks, who played in six Opens while on the European Tour for seven years in the 1970s, describes the closing hole, a 460-yard par-4:

"The last hole is the hardest fairway to hit. There's usually a left-to-right wind, and the mound in the middle of the fairway throws the ball left or right. It's 260 yards to carry the mound. Hitting this fairway is a must, because the green is very narrow and it drops off to the right.

"If you miss the green to the right, very rarely can you get up and down because the nature of the first bounce is downhill to the hollow on the left. It's a great finish hole."

If a lucky soul in the field does manage to tame Royal St George's, he'll have one more obstacle to overcome. And this one is likely to put up as tough a fight.

Tiger Woods, winless in his last four majors, is coming off a dominating performance at the Western Open. The five-shot win made him the only player in history to win at least four tournaments in a season for five straight years.

Forget that a win at Royal St George's would tie Woods with Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win the double career Grand Slam. This Tiger is hungry for another major, and we already know what he can do to a links course when he's on his game.

"He's No. 1 because he's played all over the world and knows how to reign in his tee shots when he needs to, he knows how to play safe," Brooks said. "American golf is not like that. There, you hit it and stick in there, and you see fantastic shots. But all the courses look similar.

"With our Open Championship seaside courses, every one is completely different from each other. It's not even close. I think with Tiger, who would bet against him? He's such a class act. If he putts well, everyone else is playing for second."