One of the tried-and-tested press conference bingo calls is the one about ‘staying out of the bunkers this week’. It’s as predictable as it is welcoming, finally a week where the players would rather see their ball finish in the sand than anywhere else. But this week there are no prizes to ending up in any one of the 81 bunkers; find one off the tee and you’ll likely be advancing less than 100 yards, find one around the green and you might land yourself in a horrible spot.
This week the greenkeepers are using a hay rake which has wide teeth rakes which means the ball nestles into the crevice. The members will get to use a gentler springbok rake which helps the ball sit up more and makes life a lot easier. They have also dug the bunkers to encourage the balls to get trapped in the corners, hence why we’ve seen the horror spots already.
Matthew Jordan is one of those members and he hit the opening shot of the week en route to a two-under 69. He’s been a member here for 20 years and even he hasn’t seen the bunkers as penal as this.
“I haven't seen the bunkers like this at all. I don't know who's annoyed the greenkeeper but 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 you can drop two shots just like that. I hit it in 11 and 15 and it's normally easy. I would have had no bother but I did well just to get them both out. I'm surprised how harsh they are really, but there you go, it's links golf.”
Christo Lamprecht enjoyed an opening 66 but even he was undone by the sand at the 4th as his tee shot finished under the lip meaning he had to play his second shot backwards.
Shane Lowry is a good judge of links golf and its fairness and playability. And he sees the test of Hoylake for precisely what it is – the defences are all there in front of you pretty much and the bunkers are genuine hazards, as they should be.
“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. If take it on and hit a bad shot and end up in a bunker it's a penalty shot basically. It does ask a lot of questions but it's the most well-bunkered course that we play. They're everywhere, and they're very penal.”
Otherwise Bob MacIntyre described them as ‘brutal’, but not said in a damning way, and Matt Fitzpatrick, who maybe isn’t a particularly big fan of the new 17th, had no complaints about the course set-up.
“It’s a great layout and I do think it's a great course. I think the bunkers are penal and I think it's quite nice. I think nowadays bunkers can be seen as you just hit it in there and you'll be OK but this week you're trying to avoid them.”
Brooks Koepka, round in 70, found the sand twice and both times had to pitch out while Stewart Cink, with a 68, was one of a rare breed of player who managed a bogey-free round.
“This is not the kind of course you can just game plan your way around because off the tee the bunkers are so staggered that you're just going to have to contend with the bunkers. You can't just avoid the bunkers like in the old days we used to.”
