Players spy the Open’s Little Eye and see something beginning with T

Patrick Reed plays out of a bunker on the 17th green on his way to a bogey which could have been much worse on day one at the Open. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

Matt Fitzpatrick’s caddie, Billy Foster, called it a monstrosity. Two-time Open champion Pádraig Harrington claimed it was “without doubt one of the most beautiful par-threes you will ever see”. Perhaps Jon Rahm was the most accurate this week in describing Little Eye, the new 17th hole at Royal Liverpool, not as the worst or best thing in golf, but simply “a turtleshell”.

An elevated green with perilously deep bunkers on all sides and no obvious bail out, the only way to avoid trouble is to land the ball squarely on the green. It is a lot easier said than done. It is a terrifying shot, like trying to flick a marble on to a car bonnet.