Speculation kicked off last month when four-time major winner Rory McIlroy said: “I think there’s every chance [the R&A] are seriously looking at it, and it would be fantastic.”

That triggered Ireland’s Minister for Sport, Catherine Martin, to ask her officials to engage with Portmarnock to secure a plan to hold “what would be very significant for the game of golf in Ireland and our international profile as a must visit destination for golf tourism”.

Slumbers, in Melbourne for the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, said there were two hurdles to jump before Portmarnock could host an Open.

“One is Portmarnock Golf Club has asked the Irish government to help them explore how they can solve some of the infrastructure issues to be able to make a credible presentation to the R&A that they could stage the Open,” Slumbers told Golf Digest on Thursday at Royal Melbourne. “It’s very much in their court and needs govern investment to do it.

“The second piece is, there are some huge impediments to be overcome before we can get to the conversation, but that’s very much with the club and the Irish government.

“But the golf course is magnificent. I mean, it is a wonderful links course. We have staged many much amateur championships there. Had [the 1991] Walker Cup there, The Amateur championship four years ago and the Women’s Amateur Championship next year. It is a world class golf course that I think will be tremendous to see the world’s best players playing on it.”

The 129-year-old Portmarnock is considered among the best courses in Ireland. But the infrastructure surrounding it — there is one road into the course and it sits on its own peninsula — has seemingly prohibited it from serious consideration for a championship of the magnitude of the Open, where more than 100,000 spectators descend on the event over the course of championship week.

Additionally, the club’s male-only membership ran counter to R&A policy for host clubs, but the Portmarnock membership voted in 2021 to admit females. Last December, nine women were elected as full members.

Working in Portmarnock’s favour is that it is less than 15 minutes from Dublin’s international airport and a 20-minute train ride from downtown Dublin. There are also large golf properties nearby, like the newly rebranded Jameson Hotel and Golf Links next door, as well as vibrant towns like Malahide nearby capable of supporting the championship.

Main image: Luke Walker/R&A

The post Portmarnock would be considered to host Open Championship, but ‘huge impediments’ stand in the way appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Earlier this month, the LIV league was denied an application for Official World Golf Ranking points based on its team element and lack of promotion/relegation. LIV’s star players, such as Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, then called for a category to be made to ensure LIV’s players are not frozen out of golf’s four majors as their world rankings have taken a hit. DeChambeau called for the top 12 on LIV’s money list to be exempt into the majors, and LIV’s acting COO Gary Davidson (they have since appointed a new COO) said the league was in early discussions with organisers of two of the majors about the pathways into the tournaments.

Asked whether the Masters and the Open would create such exemptions for 2024, Slumbers brought up a recent media report suggesting talks were already under way to specifically include LIV golfers, and he rejected that notion.

“There’s been some speculation in the media recently on the topic that you’re raising,” Slumbers said at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne. “I would say that it is completely off the mark. I would like to make it very clear that exemptions for the Open, we do not discuss them with anyone and nor would we at any point in time. I think it’s very important that you don’t lose sight of the fact that the Open is intended to be open to everybody, that you earn your place in the field, through exemptions, and that won’t change.”

The Open differs from the Masters in that it actively runs qualifying events, both at PGA Tour and DP World Tour events around the world via its Open Qualifying Series, as well as 36-hole final qualifying tournaments. The Masters is an invitational with criteria and special exemptions for entrants.

Ridley said the criteria for invitations to the 2024 Masters, which will use the OWGR’s top 50 by certain dates, are not likely to be tweaked other than three changes revealed at Augusta National in April this year. They are: an official invitation to the NCAA Division I champion; players who qualified for the PGA Tour’s 2023 season-ending Tour Championship; and winners of full-point PGA Tour events this autumn.

However, Ridley did leave the door open for future revisions.

“If you look back over the history of the Masters tournament, and the qualifications that existed, we have changed those qualifications in numerous times, dozens of times,” Ridley said. “We look at those every year. We don’t make changes every year, but we do look at them under the current circumstances. As you’ll recall last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers. We stayed true to our qualification criteria. We invited everyone who was eligible.

“While we do not, at this time, anticipate making a change in 2024, we do always look at [criteria], and we will continue to do that. Our qualifications are very much dynamic, and we adjust to what we feel is in the best interest of a tournament representing the best players in the world. We’ll always look at that.”

Without access to OWGR points, LIV players’ rankings have suffered. Cameron Smith left the PGA Tour ranked World No. 2 and is now 19th. Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson dropped from 13th to 131st, and DeChambeau has gone from 29th to 140th. However, the trio are recent major winners and remain eligible for the majors.

Others aren’t so fortunate. Talor Gooch, who has dropped from 35th to 214th in the OWGR, was eligible for the PGA Tour’s finale last year, but was banned for having left for LIV. This year, the Oklahoma native has won three LIV Golf tournaments and claimed the $18 million season-long individual points title.

Asked if they felt it was unfortunate that LIV players such as Gooch will continue to fall down the rankings and lose pathways to the majors, Ridley and Slumbers reiterated the best interests of their tournaments would be the focus.

“They [LIV golfers] made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers,” Ridley said. “Our invitation criteria does say that we reserve the right to issue special exemptions to international players, [and] we did issue a special exemption to an [American] amateur and NCAA champion last year [Gordon Sargent]. So, we’re always looking at that. But these decisions have been made and will have to do with what’s in the best interest of the Masters.”

Added Slumbers: “From my perspective, without getting into detail, we make sure there are plenty of opportunities for any player in the world, who has [played] good enough, to have a chance to qualify and play in the Open Championship, irrespective of which tour they are participating on and that will not change.”

Main image: Ross Kinnaird

The post Masters, Open execs reject latest ideas that would create a path for LIV golfers into the majors appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Not surprisingly then, upon learning of Robson’s death at age 83 on Tuesday, many in the golf world who so appreciated his presence — and regaled in hearing Robson speak their names — took to social media to salute him. Here are a handful of tributes offered to honour Robson:

Thank you Ivor for making each one of my Open starts so memorable https://t.co/7PhZ33FYzF

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 17, 2023

The voice of the Open Championship. So many incredible memories with Ivor over the years. Rest in Peace, my friend. https://t.co/HLkHnna329

— GARY PLAYER (@garyplayer) October 17, 2023

A gentleman with a unique voice that set us off on our journeys. Thank you for your dedication to our beautiful sport. RIP Ivor https://t.co/TAodtBjhk6

— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) October 17, 2023

So sad to hear of Ivor Robsons passing – the most famous & popular first tee starter golf has ever had – his legacy will be that iconic & quintessential British voice of his #RIP https://t.co/nH6jQmso18

— Paul McGinley (@mcginleygolf) October 17, 2023

Ivor Robson the Voice of the Open Championship. You sadly have left us today but your voice and happiness hasn’t.
#RIP My Friend. First tee memories will last forever. ?? pic.twitter.com/Oukf2gwlUs

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) October 17, 2023

RIP Ivor Robson.lovely man.

— Tony Jacklin CBE (@jacklin_tony) October 17, 2023

Very sad news with the passing of Ivor Robson & thoughts to his family. I've never seen someone take pride in their job like he did. One of the coolest moments of my career was having him announce me on the tee as the US Open Champ & also the Scottish Open after I won at Pebble. pic.twitter.com/se3TM7VKBc

— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) October 17, 2023

Very sad to hear of the passing of the wonderful Ivor Robson, honourary starter on the DPWT for over 40years. The epitome of professionalism who always brought a sense of calm at an unnerving time. Lovely man, friend of everyone on the tour. You will be missed Ivor x RIP

— Andrew Coltart (@AndrewColtart) October 17, 2023

Everyone at St Andrews Links Trust is devastated to hear of the passing of Ivor Robson, long-time starter for The Open.

With one of the most distinctive voices in golf, Ivor presided over 41 Opens, including eight here at the Home of Golf, culminating in his last in 2015.

From… pic.twitter.com/4okCW2BZnd

— St Andrews Links (@TheHomeofGolf) October 17, 2023

Main image: Tom Pennington

The post Tiger Woods, Gary Player among golfers paying tribute to ‘Voice of Golf’ Ivor Robson appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

He was the official starter at The Open for 41 years and his passing has been met with an outpouring of affection from players and golf administrators.

He also acted for over 40 years as the DP World Tour’s official starter with his “on the tee” message delivered in his cultured brogue at famous golf venues around the globe.

Ivor sent the world’s best players on their way in a wonderful career — from Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods, from Arnold Palmer to Seve Ballesteros, from Tom Watson to Rory McIlroy.

Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of Ivor’s passing. As official starter at The Open for over 40 years, his voice was instantly recognisable and synonymous with the Championship for players and millions of golf fans worldwide.

“He was popular and well respected among all golfers who played in The Open and I know that they will share in our sadness at this news. On behalf of all of us at The R&A, I would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to his wife of 61 years, Lesley, and the Robson family.”

Ivor Robson. 1940 – 2023.

A voice synonymous with The Open. pic.twitter.com/NTEvkrggQl

— The Open (@TheOpen) October 17, 2023

It was in 2015 when he announced his retirement, working at The Open at St Andrews for the final time, before making his emotional final announcements when the curtain came down on the DP World Tour season in Dubai in November 2015.

Ivor said at the time: “It has been a wonderful career. It’s been a great honour. The way I have been treated by players, officials, sponsors… thank you all very much.”

A much-loved resident of Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, Ivor was born in England in 1940 and began his remarkable career at The Open in 1975 at Carnoustie. He went on to earn the admiration of the best players in the world, sending them off from the first tee with his famous words and a hearty grin.

“To the professionals, it has been great fun being here with you,” he added in 2015. “We have had lots of banter and it has been wonderful. You are a credit to the professional game. And to the spectators, thank you for your wonderful support over the years.”

For 41 stagings of The Open, it was one voice, Ivor’s voice, that marked the time.

He didn’t miss a championship or a tee time going back to 1975 and was also well known for avoiding a toilet break as much as he could between matches teeing off.

Having worked at his 40th Open at Royal Liverpool in 2014, The 144th Open the following year was Ivor’s last.

When he took to the tee at 6.32am on the opening Thursday over the Old Course, it marked the beginning of a final championship for the iconic first tee announcer.

“I feel you can’t go on forever and if you’re going to step off there’s no better place to do it than here,” he said. “I’ve had some nice ones but this is special, St Andrews. It is just magnificent.”

Ivor said he would miss many things about working at The Open but mostly it was the people. “Being involved, being a part of a team,” he said. “I’ll miss that a lot but it’s time to go.”

A fiercely private man who enjoyed playing when he could at his beloved Moffat Golf Club.

Looking back to his Open career, he added: “It is a great honour to be the official starter for the greatest championship in the world. I’m privileged and immensely proud. They were all very special.”

Main image: Ivor Robson. R&A

The post Open Championship starter Ivor Robson dies at age 83 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Brian Harman wasn’t treated kindly by the Royal Liverpool crowds during his Open Championship conquest. Luckily, the reception back home in the United States was more fitting for the Champion Golfer of the Year.

On Friday night, the PGA Tour posted a video of Harman returning to Georgia from his Open conquest, receiving a proper welcome for his proper performance at one of golf’s hardest tests.

The Champion Golfer of the Year has returned @HarmanBrian was welcomed by friends and fans when he arrived home in Sea Island. pic.twitter.com/MmpMSY2q0d

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 28, 2023

Harman is not in next week’s Wyndham Championship field, meaning the next time we’ll see the Open champ will be in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Judging by what we saw in the video, Harman will be enjoying his time from now until then.

The post Watch the hero’s welcome Brian Harman received upon bringing the claret jug home appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It was the topic of his putting struggles, which he feels are being exaggerated.

“I think I had back-to-back tournaments [recently] that I could have won where I putted poorly, and all of a sudden it became this [narrative] where I’ll watch highlights of my round, and even the announcers, any time you step over the putt it’s like: ‘Well, this is the part of the game he struggles with,’” Scheffler said. “If you say it every time and you guys [media] see me miss a 12-footer it’s like: ‘Oh, there it is. He’s struggling again.’”

Scheffler offered a reason why his putting is a target for criticism. “I think that most of what has to happen is something has to be created into a story,” he said. “For a while it didn’t really seem like there was much of a story behind the way I play golf. I think I was viewed as probably a touch boring and didn’t really show much emotion and whatever else you could think of.”

If it is a lazy take on broadcasts, there’s at least statistics to back up the analysis. Scheffler ranks first on the PGA Tour for strokes gained/off the tee and in approach, but 137th for putting.

“I don’t pay attention to it,” he said. “The things that I’m working on right now I feel very excited about. I’m hitting a lot of good putts. Pretty soon, a lot of those good putts will start falling in the middle of the hole.”

Enough putts have fallen the past nine months for last year’s Masters champion to compile a fantastic encore to his breakout 2022 season. In 19 events, Scheffler has finished outside the top 10 just four times. He’s won twice, including the Players Championship. He has not posted a result worse than T-5 in his seven starts leading into the Open.

The only reason Scheffler is flying under the radar leading into the final major of the year is professional golf has been consumed by a June 6 peace treaty that somewhat ended a long and bitter civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Much of the attention has been on Rory McIlroy, LIV’s biggest critic and the PGA Tour’s brightest star, who won last week’s Scottish Open before returning to the site of his 2014 Open triumph.

Scottie Scheffler lines up a putt in the 2023 Scottish Open. Jared C Tilton

“I’m not really sure where the radar is,” Scheffler said with a laugh. “I do my best to not try and pay attention to things. I don’t know if I’m under, above, [or] on anybody’s radar. I don’t really try to pay attention to that stuff. I try to prepare for each event the same way.”

Scheffler couldn’t prepare for the Open the same way given he’d never seen the course known as Hoylake (after the town in which it’s located). So, he watched Woods’ victory at the 2006 Open at Hoylake on YouTube.

“It’s a pretty valuable tool, really,” he said. “I had never seen this course before. I didn’t really know anything about it, other than it was really firm and [Woods] only hit one driver for the entire week.”

Whether the homework and practice rounds pay off, only time will tell. But Scheffler insisted he won’t consider this year a disappointment if he doesn’t win a second career major.

“A year without winning a major would be pretty similar to the other 25 years of my life, I guess,” he said. “Yes, it’s so fun to win majors, but I’m not going to sit at the end of the year and look back on the year and be frustrated or upset because I didn’t win a major.

“I think if you asked me when I was in college if [by age] 27 [I’d] have six wins, a major and a Players, I’d probably say, yeah, I’m satisfied. But … you win one tournament and you want to win two, and then two turns into three. It’s just never enough.”

The post The Open Championship 2023: Media is focused on Scottie Scheffler’s putting, and he’s not happy about it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Like just about everything else with the British Open, there is something singularly distinct regarding tee times at golf’s oldest major. It’s not so much who the R&A pairs with whom that holds people’s curiosities, as is the case with the cheeky-themed threesomes the USGA often puts together at the US Open. Rather, it’s the anticipation of when your name appears on the starter’s sheet and whether that means you’re on the “good” or “bad” side of the draw. And so it will be again this week when the 151st Open takes place at Royal Liverpool.

Indeed, unlike any other men’s major, where you’re placed in order of things at the Open — and how that fits into mother nature’s divine plans — plays an overly large role in a players’ chances of having a successful week, or seeing themselves packing their backs a few days early.

Case in point. 2010, when the R&A visited St Andrews. The golfers who teed off in the morning during Friday’s second round at the Old Course played in calm conditions, eventual winner Louis Oosthuizen shooting a 67. Those who teed off in the afternoon, however, played in blustery winds and rain squalls. Rory McIlroy, after an opening-round 63, shot a second-round 80 to all but end his hopes of victory just 36 holes into the championship.

“When you feel like you’re playing well and you get the wrong side of the draw and you feel like the best you can finish is 10th, it’s a bitter pill to swallow,” McIlroy said in 2017. “But you have to realise in a 25- or 30-year career, you’re going to get some years that you’re on the good side of the draw.”

Indeed, the reason this is so central to how things play out at the Open is because of the mechanics of tee times themselves in the major. With sunrise at around 4.40am and sunset not until just shy of 10pm, the lengthy daylight allows all groups to tee off on the first hole, with tee times spread from as early as 6.30am to as late as 4.15pm local time. It’s a wider separation than anything on the PGA Tour (which employs split tees at almost all its events).
Players will be competing in threesomes on Thursday and Friday.

First-round pairings (ranking)
Matthew Jordan (329), Richie Ramsay (142), Branden Grace (405)
Russell Henley (31), Jazz Janewattananond (247), Graeme Robertson
Ryan Fox (42), Lucas Herbert (56), Byeong Hun An (85)
Rikuya Hoshino (130), Charl Schwartzel (322), Alex Maguire (A
Adrian Meronk (49), Pablo Larrazabal (58), Hiroshi Iwata (189)
Patrick Reed (51), Connor Syme (209), Jose Luis Ballester Barrio (A)
Darren Clarke (3808), Victor Perez (66, Thomas Pieters (73)
Louis Oosthuizen (394), Joost Luiten (146, Christo Lamprecht (A)
Stewart Cink (299), JT Poston (52), Trey Mullinax (114)
Henrik Stenson (269), Harris English (37), Andrew Putnam (61)
Scott Stallings (82), Jordan Smith (89), Thorbjorn Olesen (92)
Ernie Els (1286), Kurt Kitayama (25), Takumi Kanaya (121)
Sam Burns (17), Sepp Straka (28), Chris Kirk (40)
Jordan Spieth (11), Matt Fitzpatrick (9), Jason Day (27)
Padraig Harrington (183), Seamus Power (50), Talor Gooch (101)
KH Lee (53), Davis Riley (78), Taiga Semikawa (163)
Patrick Cantlay (4), Brooks Koepka (12), Hideki Matsuyama (34)

The times are set. The countdown begins.@PeterFinchGolf takes us through Thursday’s key groups. pic.twitter.com/hvOgtbtZNc

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2023

Scottie Scheffler (1), Tommy Fleetwood (21), Adam Scott (39)
Cameron Smith (7), Xander Schauffele (6) , Wyndham Clark (10)
Shane Lowry (29) , Rickie Fowler (22), Robert MacIntyre (54)
Cameron Young (18), Si Woo Kim (36), Bryson DeChambeau (105)
Nicolai Højgaard (106), Bio Kim (202), Kazuki Yasumori (944)
Dan Bradbury (331), Oliver Farr (690), Haydn Barron (937)
Marcel Siem (200), Martin Rohwer (786), Tiger Christensen (A)
Lee Hodges (108), Antoine Rozner (139), Richard Bland (187)
Yannik Paul (100) , Sami Välimäki (220), Laurie Canter (330)
Rasmus Højgaard (84), Matthew Southgate (285), Alex Fitzpatrick (561)
Daniel Hillier (137), Kyung Nam Kang (402), Kensei Hirata (434)
Callum Shinkwin (119), Kazuki Higa (122), Michael Kim (134)
Zack Fischer (408), Taichi Kho (619), Kyle Barker (736)
Brendon Todd (63), Romain Langasque (136), Travis Smyth (310)
Gary Woodland (72), Adrian Otaegui (95), Alexander Bjork (96)
Min Woo Lee (47), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (93), Harrison Crowe (A)
Corey Conners (30), Billy Horschel (45), Alex Noren (67)
Tom Kim (24), Tom Hoge (38), Abraham Ancer (68)
Zach Johnson (221), Matt Wallace (134), David Micheluzzi (363)
Sahith Theegala (35), Emiliano Grillo (41), Dustin Johnson (79)
Francesco Molinari (157), Denny McCarthy (33), Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira (A)
Brian Harman (26), Thriston Lawrence (80), Thomas Detry (98)
John Daly (3808), Taylor Moore (48),Danny Willett (125)
David Lingmerth (97), Ben Griffin (109), Ockie Strydom (161)
Adri Arnaus (113), Ewen Ferguson (118), Keita Nakajima (151)
Keegan Bradley (15), Sungjae Im (23), Joaquin Niemann (43)
Viktor Hovland (5),Tony Finau (16), Justin Thomas (20)
Rory McIlroy (2), Jon Rahm (3), Justin Rose (32)
Collin Morikawa (19,Max Homa (8), Tyrrell Hatton (13)
Phil Mickelson (90), Nick Taylor (44), Adam Schenk (46)
Nacho Elvira (361), Marc Warren (382), Alejandro Cañizares (579)
Guido Migliozzi (224), Oliver Wilson (266), Connor McKinney (1140)
Kalle Samooja (256), Shubhankar Sharma (276), Gunner Wiebe (479)
Jorge Campillo (131), Brandon Robinson Thompson (812), Michael Stewart (868)
Hurly Long (249), Seungsu Han (470), Marco Penge (539)

The post 2023 Open Championship: Rory, Rahm and Rose out together — pairings at Royal Liverpool appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Players and caddies at Royal Liverpool have been warned about Just Stop Oil, a collection of demonstrators attempting to force the British government to end fossil fuel licensing and production. The group has been targeting sporting and entertainment venues to protest, including at Wimbledon, the World Snooker Championship and rugby union’s Premiership final in recent weeks. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently said the “eco-zealots” are “not content with disrupting our summer and cherished sporting events, they are essentially leading us into an energy surrender”.

Sunak and his administration have given police greater latitude in their powers to quell the movement. That includes at Open, where many believe Royal Liverpool will be the next target of activism.

In response, the R&A and local authorities have increased security presence at Hoylake, including a number of plain-clothed officers. The Merseyside police issued a statement on the matter, saying “contingency plans are in place to allow visitors enjoy the Open with minimal disruption.”

Should the protesters emerge during the competition, players have been told not to tackle the demonstrators and instead allow police and security to handle the situation. This is in response to England’s Jonny Bairstow recently carrying a protester off the field during the Ashes.

Hoylake is not a stranger to protests. At the 2006 Open protesters threw dye on the 18th green as Tiger Woods approached at the end of the championship.

The post The Open Championship 2023: Players, caddies put on high security alert, told not to tackle protest group at championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

More prescriptively pejorative than an Australian golf club’s sock length requirements, and nearly as inscrutable, out-of-bounds rules may be as insulting as golf’s guidelines get. One foot inside those infernal white stakes, and you are as perfect as the centre of the fairway. One foot on the other side — nay, one millimetre — and despite the fact that you may be able to not only easily find your slightly misplayed shot but in many cases can take a decent hack at it, you are instead irrevocably damned. Because unlike a regular hazard, a ball out of bounds is penalised twice, forcing the player to replay the shot from the spot where he just struck it poorly. The so-called stroke-and-distance penalty refers to adding two shots to the score, but it also could just as well reference the physical reaction to a ball that trickles OB: apoplexy.

How close is the OB right all the way up 18?

This close. pic.twitter.com/CpreXZWk7j

— Adam Kirk (@DGBetting_) July 17, 2023

This is where we find ourselves this week at the Open Championship at Hoylake, a venue known perhaps as much for its legacy of world-class winners as it is for its historically insidious holes where OB plays a somewhat outsized role. What makes Hoylake’s out-of-bounds problem so boundless may be the fact that while the demarcation line between good and dead is a kind of gravediggers mound that stretches for hundreds of yards, what’s out of bounds is exactly well within the property of the golf club itself. In non-Open weeks, the area that’s surrounded by three different holes is normally the club’s practice area and is declared out of bounds. During the Open this week, that area around the third, eight and 18th holes is reserved for the hospitality and merchandise tents and even means a shot into the grandstand right of the closing hole now forces a reload.

Some call this situation “interior out of bounds”, but to be fair, it’s not something contrived by Royal Liverpool for a major championship. The area used to be a horse racing track that was part of the club at its founding more than a century-and-a-half ago, and it’s always been played as out of bounds. But just as cruelly, it’s also been defined only by that low mound, or so-called “cops”, so a mis-hit ball might just as easily stop rolling before it gets to the white stakes as it might just barely bound over that line.The allure and the nausea of Hoylake’s OB, and really most OB, is that it stares at you like that police car you just passed doing 80. As Golf Club Atlas once spoke of Hoylake’s out-of-bounds area: “The golfer is afforded absolutely perfect visuals. Like a car wreck, he seems unable to tear his eyes away from the trouble.”

Of course, that sentiment is also the fearsome strength of OB, particularly internal OB. One of Royal Liverpool’s original architects Tom Simpson once suggested that no course could be considered great if it didn’t have out of bounds. Hoylake not only has out of bounds, it’s been fortified for this year’s Open on the final hole by having the cops jut further out into the fairway, 20 yards further than the last time the Open was played here. Add in that the hole’s been lengthened by 50 yards, and you could have a player limping home with a double-bogey 7 more often than an eagle 3. Martin Ebert, the veteran architect with multiple Open Championship venue tweaks to his credit, is eager to see how the OB might influence both tee shots and second shots this week, given the particular circumstances of a closing hole.

“I think that the out-of-bounds at both the 3rd and the 18th at Hoylake makes them great holes,” he said when I emailed him last week. “It will be interesting to see how the players take on the third and 18th. I asked one of the marshals at the third tee in 2014 how many golfers hit a driver over the corner [of the out-of-bounds], and was told only two, Darren Clarke and Tom Watson [both not coincidentally obviously former Open champions]. Are the golfers of today more aggressive? With the 18th, it will be so easy for a tee shot to end up out of bounds. Will a good proportion of the players not hit driver on a hole which is over 600 yards?”

Ebert is legitimately wondering, of course, but a more malevolent architect might be cackling at the prospect of how out-of-bounds is the next great defence against distance at the elite level. We’ve already seen this year where a parallel fairway at Oak Hill at the PGA Championship was suddenly declared out of bounds, and similar, severely internal, parallel fairway out-of-bounds has been used at the Open Championships at Royal Birkdale at Royal Portrush. Of course, at Portrush McIlroy also hit his opening tee shot out of bounds after a slight left miss landed in a perfectly fine patch of grass that was played as a stroke and distance penalty for the simple reason that the club had always done so because they originally did not own that particular piece of land. The fact that they now did and didn’t change the out-of-bounds penalty simply made the penalty more infernal.

There’s even some suggestion that venerable Oakmont should employ internal out-of-bounds when it next is home to the US Open in 2025. When it held the US Amateur in 2021, players played adjacent fairways on as many as six holes to more efficiently approach the green.

But OB rules have long been a hallmark of links in the UK where land wasn’t as plentiful as in America, and nearby houses, walls, roads and railway lines cut close to club boundaries. Never mind that the penalties have changed several times over the last 250 years. At one time it was only a stroke, and while the stroke and distance penalty was officially codified by the USGA and R&A in 1952, just seven years later, the Southern California Golf Association broke ranks and adopted a local rule reducing the “unfair penalty stroke in connection with ball out of bounds”.

Even today in order to speed up play, the ruling bodies now allow recreational golfers to take a drop with just a stroke penalty near the point where the ball left the property. But that’s not how the rules for tournament play read. The rule book even suggests internal out of bounds might be ideal for safety purposes, or mostly to avoid cutting a corner. “For example, on a dogleg hole, an internal out of bounds may be used to prevent a player from cutting the dogleg by playing a ball to the fairway of another hole,” reads model local rule A-4.

Of course, bizarre local rules are nothing new. Reservation Golf Club has been a nine-hole course by Eel Pond and Mattapoisett Harbor in Massachusetts since 1895 but when a road split the course in half, new local rules had to be adopted. Notable is the guidance for the ninth and 18th holes, which define out of bounds as the white line parallel to the hole on the right, then to the white diagonal line in the road, then to the white line on the left side of the road. Other holes use a low rock wall separating them as defining internal out of bounds for the parallel fairways.

While damaging passing cars might be the motivation at some clubs, damaging the golfer himself might be the primary motivation for unique local rules at other spots. As Cliff Schrock discovered in a Golf Digest article from 2016, some courses even invoke special rules to prevent animal attacks: “At Lake Powell National Golf Course in Page, Arizona, a ‘casual rattlesnake rule’ is used if your ball is within the vicinity of a rattler. You can gather your ball, drop without penalty — then presumably swing fast and run like hell.” Other local rules involve elephant stampedes, manure, volcanic rock and pretend water hazards.

Meanwhile, even though it’s specifically against the rules, a couple of other courses even ban players from flying their shots over a particular OB area, even if the ball doesn’t land or even stay in the area. The course’s rules cite safety, but forcing a particular ball flight seems the height of anxiety for all but the most sure golfers.

Similar OB anxiety will be on the menu at Hoylake this year, particularly at the closing hole, which might be the most claustrophobic 600-plus yard hole this side of Golden Tee. Just ask Phil Mickelson, who went for the par-5 green in two in 2014 only to hit his approach into the right-side grandstands and discover the fans weren’t home to a free drop but a stroke-and-distance penalty. What seems particularly ironic for an Open Championship, of course, is that such “internal” out of bounds isn’t how the Open’s most famous venue plays its string of holes with parallel fairway and shared greens. That inconsistency isn’t lost on Hoylake’s consulting architect.

“It could be argued that playing to different fairways is fine at St Andrews, so should be elsewhere,” Ebert said. “But it once again illustrates that the Old Course is one of a kind.”

Then again, so, too, can it be said of Royal Liverpool.

The post The Open Championship 2023: The quirky feature behind Hoylake’s greatest holes appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Smith then “ditched” his old man to work at Wantima Country Club, his childhood course, washing carts and collecting range balls. After he turned 18, Smith got a job behind the bar at a veteran’s pub in the Redcliffe neighbourhood of Brisbane. “Even when I first got my Asian Tour card, I still had my job at the pub,” said Smith, who made $20 an hour there.

Nowadays, Smith’s career pays a lot more. He won $4 million for a victory at LIV Golf’s London event two weeks ago and he was recently ranked No. 17 in Forbes’ list of highest paid athletes of the past year due to a large LIV signing bonus contributing to his $73 million in total on-course earnings. His job, this week, is to successfully defend the Open title he claimed at the 150th edition last year at St Andrews.

The toughest part of the defending champion gig?

“I just had to hand back the trophy [to R&A chief Martin Slumbers],” he said. “I thought I was going to do all right, but I was actually holding back from tears. A bit of a moment, I guess, that crept up on me.”

It was emotional because Smith said recently he felt he developed a bond with the claret jug in the 12 months since he defeated Cameron Young at the Old Course last summer, when 54-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy finished third. That Sunday, Smith fired a final-round 64, highlighted by a record back-nine 30 to overcome a four-shot deficit starting the day.

“Walking up the 18th hole [at St Andrews] was the most stressful but enjoyable five minutes of my life,” he said. “The ceremony on the 18th green, and [celebrations] that night, I’ll never forget.”

Smith arrived at Royal Liverpool on Saturday having enjoyed a week off in London seeing the sights. “I’ve seen a fair bit of the golf course,” Smith said of Hoylake, which has hosted 12 Opens, most recently in 2006 and 2014 when Tiger Woods and McIlroy triumphed, respectively.

“I think it’s a great venue,” Smith said. “I think it played very strong yesterday in the wind, and that’s something we are going to have to deal with all week.”

The World No. 7 also arrived in the Merseyside area as one of the favourites to win. The clear frontrunner is McIlroy, who finished birdie-birdie on Sunday to win the Scottish Open, but Smith is coming off a fourth-place finish at the US Open and a T-9 at the PGA Championship. Smith chuckled in his Monday news conference when asked if he’d like a rematch of the battle he had with McIlroy down the stretch at St Andrews.

“Yeah, I guess that would be a good story for you guys to write about for sure,” he said. “At every major championship there’s probably 10 or 15 guys that you think: ‘If they have a good week, I’m going to have to beat them,’ and he’s one of them. He’s played great golf the last few months. [Scottish Open] may have opened the floodgates for him.”

Facing off against the likes of McIlroy, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Masters champion Jon Rahm and other stars is part of Smith’s job. That’s why he’s been working hard at his craft — specifically, the long game.

“From my 5-iron up has always been a bit of a struggle for me, and that’s an area of the game that we’ve worked probably harder than we have on in the past,” he said. “I think as a golfer, I’m actually a better golfer now than what I was last year. [The long game] is progressing.”

“After such a crazy year last year, expectations [of winning] changed a little bit. It was good to finally get a [LIV] win under the belt this year before one of the most important weeks in my career.”

A career that Smith hopes yields multiple major championships, starting this week.

“I don’t expect that of myself, but there’s definitely something on the inside of me that wants to win two, three, four, however many I can,” he said. “I try not to let that get in the way, though.”

The post Open Championship 2023: Cam Smith is a long way from his bartender days as his only job this week is to retain the claret jug appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.