Order of holes changed at Hoylake for the Open?

[Jay Flemma]

I read recently that competitors in the Open Championship will begin their day at the course's 17th hole and play aroung 17-18 then from one through in order and finish at the short par-5 16th "to increase drama" due to "out-of bounds all the way up on the right" making for excitement in possible closing birdies and eagles.

It was in a magazine published by Athlon sports.

Buda Cup guys...what do you think?

[Jim Nugent]

Golfweek says the same thing:

"The course has also been reconfigured. The old 17th is now the opening hole and the championship will end on the old par-5, 16th, now the 18th. It means the pros will play two par 5s in the last three holes, with the last three holes adding up to nearly 1,573 yards."

The same article also has news, or non-news, about a shorter tournament ball...

"Dawson also confirmed that the R&A is nowhere near introducing a tournament ball at any time in the near future. The R&A asked ball manufacturers to submit so-called shorter balls for testing last year. Dawson admitted the ball manufacturers had been slow to submit balls, but said the R&A was in the process of examining those balls.

"The shorter ball issue has accelerated in that the top manufacturers are submitting balls," said Dawson. "At last we seem to be getting somewhere. The next step is to test the balls, and we're particularly concerned to ensure that if we get a shorter ball someone can't design a clubhead which when applied to that shorter ball will get back most of its reduced distance.

"There are two parts to this, there is the scientific side and the philosophical side. The science is to allow us to decide what we would do, the philosophical side is to decide if we do something at all."

[Kevin Pallier]

I thought that the normal 1st is one of the 'better' opening holes on the B. Open rota ?

I suppose they wanted a grandstand finish where the scores could possibly swing so much with two P5's in the last 3 holes.

I was at Hoylake last year and they were certainly adding some length with some new tee boxes. For mine -  it's not one of the 'better' Open venues but it's nice to see it return after such a long absence.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Taken from www.opengolf.com (the official Open Championship site):

"A change to the numbering of the holes at Royal Liverpool means that the 135th Open Championship will finish on what has traditionally been Hoylake's 16th green. The adjustment to the order of play will make the 560-yard par five the closing hole and the 17th and 18th holes will be played as the first and second.

The course has been lengthened by 122 yards since the Amateur Championship was played over the historic links is 2000, and will be 263 yards longer than when Roberto de Vicenzo won the last Open to be held at Hoylake in 1967.

"We have slightly rearranged the way the holes are played to set competitors a more challenging final hole," said Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. "The 18th will present a birdie opportunity, but as a left to right dog-leg with out of bounds ever present on the right, will also be a hole for potential disaster.

"Before knowing that The Open would be returning there, Royal Liverpool had foresight in exercising a strategic review of the entire course aimed at improving the flow from green to tee while also tightening up tee-shots, bunkering and green surrounds. The changes to Hoylake have worked very well."

The official card for the Royal Liverpool course for the 2006 Open Championship is:

Hole Yards Par
1 454 4
2 436 4
3 429 4
4 372 4
5 528 5
6 202 3
7 453 4
8 423 4
9 198 3
OUT 3495 35

10 534 5
11 393 4
12 448 4
13 198 3
14 456 4
15 161 3
16 554 5
17 459 4
18 560 5
IN 3763 37
OUT 3495 35
TOTAL 7258 72"

[Jim Nugent]

From the scorecard, looks like Hoylake has no driveable par 4's.  Quite a change from TOC, which had five or so last year.  

Here's an ad-hoc theory: all those short par 4's give Tiger a big advantage at TOC.  This may be one reason he has won by such big margins there.  And the corollary: that a course like Hoylake evens the playing field a bit for the other players.

Any thoughts on that?  

[Jay Flemma]

Weird...the athlon sports guys reported a 4,000 back nine.  Strange.

Yes, No. 1 is traditionally very difficult...the move also helps gives the players two holes before facing that monster.