"You don't see shots like that in the U.S."

Gary Van Sickle in this week's SI Golf Plus, writing about Hoylake and helping to make up for the Monarrez debacle:

Yes, Royal Liverpool had issues: The traffic was terrible, with the worst backups at any major since the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol, and daily crowds of 40,000-plus made spectating difficult. But the course itself was a winner. It was resistant to scoring, especially considering the weather and the lack of wind, the main defense of a links. Colin Montgomerie said the course was so fast that it must've been playing at "about 5,500 yards in real terms" rather than the 7,258 yards on the scorecard. Plus, with four par-5s reachable for everybody -- even short-hitting Fred Funk eagled the 18th -- par was really 70, if not 69. Knock two strokes off par and Woods's winning score of 270 is only 10 under. Not bad for a course that held its first Open in 1897 and was part of Bobby Jones's Grand Slam in 1930.

The bunkers are the thing at Royal Liverpool. There are 92 of them, and they're deep, have steep faces and are placed exactly where they can cause the most damage. The fairway bunkers especially are in essence one-stroke penalties. To avoid them Woods put the two-iron in his bag for the first time in eight months. "It's the best-bunkered course I've ever played," said Jerry Kelly, who finished 26th. "I'm one of the straightest players out here, and even I was hitting three-irons off the tee to stay short of them. They're no picnic."

During the third round Kelly did wind up in one. Short-sided at the par-4 7th, he blasted his ball as high as he could, then watched as it ran downhill and into the cup for an unlikely birdie. He raised his arms as if to say, Can you believe that?

You don't see shots like that in the U.S. With luck, we'll see them again at Royal Liverpool.

Comments

[Smolmania]

If you don't get Golf Plus guys, and gals, do it now. Geoff will often times post the links, but even after reading Bamberger's article on line, I enjoyed it all over again in print last night. And the other two Hoylake articles were fabulous as well.

[Ryan]

This was the grandest Par 3 contest ever witnessed in pro golf. Of those 92 bunkers, half of which were probably located down the fairway, Tiger choose to lay up short of all of them, thus a 72 hole Par 3 contest for Tiger.

The ball goes ballistic distances now, where hard and fast layouts should be 8,400 yards to even equate to Jack's days. They lengthened Hoylake, so what! Did it make any differences? Hogan proclaimed the drive as the most important shot of playing a hole. Driver is the hardest club in the bag to control because it's only 8 degrees of loft, Tiger's 2 iron at 19 degrees of loft is traveling farther than Jack's driver did back in the day, and that's counting roll. Tiger is playing with almost 3 times as much loft as Jack did off the tee. It's easier to hit a ball straighter with more loft, it's easier to hit a ball straighter when it won't curve as much because it doesn't spin as much anymore.

"You don't see shots like that in the U.S."
Gary Van Sickle

Gary, we don't see shots anymore period. All the shots have been lost on today's golf ball. Today's ball has one shot in it, long and straight, just don't block it or pull it.

Golf should drop driver from the bag, 13 clubs, go to a Par 54 contests on 18 Par 3's ranging from 285 yrds to 115 yrds. This would answer the pace of play issues, require players to play every club in the bag again, and restore integrity in the course set ups. Par 72's at 7,200 are too short and the Open rotation courses are mostly land locked.

[Steve]

Two drivers, layered rough at Winged Foot, and no driver at Hoylake. Proof + evidence + reality = the ball has ruined the sport at the professional level. The patents that Wally and his boys stole from Callaway have certainly ruined the sport at the pro level. Somebody on this site mentioned training wheels for pros, that's an appropriate reference. Statement of Principles + Integrity = Bull$#!+....! Let this year's MAJORS serve as proof-positive that the golf ball and huge trampoline drivers have ruined the test at the pro level.