British Open officials draw line at hitting over grandstands
SOUTHPORT, England — Jason Day’s caddie presented British Open officials with an interesting option on the par-4 ninth hole at Royal Birkdale. Colin Swatton wondered about hitting a tee shot onto the adjacent 10th fairway for a shorter, clearer shot into the green.
The R&A responded with an invisible white line in the turf.
In a decision aimed primarily at spectator safety, R&A chief rules director David Rickman issued a notice of a local rule for the week: “When playing the ninth hole only, a ball on or beyond the 10th fairway (defined by the edge of the closely-mown area) is out of bounds.”
Out-of-bounds stakes typically are on the boundary of a golf course. It is rare a links course to have internal out-of-bounds, especially when it involves the golf ball landing in short grass.
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said officials were concerned because the only way to drive from the ninth tee onto the 10th fairway is to hit a drive over the top of the grandstand, and then hit over the gallery to the green.
“And we felt that was just dangerous,” Slumbers said. “So that’s been put in there to protect the fans and the players.”
The ninth hole, with the wind at the players’ back, requires a blind tee shot to a fairway and bends sharply to the right toward the green. A shot onto the 10th fairway also would be a blind shot.
It was reminiscent of the 1979 U.S. Open at Inverness, when the USGA planted a tree overnight after Lon Hinkle found a way to shorten the first hole by going down an adjacent fairway. The R&A opted for a local rule instead of going to the trouble of planting dozens of trees.
Tiger effect
No Tiger, no problem. British Open organizers say they are expecting big crowds this week at Royal Birkdale that will rival the attendance records set at the Open when Tiger Woods was in his dominant prime.
More than 220,000 people are expected on the course set on the northwest England coast by the time play ends Sunday. That ranks high among recent Opens, some of which was blamed on Woods not being in the field.
“I think the sport should be eternally grateful for the transformation he drove in golf,” said Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A. “I hope he tees it up at The Open. He’d be extremely welcomed. But the game moves on.”
Slumbers said the crowd this week should rank No. 4 among biggest crowds since the R&A started keeping attendance figures in 1960.
Divots
The R&A plans tributes around the 18th for two of its former champions who died since the last British Open — Arnold Palmer, who won at Royal Birkdale in 1961 and Royal Troon in 1962, and Roberto De Vicnenzo, who won at Royal Liverpool in 1967 . ... Mark O’Meara, who hits the opening tee shot Thursday morning, is playing in his final British Open. He won at Royal Birkdale in 1998 for his second major that year . ... Jason Day received the Mark McCormack Award for spending the most weeks at No. 1 in the world in 2016. Day lost the No. 1 ranking to Dustin Johnson in February. The Australian now is No. 6.