ALL CALM AT CALAMITY (FOR NOW)

ONE by one they fell, seven in the first four hours alone. It’s a brutal bit of land, that pig of a hole they call Calamity Corner, but on the first day of the Open the pain was mainly being felt in the most unexpected of places. At times it was an aerial attack on those who had come to the 16th to see the world’s best players take a battering on a monstrously long par three. Phil Mickelson caught a chap on the foot, Mikko Korhonen bounced one off a spectator’s knee, Gary Woodland landed his ball in a man’s backpack — and still the public stood in the firing line. All Open courses have their man-eater, a quirky signature piece that spells trouble — the Road Hole at St Andrews, the Postage Stamp at Troon, Home at Carnoustie. They have histories for what they have done and to whom. Calamity has that. In 1951, the last time the Open came here, Bobby Locke took one look at the horrors that lay down the right of this 236-yard beast and decided he would deliberately play to miss the green on the left on each of the four days. He got up and down for his par every day and a lesson has evidently passed down through the decades. Go left, live to fight another day, and most here did. Not unscathed, but they survived. The numbers told a story — 43 bogeys, only seven birdies. Not the hardest, but it was the stingiest. It bruised the players, but it didn’t finish any of them. Hard? Oh yes. A calamity? Not on this day. And yet it remains the hole with potential to shape this tournament, given its proximity to the end of the round and its power to cripple a player if the breeze comes from the wrong angle. Yesterday, the headwinds were strong enough to warrant woods for the par three, but crucially they blew right to left. If the vane goes the other way, then scorecards will be decimated. The entire right side of the hole is a ravine coated in impenetrable rough. Go too far right and, if your ball is found, you may have to pitch as high as 50ft above your head to reach the green. And that is why the crowds watch. When Alex Noren became the first player to miss the green to the right, shortly after midday, someone in the greenside stand called ‘finally’. They flock for those relatable moments, when the good find this game difficult, too. Noren recovered for a par; Oliver Wilson had to swallow small losses from the same spot. The rest aimed left. Many players found the area Locke targeted and took their chances with the up-and-down, but repeatedly balls went into the crowd. When Woodland landed his on a man’s bag, he asked if he wouldn’t mind taking a few paces towards the pin. That got a laugh. On other days, there will be tears. On other days, Rory McIlroy would not be alone with a score of five or worse. On this occasion it said more about him than the hole. If the wind turns, the hole will have a lot more to say for itself.