4 HOLES THAT WILL CAUSE HAVOC...
THE championship blurb says this is as hard a hole as can be found anywhere in golf. I can vouch for that. It is. It’s a tough par four, even if the wind isn’t blowing. It’s hard to get home in two, if it is. Bunkers protect the green, if you fall short. Can eat into your scorecard. The fact that it is a 248-yard par three speaks for itself. It is another example of just how hard this course is, if the conditions are against you. A par here is not to be sniffed at. During the 1968 Open, Jack Nicklaus was the only player to make it past the pin on the final round. Even now, that’s a feat to be admired. The Barry Burn twists this way and that across the fairway from one side to another – creating the “Island” that gives the hole its name. The tee shot must find that island, setting up a lengthy second shot to the green. Again, hazardous if the wind is rearing up.
The Burn is in play pretty much everywhere you care to look – particularly in front of the green where Jean van der Velde took off his shoes and socks as his hopes of winning in ’99 were dashed. The 13 I took here in the Dunhill still gives me nightmares. I was, at worst, only 10 yards off target... and, boy, did I pay for it!