The recent change on the famous 17th hole at St. Andrews has stirred up some controversy and mixed feelings. Known in the past as one of the most difficult holes in the game, it lost some of its menace over the years. For the 2010 British Open, the R&A pushed the tees back 40 yards to make it more challenging.
Before returning to Ireland, Padraig Harrington made a rare appearance at the Travelers Championship. The three-time major champion felt the adrenaline coming down the stretch on Sunday as he turned in an early six-under 64, which ended up being good enough for T5. So, what does the 2008 British Open champion think of the change to the Road Hole? Without hesitation (and extra emphasis on “dead right”):
I think it’s dead right. They’ve got to force us to hit driver off the hole. The last couple of times I’ve played it, [I've hit] like 5 wood, 8 iron [or] 3 wood, wedge, at times. Now it’s going to be back to the hole I saw on TV when I was watching it in the ’80s — which is a really intimidating tee shot with a driver and [hitting] a 5 iron into it. That’s what the hole is meant to be; it’s meant to be one of the toughest holes in golf.
Between now and the Open, Paddy is returning across the pond to play in the JP McMannis Pro-Am next week (or “in a week’s time” as he says it).
June 27th, 2010 on 8:53 pm
Just for the record, the Irish Open is actually on after The Open. Maybe you meant that. Either way, I sound very pedantic. Apologies– but hey, it’s better than some of those weird, pervy comments people have been leaving in recent days, amiright?
Great to see Bubba finally get the win (and not just because it’s paid another chunk of next year’s college fees). He seems a good guy by real-world standards, as distinct from ‘Tour standards’, by which even a Level 2 dick-face like Anthony Kim is considered some kind of gentleman. The double on 17 seemed to banish the nerves and force a performance. I was stuck ‘watching’ the thing on PGATour shot-tracker– I gather he topped the ball from the fairway bunker?
June 27th, 2010 on 9:15 pm
Thanks for catching that — I just played the voice recorder again and apparently I was making that up in my head for some reason.
June 27th, 2010 on 10:01 pm
Fleg – why did they change the date ? Paddy had made a tradition of warming up with the Irish Open on a links course instead of going to Scotland and playing a parkland course before The Open.
June 27th, 2010 on 11:10 pm
They have changed the date of the Irish Open, but I think you’re confusing it with the Irish PGA (the date of which they’ve also changed). He’s played in that the week before The Open the last few years, when it was held around a couple of quality links tracks on the east coast, The European Club being the most noteworthy. It was a massive win-win: Harrington got his tournament practice around a top quality links venue and about a hundred club pros got the thrill of playing in front of some pretty sizeable crowds, not to mention the positive exposure it gave the event at-large. Funnily enough, a number of tour pros– Adam Scott and a few others– tried to squeeze their way into it, but the PGA couldn’t bend the admission criteria enough to allow it.
The Irish Open has been played on a couple of links venues the last decade or so (Baltray and Ballybunion), but it has moved about the calendar and kind of failed to attract the big (non-Irish) names. It got pushed to May for a few years and that really did some damage. It’s a shame– c.2000 it was held just before the European Open and was one of the big events on the tour.
June 28th, 2010 on 4:44 am
The date of the Irish Pga has also been changed this year, so Padraig can no longer use it as warm up before the Open, he actually considered hosting his own event on a links course next week, but he is competing in the Jp Mcmanus pro-am next Monday and Tuesday, it is a charity event held every 5 years at Adare Manor, it has a pretty amazing field, including Tiger and most of the top 15 in the world.
June 28th, 2010 on 1:56 pm
Wonder what a “long hitter” like DJ or Phil can hit on that hole now? Maybe driver + 8? Or I guess he goes 3w + 5i if he can?
July 24th, 2011 on 8:25 pm
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