Road Hole to wreak havoc?

By Mark Garrod, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent Last updated: 12th July 2010

Golf fans were short-changed in May this year when only 32 balls all week went into the lake round the 17th green at Sawgrass during the Players Championship.

Three years ago there were 50 on one day.

But those attending The Open at St Andrews ought to receive their money's worth following the decision to make arguably the toughest hole in the world - again the 17th - even harder.

Expect thrills and spills in equal measure and expect it also to have a big say in who holds aloft the Claret Jug at the end of the championship.

When Seve Ballesteros won in 1984 the famous Road Hole - a par four remember - played to an average of 4.79. Ten years ago it was 4.71 and five years ago 4.63.

Seeing a dangerous trend developing, the Royal and Ancient Club had a new tee built on the practice range across the disused railway and stretched the hole from 465 to 495 yards. While still keeping it as a par four, of course.

Former R&A secretary Sir Michael Bonallack said of the hole: "It is the perfect blend of nature and the deviousness of man, combining to present a challenge that will always test the skill and nerve of those who play it.

"However good the start and the middle of the round may have been, all can come undone at the 17th. The safer you try to play it the harder it can become.

"Possibly more than any other hole in golf it offers the opportunity for a seemingly impossible deficit to be recovered - which means, of course, it can also lead to the loss of an almost impregnable lead."

With out of bounds down the right - the mighty Old Course Hotel can easily be hit off the tee - the cavernous Road Bunker in front of the narrow green and the road and the wall just over the back the hole has seen drama a-plenty over the years. Make that centuries.

In 1978 the bunker was re-named "The Sands of Nakajima" after Japanese golfer Tommy Najakima, in contention at the time, was on the green for two, putted into it, needed four attempts to get out and ran up a quintuple bogey nine.

In his 1995 play-off with John Daly, Italian Costantino Rocca also had three shots in the bunker and five years later David Duval's pursuit of Tiger Woods ended when he had four shots in the same tiny trap.

Perhaps most memorably of all, Tom Watson's battle with Ballesteros in 1984 was settled as much by what happened to him on the 17th as by the Spaniard's birdie on the 18th.

Hoping for a record-equalling sixth title, Watson lost after his two-iron approach flew over the green and finished up against the wall.

On announcing the change to the hole for this year's Open R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said: "Over the years we have seen the threat from the road behind the green - and to a lesser extent the Road Bunker - diminished as players have been hitting shorter irons for their approach shots, allowing them to avoid these hazards more easily.

"This change will ensure that the hole plays as it was originally intended."

Now he and everyone waits to see what happens. Should be interesting. Could be decisive.

Mark Garrod, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent