Hole 5 – Hole O’ Cross (Out)

Published:

Par 5 / 568 yards

 

How it played out in 2005:

Eagles: 15 Birdies: 211 Pars: 191 Bogeys: 46 Others: 8

The championship tees on the 5th may have lengthened an already long hole, but it didn’t stop Neil draining a monster for a bogey.
IAN: 7 NEIL: 6

LUKE SAYS: “The first par 5 is reachable with a mid-iron if playing downwind. Again, there are bunkers down the right and a green guarded by a huge swale at the front. Some try and run it through the swale and some try and land it on the green.”

PADRAIG SAYS: This is, perhaps surprisingly, quite a pressure-filled hole. There are only two par 5s on the Old Course and so you know you should make a birdie here; but if you go too far left off the tee you get caught up in the mounds. If you want to make birdie you need to go down the right, but then you’re taking a chance with some bunkers, which are very penal. Even though the green is 100 yards long, it’s relatively flat and so easy to two-putt, even from 70-90 feet. If you are short in two, it’s a tough chip. Well, actually, it’s a putt. Watch everyone practising that chip on the practice days; and then when it comes to the championship, putting up the hill!

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