Royal St George’s Hole Fifteen
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The Open Championship returns to Royal St George’s in Kent this year for the first time since 2003.
This will be the 14th time the venue has hosted this great event, yet after an eight-year absence, the layout will be new to many of today’s young guns. Even those with previous experience will be taking on a slightly different course to the one Ben Curtis successfully negotiated to win the Claret Jug in 2003. The 124-year-old Links has been lengthened by more than 100 yards and reduced from par 71 to 70.
PAR 4, 496 YARDS
BROOKS: There’s a new tee 22 yards further back and things can often go wrong. A great drive is required to be long and between the traps, which are 28 yards apart at the narrowest. If you’re not in the fairway, the traps short of the green make it a hard second to a pear-shaped green. Left of the green is dead but there’s a bail-out area right.
THREAD IT
Narrowing traps make this one of the most elusive fairways.
RIGHT SIDE
Feed the approach in from the right; miss left and par chances vanish.
