The seven big Open questions
4. Where will The Open Championship be won and lost?
Danger lurks on all 18 holes on the Old Course, but these three may well determine its champion.
Because it takes a lifetime and more to be able to understand the intricacies of the Old Course, we invited St Andrews caddie Oliver Horovitz, author of An American Caddie In St Andrews, to identify the three holes where this year’s Open could be won and lost. “It’s hard to narrow it down to just three,” he laughs, “and I feel bad for leaving the 4th out. But if we have to narrow it right down, I think we’re looking at the following three…”
Hole 11 | High | Par 3, 174 yards
“The caddies call this the shortest par 5 in Scotland and it’s brutal. The fairway is riddled with nasty bunkers, then you’re hitting into a green that is really slopey, really slanted. Go long and it’s death and an easy double. They often put the pin at the very back, three paces from the valley. A lot of guys will get suckered into the newly reworked Bobby Jones bunker.”
Hole 13 | Hole O’Cross | Par 4, 418 yards
“The most underrated hole, played uphill and usually into the wind. It’s so far back you actually hit from a different golf course, you tee off on the Eden course. The Coffin Bunkers will
eat any errant tee shots and the green
is vast but the pin placement is right
and treacherous, with an unnamed bunker behind that can stop
any round in its tracks.”
Hole 17 | Road | Par 4, 455 yards
“It’s just a beast of a hole. The fairway is really narrow, the rough is very thick off to the left and you’re hitting into the smallest green on the whole golf course, that looks like a nothing target. The second shot is really the scariest out there because the Road Hole bunker is right there and redesigned to take in more balls. Clearly the key hole here.”