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Golf Digest, July, 2001 by Peter Thomson

A five-time Open winner calls Royal Lytham the ultimate challenge

Lytham should have a shorter name than Royal Lytham & St. Annes, but it stems from the tidy coastal Lancashire town, once a dormitory for industrial Manchester.

During its establishment, land that touched the sea went to elegant housing, and the golf was played "a couple of drives" inland on a tract that in time became surrounded by suburbia.

More than that, the busy north-south railway speeds along the out-of-bounds fence of the opening holes. The visual result is not what one would expect of one of the world's noblest courses.

Royal Lytham &
St. Annes Golf Club

HOLE        1     2     3     4       5

Yardage   206   438   458   392     212
Par         3     4     4     4       3

HOLE        6     7     8     9     OUT

Yardage   494   557   419   164   3,340
Par         5     5     4     3      35

HOLE        10    11    12      13      14    15

Yardage    335   542   198     342     445   465
Par          4     5     3       4       4     4

HOLE        16    17    18     IN    TOTAL

Yardage    359   467   412   3,565   6,905
Par          4     4     4      36      71

Yet as it stands today, Lytham is, for my money, the strictest test of a golfer's ability on the Open-championship roster. It is a veritable torture route from start to finish.

Its list of championship winners confirms its substance, and the scores returned, allowing for midsummer weather, are testimony to its difficulty factor.

It was at Lytham that Bobby Jones won the first of his three Open championships, a feat made historically famous for a remarkable recovery from the fairway bunker on the 71st hole, where a brass plaque in the sand and grass marks the spot. Since then, Bobby Locke of South Africa, myself, and Bob Charles of New Zealand each got to the wire first until Tony Jacklin won for the home team in 1969. After that, the winners at Lytham have included Gary Player of South Africa, Spaniard Seve Ballesteros--twice--and American Tom Lehman.

What championship history Lytham provides.

What makes it so special? It has 18 holes like all the other venues. It has bunkers aplenty with straight front walls. It also has fields of deep grasses that make up the "rough." All except the Old Course (which doesn't need it) have all that. Yet Lytham has a unique character.

For a start, the course stretches out like an elongated wedge, with the thin clubhouse offering the beginning and end. In its hinterland, it bulges somewhat, allowing some holes to break away from the north-south axis, a welcome change from the business of playing either straight downwind or dead into it.

In truth, the course has a serious imbalance, since there are three par 3s going out and a par 5, the sixth, which is quite reachable and always with the wind from the north. Twice players in the championship have recorded 29s going out, not exactly a tribute to classic design. Yet this peculiarity merely sets the stage for a formidable, torturous run home.

The second nine, par 36, has only one par 3, and it's a horror on a windy day. After that frightening 12th, there is a finish of six par 4s of various dimensions and directions, each one a potential calamity for a shaky leader.

The course was born in 1886, and naturally went through a succession of upgrades and modernizations. Yet its character was stamped upon it in the early 1900s when the master, Harry Colt, put his mind to it, giving the place its routing, its basic bunkers, and its small greens, most of which were the natural landform.

The demands on the 130th Open championship hopefuls are considerable. The key is driving accuracy, and modern-day length is not required or even recommended. Lehman, the winner at Lytham in 1996, gave us a beautiful exhibition of this as he ground Nick Faldo into the dust.

As is the case with all the seaside links courses on the championship roster, the turf is kept sparse, hungry and, one hopes, dry. With the drives running, Lytham is the ultimate test of driving skill, strategic planning and nerve control. Not for the fainthearted, but then nobody wants to see anyone but a worthy person win there. I wish all entrants the best of luck. They are going to need it!

RELATED ARTICLE: LYTHAM'S OPEN HISTORY

Two Americans, 70 years apart

Royal Lytham's nine previous Opens and their official program covers:

1926: Lytham's first Open was also the first British triumph for Bobby Jones, who beat Al Watrous by two strokes.

1952: South Africa's flamboyant Bobby Locke won the third of his four Open championships, and his third title in four years, by a stroke over Peter Thomson of Australia.

1958: When the Open returned to Lytham six years later, it was Thomson's turn. He won by four strokes in a 36-hole playoff with Dave Thomas for his fourth Open title in five years.

1963: New Zealand's Bob Charles used a hot putter to trounce Phil Rodgers by eight strokes in the Open's last 36-hole playoff. Charles remains the only lefty major champion.

1969: Britain's Tony Jacklin scored a popular victory. By holding off challenges from Bob Charles and Jack Nicklaus, he became the first "homegrown" winner in 18 years.