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Welcome to Funkytown: strange things will happen in next week's British Open at Hoylake, where the tournament returns for the first time in 39 years—not a moment too late

Sporting News, The, July 21, 2006 by Reid Spencer

What will the 2006 British Open give us? The funkiest, quirkiest major championship in Tiger Woods' or Phil Mickelson's lifetime.

In honor of the 11th appearance of the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, popularly known as Hoylake, club historian Joe Pinnington has written a history of the course titled Mighty Winds ... Mighty Champions. Well, it's mighty weird that the Royal & Ancient has decided to bring the Open back to Hoylake, where scores are certain to be mighty low--record low--unless those mighty winds show up mighty often.

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They didn't in 1967, the last time the Open was played at Royal Liverpool. Argentine Roberto De Vicenzo beat Jack Nicklaus by two shots, and 12 players finished under par. This year, when modern equipment meets an obsolete--by major championship standards--golf course, technology will win. Players might have to break par just to make the cut.

There's no lake at Hoylake, but there's plenty of history. Most notably, Bobby Jones won the Open there in 1930 as part of his "impregnable quadrilateral," the Grand Slam. Legends Walter Hagen, J.H. Taylor and Peter Thomson won at Royal Liverpool, but the course also has produced such forgettable champions as Arnaud Massy, Alf Padgham and Fred Daly (no relation to Big John).

Yes, the course is 263 yards longer than it was in 1967. At 7,258 yards on the scorecard, Hoylake seems formidable enough, but the scorecard doesn't tell you about the doglegs that can be cut or the hard fairways that produce yards of extra roll.

Nor does it tell you about the controversial reordering of the holes, with Nos. 17 and 18 playing as Nos. 1 and 2 and the tournament finishing on the par-5 16th. The practice ground at Hoylake isn't big enough to hold a 3-iron shot, so the competitors will warm up at the local muni across the street.

Hoylake's best defenses are the out-of-bounds areas that threaten 13 of the 18 holes. For a straight hitter, the course is there for the taking. Spectators shoehorned into this drab layout could witness the (painfully) unforgettable: a champion more obscure than Todd Hamilton or Ben Curtis.

Welcome to Funkytown: strange things will happen in next week's British Open at Hoylake, where the tournament returns for the first time in 39 years—not a moment too late

Sporting News, The, July 21, 2006 by Reid Spencer

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