Fantasy Golf: 2008 Open Championship Primer

July 14, 2008 10:57am CDT

The 2008 Open Championship
The Royal Birkdale Golf Club @ Southport, England
- Dates: Thursday, July 17 – Sunday, July 20
- 2008 Purse: $8,600,000

TV Schedule
First Round – Thursday, July 17 – TNT 7am-7pm EST
Second Round - Friday, July 18 – TNT 7am-7pm EST
Third Round – Saturday, July 19 – TNT 7am-7pm EST
Third Round – Saturday, July 19 – ABC 9am-End of Play EST
Final Round – Sunday, July 20 – TNT 6am-8amEST
Final Round – Sunday, July 20 – ABC 8am-End of Play EST


The Course
The Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Course Par Value: 71
Course Yardage: 7,180

Serving as the Open Championship host for the ninth time, this course has been renovated and lengthened by 155 yards since the last visit the Tour made to Royal Birkdale. However, course aficionados note the length is not nearly as concerning as the work performed on the infamous bunkers found on this course, tightened and relocated to areas that will present true danger throughout the travel across these links.

As a result, the lines of play most of the professionals will seek are vastly different from those played in 1998, and we are likely to see a tourney that fails to represent those tourneys of the past too closely.

In the end, these changes were enacted to encourage accuracy off the tee and to reward those that can control shots with long irons. As always, putting is at a premium on large greens that dwarf those found on the typical PGA course. The top putters of the game tend to carry an advantage into this tourney, but this season will demand the challengers come correct on nearly every swing they will make on the course.

For those of us watching at home, the spectacle of watching the game played in what may be the most ecologically sensitive course on the planet will provide the awe of the experience. These links are lined with estuaries, sand flats, dunes, and natural foliage you don't see in many parts of the world, and the views along the way are breathtaking.

The course is found within the limits of the Sefton Coast Special Area of Conservation, designated for its enormous area of diverse and unique ecological systems. Royal Birkdale consumes approximately 100 hectacres of this area with 80% of the course left to natural conditions. The folks tasked with operating and maintaining this course work closely with several environmental agencies to insure the nature surrounding the track is allowed to exist without compromise.

Hole 1 (Par 4, 450 yds): The course welcomes the golfer with a dog leg left with a troublesome bunker-faced mound found on the left of the landing area. If you fail to get the tee shot into the clear, you won't see the flag behind another mound on the approach. That's a worry with a large and undulating green that will haunt an putt coming over 15 feet.

Hole 2 (Par 4, 421 yds): The wind comes into play on a hole that is as straight as any on the course, but the bunkers surrounding the green are the true challenge of #2. New bunkers were constructed to the right of the landing area to give new importance to accuracy off the tee.

Hole 3 (Par 4, 450 yds): If the drive fails to land to the left side of the fairway, there is trouble ahead as an obstructed view towards the approach awaits. However, the course revisions landed two deep bunkers along that left side, making the effort to land a premium shot off the tee as daunting as any on the course. The green provides the typical links trademark, providing tons of room to land but little room to find comfort in putting.

Hole 4 (Par 3, 203 yds): The first par 3 at Birkdale is the longest on the course, and as fans of link-style golf realize, the wind will be a major factor off the box. Course revisions brought new mounding to the right side of the green, thus errant shots are sent in the opposite direction of the hole.

Hole 5 (Par 4, 346 yds): The temptation to drive for the green is likely to find frustration if the winds rise, for they tend to blow right at the tee. Bunkers around the green were tightened while the floor was lengthened to the right to open more challenging pin placements. This will be one hole that looks drastically different than the #5 you may remember from 1998, and as a result, it will be a challenge for those on the course.

Hole 6 (Par 5, 509 yds): The course reconstruction added 20 yards to this hole, forcing golfers to make difficult choices on the tee. Bunkers line the landing area on the right for those who come a bit short with the driver while new sand on the left awaits those that go 300+. The green is elevated and bumpy, a difficult task when matched with one of the more lengthy approach shots on the course. Add numerous bunkers found along the fringe of the green and you have a challenge that will conquer many of the game's best.

Hole 7 (Par 3, 177 yds): The fairway is straight but is as contoured as any on the course, but the green is the nightmare of the hole. The center of the green sits on high with daunting slopes falling on all sides. Miss the mark and you'll be punished.

Hole 8 (Par 4, 458 yds): One of the more challenging tee shots on the course, #8 introduces a total of four bunkers to the landing area that will affect each and every golfer on the tour, regardless of length off the tee. Deep pot bunkers line the front of one of the more challenging putting surfaces Birkdale will offer. However, getting to an optimal position on the fairway on shot 1 is the goal, for a miss there will be difficult to overcome.

Hole 9 (Par 4, 411 yds): Golfers must first hit blind off the tee that has been moved 25 yards back from its original position, though the landing area is as forgiving as you might hope to find at Birkdale. However, the approach is a killer, hitting to an elevated green with wind that will force a wide variety of club selections during the course of the tourney. Go long and you can count on bogey as the best possible score.

Hole 10 (Par 4, 412 yds): The 10th is short but a severe dogleg left will test the accuracy of all golfers off the tee. Bunkers line both sides of the landing area and there is no room for error as a result, for a wayward drive makes the approach too difficult to imagine many will overcome such mistakes.

Hole 11 (Par 4, 434 yds): First, hit into the win towards a straight-yet-tight fairway. That is the more relaxed shot on the 11th, for the approach will be met with some of the challenging pin positions on the course. The green is long, running away from the golfer, thus getting the approach near the hole will be an achievement worthy of top praise.

Hole 12 (Par 3, 183 yds): This par 3 may be one of the most famous holes on the Tour. The simplicity astounds but the challenge is fierce, hitting a solitary green trapped by sand on all sides. This is one of two holes that remains intact following the renovations since 1998, and that speaks to the value of #12.

Hole 13 (Par 4, 498 yds): Once again, what was once a typical PGA drive is now longer and tainted with bunkers throughout the landing area. The golfer must go long off the tee to maximize the effort, for the resulting club selection for a long approach is worrisome with daunting sand hills waiting behind the green. This putting surface is one of the more rewarding on the course, so play it right and you have one of few opportunities for birdie.

Hole 14 (Par 3, 201 yds): An elevated tee masks the dangers ahead as the box is guarded from winds that will play games with lofty drives. Deep bunkers lie on nearly all sides of the green, though the temptation to go long will prove detrimental due to a damaging run-off area.

Hole 15 (Par 5, 544 yds): The first of two par-5 offerings golfers must face on the trek into the clubhouse forces drives into prevailing winds, a shot made more difficult by moving the tee slightly to the left of its original position. The landing area has been lined with bunkers once again while mounds were built to damage the view into the green. If there is a playoff, it starts here.

Hole 16 (Par 4, 439 yds): The tee was moved back 23 yards, forcing a long drive into the wind. Run-off areas surround one of the more contoured greens on the course, making the approach a shot of supreme importance. Golfers once used trees to the back of the green to gauge the distance... so they were removed.

Hole 17 (Par 5, 572 yds): The longest hole at Royal Birkdale is the most famous as well, and now this layout sits 30-yards longer than previous tourneys. However, the prevailing wind will help your effort off the tee and could allow many to reach the floor in two. Two bunkers line the landing area for the drive with a two-tiered green with severe undulations awaits, but accuracy and length will be rewarded.

Hole 18 (Par 4, 472 yds): This classic finish presents out-of-bounds to the right and three bunkers coming into play with the driver, including a new trap at 300 yards to the left of the fairway. The green, sitting immediately below the famous Art Deco clubhouse, has a narrow entrance protected by three sand traps. It is going to be tough for any and all who come along, and a close tourney will make it as entertaining as can be.


2007 Review (held at Carnoustie)

PLACE PLAYER FINAL
1 Padraig Harrington -8 (277)
2 Sergio Garcia -8 (277)
3 Andres Romero -7 (278)
T4 Richard Green -6 (279)
T4 Ernie Els -6 (279)
T6 Stewart Cink -5 (280)
T6 Hunter Mahan -5 (280)
T8 Steve Stricker -4 (281)
T8 KJ Choi -4 (281)
T8 Mike Weir -4 (281)
T8 Ben Curtis -4 (281)
T12 Tiger Woods -3 (282)
T12 Justin Rose -3 (282)
T12 Markus Brier -3 (282)
T12 Pelle Edberg -3 (282)
T12 Paul Broadhurst -3 (282)
T12 Jim Furyk -3 (282)
T12 Miguel Angel Jimenez -3 (282)


1998 Review (most recent @ Royal Birkdale)

PLACE PLAYER FINAL
1 Mark O'Meara -4 (280)
2 Brian Watts -4 (280)
3 Tiger Woods -3 (281)
T4 Jesper Parnevik -2 (282)
T4 Raymond Russell -2 (282)
T4 Justin Rose -2 (282)
T4 Jim Furyk -2 (282)
8 Davis Love III +1 (285)
T9 Thomas Bjorn +2 (286)
T9 Costantino Rocca +2 (286)
T11 David Duval +3 (287)
T11 John Huston +3 (287)
T11 Brad Faxon +3 (287)