ST ANDREWS, Scotland, July 12 (Reuters) - As sporting venues go, the 17th hole at St Andrews is as iconic as they come, with many a British Open dream ended there and many a golfer's round distracted knowing the ultimate challenge lies in wait. Changing the layout of the 'Road' hole at St Andrews could be considered tantamount to sporting sacrilege, like resurfacing Wimbledon's Centre Court or switching Monaco's Formula One Grand Prix from a street to an oval circuit.
However it turns out golfers are a reformist bunch, and the additional 40 yards added to the ‘toughest par four in championship golf’ has received a warm welcome from the players lining up to win the 150th anniversary Open at the Old Course this week. "You do realise they used to play this course from the greens to the tees? — so they’ve changed that many times," twice champion Padraig Harrington told reporters on Monday.
"Everything evolves. There’s substantial changes going on all the time. I know 17 is very high profile but this is the modern game. It has to change at some stage, and that’s part of golf. All golf courses, and this one particularly, has evolved over the course of time.
"It’s now one you’re going to think about for 16 holes to actually get through it," added the Irishman. The hole, which is now a 495-yard par four, presents a formidable test for the professionals and must reduce amateur players to nervous wrecks.
OUT OF BOUNDS
The dog-leg to the right requires a tee shot aimed over the wing of a hotel, dicing with the out-of-bounds zone to the right, and unforgiving rough if pushed too far to the left.
The drive requires a minimum carry of 260 yards to clear the hotel wing, and that is even before the most testing second shot in golf with the intimidating pot bunker guarding the front edge and a low wall haunting any stroke hit long.
The hole infamously ended Tom Watson’s chances in 1984 when his second ended inches short of the back wall, while Tommy Nakajima’s challenge wilted in 1978 when he needed four shots to extricate himself from the bunker after his birdie putt rolled agonisingly into the sand.
"I’ve just played the 17th. I think it’s a really good improvement," said Britain’s world number three Lee Westwood.
"Obviously it’s longer but the line is not changed a great deal. It’s a little bit more demanding. And then the rough is very thick on the left hand side. Obviously you don’t want to be in there."
The game’s most revered hole also presents golfers with one of their most bizarre driving lines — which part of the Old Course Hotel sign do they aim at?
"Anywhere over ‘Old’ is a good line," Westwood said. "And not much further than L in ‘Hotel’."
