playbook
british open DUNES AND DON’TS NICKLAUS: “With these dunes, it depends on your lie. I once had a shot that was high up in the grass and the club went right under it. The ball went straight down into its divot.”
great SCOT
MIND THE GAP “This gap is fairly narrow, and there’s a ramp that runs into the green. Generally speaking, you try to chase the ball into the green.”
Pebble Beach? A pitch-and-putt. St. Andrews? Cow pasture. Augusta National? Please. The place has no rough! No, the truest test of major mettle is Scotland’s Muirfield Golf Club, host of this year’s British Open (July 18-21). Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Ernie Els—with 51 majors among them—have each tamed Old Tom Morris’ design, and no course to host at least five majors since 1953 can boast such a roll call (see page 47). “Muirfield requires the very best from every department of your game,” says Faldo. Here, he, Nicklaus and Player reveal what the field will face on the course’s closing stretch. —SCOTT T. MILLER
HOLE 16
PAR 3, 186 yards
FLY OVER “The cross bunkers are only in play if you’ve driven into a bunker or the rough. They’re really not a big issue.”
Nick Faldo describes the 1987 final round that yielded his first Open a “Scottish pea soup kind of day.” Facenumbing wind and horizontal rain sent pain coursing through his torso on each shot. When he reached the 16th, its 187 yards were playing into the gale. Faldo ripped a 2-iron; it landed five yards short. He got up-and-down for par—he famously parred all 18 holes Sunday—but a lesson was learned: In the wrong conditions, this seemingly harmless par 3 becomes a hang-on-for-dear-life hole. “That was one of the tougher pars all day. It was straight into the wind,” Faldo says. “On 16, it doesn’t matter what club you’re hitting; it’s whether or not you can hit it the right trajectory.”
JAIL TIME FALDO: “When you miss here, the green surface is four feet above you. It’s very easy to have the ball come right back to your feet.”
TRAPPED “If you have a normal lie, then the pot bunkers are playable. But if you’re up against the face or you don’t have a stance, they get really difficult. It’s really luck of the draw.”
LEFT AIN’T RIGHT “You don’t want to be left, that’s for sure. These bunkers are at least a half-stroke penalty. They force you to lay up short of the cross bunkers.”
HARD READ “Muirfield’s greens are so difficult outside of 20 feet. They have these subtle breaks. A longer putt may break three or four different ways.”
CARRY ON “That front section of the green falls right off, so you have to carry it a certain yardage into the green.”
HOLE 17
PAR 5, 575 YARDS
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ESPN The Magazine 07/22/2013
When Jack Nicklaus stepped to the 17th tee in the 1966 Open final round, he knew it was birdie or bust. His two closest challengers, Dave Thomas and Doug Sanders, had already carded disappointing pars on 17, leaving Nicklaus, the original par-5 killer, the window he needed to complete the career grand slam. “I hit a 3-iron off the tee and a 5-iron into the green—it was playing downwind—and I made my birdie 4,” Nicklaus says. “This hole gives you hope that you’ll always have the chance to catch up if you’re behind.”
illustrations by CHRIS O’RILEY From left: David Cannon/ALLSPORT/Getty Images; Bob Thomas/Getty Images
playbook
british open
PINNED DOWN PLAYER: “The toughest pin on this green is back right. If you go into the bunker, it’s very difficult to get it up-and-down.”
Tough TG-630 iHS
SO NOT GOOD “Muirfield’s rough is the highest of any Open host; it’s a one-stroke penalty. Many golfers who have found success here sacrifice length off the tee for precision.”
HOLD, PLEASE “When the wind is behind you, this green is hard to hold. It’s very tricky. Lots of subtle undulations—not severe, but subtle.”
BAD SANDS “The landing area is very flat, but it is about the only easy thing on the hole. You don’t want to go in these fairway bunkers. They’re murder.”
Tough TG-830 iHS
June 19, 2013 3:32 PM Colors Spec’d 4/c - CMYK
Non-Bleed 2.625” x 10.625”
Finishing N/A
Finished/Folded N/A
Winged Foot Oakland Hills Royal Troon Print Scale 100%
Mechanical Scale 1:1
Augusta National Southern Hills Royal Birkdale Oakmont
St. Andrews
1.4 1.6 2.0 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.5 4.0 4.3 5.6 5.7
Carnoustie
6.0
Oak Hill
6.0
Publications ESPN the Magazine
OLY-13-0010P
T-CON Teleconverter lens.
Job #
F-CON Fisheye Converter lens or the
Olympic
Baltusrol
Pebble Beach Live 2.25” x 11”
O
Freezeproof to 14 F Expand your TG-2 iHS system with the
Special Instructions Design: Full page and 1/3 page Ad produced together -- Run 1/3 pg towards gutter
Crushproof to 220lbf
Royal St. George
Trim 3.25” x 12”
Shockproof to 7ft
If we judge championship courses by the quality of their winners (news flash: We do), then Muirfield is the greatest major venue in the world.* Its six modern-era champs boast the highest average career majors of any major host’s.
Muirfield
6.3 7.2 8.5
*Average number of golfing majors won by champions at each course over the past 60 years; minimum five majors hosted.
Bleed N/A
Waterproof down to 50ft
MAJOR CRED
Royal Lytham & St. Annes
Version # 1
includes models that are:
HOLE 18
PAR 4, 470 YARDS
Job Description 2013 Spring Tough Ad #2
Olympus Tough Series
Document Name TF18574_OLY-13-0010P-68B_ST2-ESPN_panel
Last Modified Tough TG-2 iHS
Gary Player began the final day of the 1959 Open eight shots back with 36 holes to play. That didn’t keep the 23-year-old from declaring, “I’m going to win the Open.” True to his word, Player played the first 35 holes in six-under—but on 18, it all went wrong. A pulled drive found a fairway bunker. Two shots and three putts later, he walked off 18 with a double bogey. “I was crushed,” Player says. “I thought I’d blown my chance.” But when his competitors faded down the stretch, Player won his first of nine majors. He’s the only Muirfield winner since 1959 not to par the 18th in the final round—so naturally, we asked him to detail its many hazards.
Central Press/Getty Images
07/22/2013 ES P N T h e M a g a zin e
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