Today's Golfer Open Supplement Preview

THE OPEN

2011

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The Open 2011

PLAN OF ATTACK Tour star Justin Rose joins forces with club pro Andrew Brooks to explain the strategies to tackle Royal St George’s

The Open Championship returns to Royal St George’s in Kent this year for the first time since 2003.

This will be the 14th time the venue has hosted this great event, yet after an eight-year absence, the layout will be new to many of today’s young guns. Even those with previous experience will be taking on a slightly different course to the one Ben Curtis successfully negotiated to win the Claret Jug in 2003. The 124-year-old Links has been lengthened by more than 100 yards and reduced from par 71 to 70.

Englishman Justin Rose, who exploded onto the scene when he finished tied fourth as an amateur at

the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, leaves no stone unturned in his preparations for his home Major. The 2007 European Tour Order of Merit champion and two-time 2010 PGA Tour winner has already highlighted five key holes, identified equipment changes and begun practising the shots he sees as essential to score well on this venerable links. Here, Rose shares his thoughts on those five make-or-break holes with TG. For the remaining 13 we turn to a man who knows the layout like the back of his hand, Royal St George’s head pro Andrew Brooks.

It’s an intriguing insight into what it will take to tame Royal St George’s.

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ANDREW BROOKS

has been pro at Royal St George’s for 16 years and has a best round of 65 off the 2003 Open championship tees.

TOP LINE The right side offers a slightly more open approach.

CONTROLLED With OB long, golfers can’t be too aggressive on the approach.

KICK OFF The field must guard against losing the ball right from here.

NO GO AREA Find rough to the left and you can’t carry the traps by the green.

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HOLE 1 PAR 4, 444 YARDS Brooks: You must hit the fairway as playing the second shot from the rough means you can’t fly it over the traps that guard the front of the green. All the players will be desperate not to make a bad start like Tiger Woods did when he lost his ball and made a seven in 2003.

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TEE OPTION Players must favour the right side or lay up short of the traps.

HARD LINE A blind fairway makes picking the line tricky off the tee.

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HOLE 2 PAR 4, 417 YARDS Brooks: It’s a slight dog-leg but the traps in the fairway won’t be carried by the players, so the tee shot should be played down the right. From there, you can see the green and will have a wedge or 9-iron in. The green isn’t too tricky, but like most here, it falls away at the edge. The players should bounce their approach just short of the middle of the green and it will stay on.

HOLE 3 PAR 3, 240 YARDS Brooks: This is a big shot off the tee to a green that’s only about 30 feet wide. If you aim at the right of the green, the ball will kick in to the left. It’s a two-tier green but I can’t imagine the pin will be at the bottom.

Club selection will be difficult because of air conditions. If the wind is into, the ball can balloon if you go airborne with a wood so a long iron might be better.

HOLE 4 PAR 4, 495 YARDS Rose: I guess you could call this Sandwich’s signature hole, thanks to the huge bunker guarding the right side of the fairway. I’ve never been in there – the last time I played it in 2003, it was a shorter carry off the tee – but it’s one of those bunkers you almost want to hit into for fun, just to watch your caddie rake it!

This year the carry will be more like 235 yards, with another 30 to the fairway, making this an intimidating drive and one where it is hard to commit to your line off the tee. Get it right and you are looking to keep your second shot up on the left as everything runs away to the right. OB is not far through the severely sloping green, too. It’s a hole where you’re just looking to make four and get out of there.

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The Open 2011

Play the shots that won

THE OPEN Now you can play the most iconic shots in Open history, thanks to these tips from Wentworth’s Kristian Baker…

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The Open 2011

NOW PLAY THE SHOT

Hit the stinger by following these three simple tips...

BACKSWING

SWING BACK SHORTER With the ball back in the stance, make a shorter backswing with less wrist cock to give you a shallower angle of attack. This helps sweep the ball, generating less spin.

IMPACT

Woods only hit his driver once all week en route to victory at Hoylake.

COVER THE BALL The hands need to be in front of the ball when you strike it to take loft off the club.

Be sure to cover the ball with your body, helping to drive the ball out lower.

FOLLOWTHROUGH

Tiger Woods

Stinger long-iron tee shot, Hoylake 2006 On the way to an emotional victory at the 2006 Open Championship at Hoylake, Tiger Woods destroyed the field with a four-round total of 18 under par, one shot off his own scoring record set at St Andrews in 2000, with some superlative long-iron play.

Woods realised from his first practice round that he could drive his ball more than 370

yards on the hard and fast fairways. So in order to give him more control, he replaced his 5-wood with a 2-iron, although he would occasionally hit a 3-wood off the tee.

Woods’ game plan was to keep the ball on the fairway and stay short of the bunkers.

His strategy paid dividends.

Woods hit his driver only once the entire week (on the 16th

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hole of the first round), and missed just four fairways on the way to lifting the Claret Jug two months after the death of his father Earl.

Keeping the ball in play is paramount on any links course and mastering the long-iron stinger is a great way to add control of both trajectory and sidespin. Find more fairways with Kristian Baker’s tips.

CURTAIL YOUR FINISH Your followthrough will be curtailed because you're not allowing the club to fully release, caused by the excessive shaft lean towards the target.

The Open 2011

FAVOURITE OPEN HOLES Within The Open rota are some of golf's most iconic challenges.

Tour stars and celebrities reveal the ones they love the most...

Royal Troon 8th – The Postage Stamp Par 3, 126 yards LUKE DONALD

“I love short par 3s that should be a birdie hole but where you can also make double bogey pretty easily. My best score would have been a two and I think my worst score was probably a four. I don’t think I’ve had any nightmares. I think that it is a great hole.”

ANDERS HANSEN

“In my experience of The Open, this is the most challenging hole I have played, yet it is still one of

HAVE YOUR SAY...

What's your favourite Open hole? You can vote online now at www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/ Open holepoll. PLUS: Next month, courtesy of our friends at HSBC, Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie debate the best holes on The Open rota, forming their 'Ultimate Open'.

See www.todays golfer. co.uk/Openholedebate

my favourites. The view is stunning and the history surrounding it is inspiring.

“I understand it got its name in the early 20th Century when it was claimed in Golf Illustrated that the hole had ‘a pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a postage stamp’.

It is also claimed during the Second World War that soldiers used the area for hand grenade practice, hence the deep bunkers!

“Despite it being very short it is a scary hole to play and you can easily make a bogey or even worse. Add some wind and you can easily find yourself in big trouble.”

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Turnberry 9th Par 4, 452 yards RUGBY LEGEND JONATHAN DAVIES

“The tee is out in the middle of the Ocean and when you’re stood there it’s usually a ferocious wind so it’s a very daunting place to be. It all depends what line you take off the tee because if you hook it a little bit it’s 'adios amigos' because you’ll never see it again. But the reward is great if you can carry it over the inlet because it will run and then it becomes quite an easy par. Like every golf shot, it’s all in the mind. It sounds easy, but let me tell you, it’s not.”

St Andrews 17th – The Road Hole Par 4, 455 yards IAN POULTER

“It’s a great hole, a clever golf hole, with loads of history. And St Andrews is one of my favourite Open courses. There are so many shots that I remember being played there; off the road, off the wall and out of the Road Hole Bunker.

“There are so many variables on it. You’ve got to hit a great tee shot over the corner of the hotel, then it gives you options depending where the pin is located. You can run it up around from the front right of the green, fly it on the green the whole way or you can miss the green long left and putt back to that pin

Carnoustie 18th Par 4, 444 yards TENNIS STAR TIM HENMAN

“It’s one of those holes where there isn’t really a bail out.

You’ve got to execute all your shots well. Where you land your tee shot is like an island, left and you’re OB and push it right and you’ve got the Burn. On the TV it looks like the OB is out of play but standing on the hole into a bit of a headwind it’s absolutely in play. Plus, you've got the history and memory of what happened to Jean Van de Velde there in 1999.”

behind the bunker. I’ve birdied it and I think my worst score on the hole has probably been a five, which I think is pretty good.”

GRAEME McDOWELL

“I don’t want to state the obvious and I’m sure everyone is going to say the 17th at St Andrews but I’m going to say it because of the history – and it’s just such a great golf hole. It’s love/hate with that hole. I love to play it and I hate to mess it up because it’s such a difficult hole. I have good memories because I made birdie when I shot 62 on the Old Course.”

St Andrews 18th Par 4, 361 yards MARTIN KAYMER

“I actually four‑putted here last year at The Open but I think it is just a fantastic finishing hole.

“You see the town of St Andrews on the right side and the unbelievable clubhouse.

“All of the history is there and that makes it so special.

“I think the most famous shot I’ve seen on that hole was Costantino Rocca, who made his putt out of the Valley of Sin to get in a play-off with John Daly in 1995.”

St Andrews 11th Par 3, 174 yards LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN

“This hole is so challenging because it’s difficult to get the distance right and it's always windy. Its design really suits St Andrews – on other courses it wouldn’t be great. In The Open I was one over on it over the week. If you miss right you can end up having an 80-foot putt for birdie. If you go a bit left, you’re in trouble and you’re in the bunkers so you have to get it spot on as you could easily make a double bogey.”

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