Prior to Brian Harman lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday, a lot has been made of the par 3 17th at Royal Liverpool, with professionals and caddies divided about the layout of the short hole.
Some liked it, some didn’t, and now, following the conclusion of The 151st Open Championship, it has been reported by The Telegraph that the hole is set to be given a complete makeover, with members of the club also disliking the way that the hole plays.
According to The Telegraph, an insider has said: “In truth, the majority of members have not liked this hole since it was opened a few years back. It has caused all manners of problems in the club’s competitions.
“There was one women’s tournament held when there was a host of ‘no returns’ at the 17th. It was taking 20 to 30 minutes for each group to complete and it caused a huge tail back. They are not getting rid of it but they will be blowing it up and making it much fairer and more appealing to play.”
Reportedly, the tee will be elevated, with the right portion of the green elevated and filled in. Currently, that area is a severe run off into a bunker, which was found multiple times throughout tournament play.
Fowler hits a bunker shot from the 17th bunker
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Before the tournament, Matt Fitzpatrick‘s caddy, Billy Foster, described the par-3 as a “monstrosity”, with legendary coach, Pete Cowen stating: “I hate it,” before adding: “It could ruin somebody’s career if the wind goes in the wrong direction.”
On Friday, Travis Smyth made a hole-in-one at the par 3, with scores of up to quadruple bogey being made. Two of the players to make triple bogey were Matt Fitzpatrick, Foster’s boss, and Tommy Fleetwood, who both went long and couldn’t recover from some horrendous lies in the sand.
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