Listened to a Radio show(local/Scottish) this morning whilst out in the tractor helping father in law, they were debating whether to put in about 8-10 new, wide, pot bunkers in front of the most vunerable holes on the Old Course (ie the driveable par 4s and the 2 par 5s) and they called this "Tiger Proofing", I,ve never heard any one mention "Singh Proofing" or "Ernie/Phil/Retief Proofing" I think that says it all!
Funny thing is Their Tiger proofing did nothing of the sort....
By lengthening holes, it had the effect of playing into what Tiger is good at & proofed the course against other players.
I wonder what would have happened had pins been moved forward & not back, what exactly would have happened. And bunkers anyone can fall prey to & that is exactly what happened...
As for making bunkers wider is not going to make them more difficult to get out of, fine, it'll be easier to get caught in one, but that is about it. If a player is a good bunker player, they would have to have a particularly bad lye to end up in real trouble, even though St Andrews bunkers resembled some sort of cross between moon craters, the somme & jurassic Sink Holes
Listened to a Radio show(local/Scottish) this morning whilst out in the tractor helping father in law, they were debating whether to put in about 8-10 new, wide, pot bunkers in front of the most vunerable holes on the Old Course (ie the driveable par 4s and the 2 par 5s) and they called this "Tiger Proofing", I,ve never heard any one mention "Singh Proofing" or "Ernie/Phil/Retief Proofing" I think that says it all!
Thats interesting Anthony.
I wander if Hootie Johnson gave the R&A a call
I'm not sure when the next time it will be back their....maybe around 2010 or 2011...but I'll be curious if adding those bunkers on say 5, 9, 10, 12 and 14 do come to fruition.
If you want to Tiger proof a course, make it 6000 yards with penal rough,small bumpy greens and then the skill level will be reduced as much as possible.
Lefty, I think you and I are natural adversaries - love to play a game with you. The point is that it's easy to play well when you've nothing to gain like those you mention. It's also easy to lead when you're ahead by a couple and everyone else has to chase - no-one today has the Arnold Palmer "charge" - when he was 6 behind he'd have a go and make it happen. However, he still had fewer majors than Hogan and Player.
By the way the ashes starts soon -- 10 quid on the outcome?
I'm not sure when the next time it will be back their....maybe around 2010 or 2011...but I'll be curious if adding those bunkers on say 5, 9, 10, 12 and 14 do come to fruition.
It is normally around every 6-7 years that they go back to St Andrews, I prefer The Open at either Muirfield or Carnoustie myself as they tend to play harder but for different reasons, it will be interesting to see how Royal Liverpool(Hoylake) get on next year and I quite like Royal Birkdale as well.
I also believe that Royal Cinque Ports are trying to get themselves ready to bid for The Open and that would be an interesting venue.
Its a pity Machrihanish can,t stage The Open as that would really test the players, grow the rough there and let the wind blow and level par would probably win it!
Interesting thought in this thread. Allow me to add mine.
The playing conditions for the final round at the Old Course were extremely difficult, especially with those brutal pin positions. It was highly unlikely that anyone was going to shoot a 66 out there, but more especially one of the contenders. The pressure was just too much for a guy like Jose-Maria Olazabal or Colin Montgomerie to bang out a 66 or 67 on such a tough course, while attempting to fend off Tiger Woods. It just wasn't going to happen.
Oh sure, both Colin and Jose have had fine careers and many great moments, and each of them have played quite well, at times, this year. But Sunday at The Open, against Tiger Woods, well that's just another animal, folks.
And Tiger knew it. I knew it. Most of the viewers knew it. And, apparently, even Colin, himself, knew it. That's what made Tiger's performance so wonderful. It really was a masterful performance. Sometimes, when protecting a lead, players can become overly cautious and start making mistakes. Then the doubts creep in and they can lose control and focus. But not the legendary Tiger Woods. He knew what he had to do, and he did it. And I'd bet he also knew that both Jose and Colin were more likely to start dropping strokes than gaining. He waited for a challenge from two impotent golfers and that challenge never came.
As for the "fear factor," we may see or hear comments from guys like Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie or Chris Riley being intimidated. But you'll never read or hear about Vijay, Phil, Retief, Sergio or Adam Scott saying such things. They just can't afford to think like that. They may secretly think such things. But they'd never say it.
If you want to Tiger-proof a course you have to sacrifice the integrity of the golf course and make it something that doesn't necessarily reward good shots. He's obviously the best player out there, and at the top in pretty much every facet of the game. If you want to design a course to stop him, you might as well just rig the tournament.
I do like the fact that the R&A changed the pins. A lot of pros stated that they have never seen them in thoes locations before. The USGA at the US open put the 75% of the pins in the same spot that they did the last time they played the open at Pinehurst. I think that USGA has a lot to learn from the R&A.
Well Tiger was impressive and proved his worth as the overwhelming favorite. He is definitely the "horse for that course". This has been discussed before and is probably more appropriate for another thread, but I think as telling as Tiger's excellence are the birth dates of his main runners-up. Even the top 15 was loaded mostly with guys getting ready for the Champions Tour for crying out loud. Monty, Langer, Freddie, Perry, Faldo ??... David Frost ????. Vijay hung in there and he's what... 42. Even Jose M.O. will be 40 in a couple of months.... pathetic. So much for the "Big 5". It looks as if Phil is happy to have his major and Goosen's apparently forgotten how to play on Sunday under pressure. I don't know what's going on with Ernie. VJ will be ok is he can get his putter straightened out but he's only good for a couple more years realistically. It would've been nice for Jack if all he had to worry about were Snead, Hogan, Middlecoff, Peter Thomson and a bunch of Ken Venturis. Where are the young guns??? End of Rant. Congrats to Tiger.
It was highly unlikely anyone would go and shoot a 66 on Sunday. The lowest round of the day was a 67 by Graeme McDowell.
And that was shot early in the day when there was no wind. Only one player in the last 13 groups outside of Tiger shot under par (Monty's 71). THe course played very difficult late on Sunday. Tiger's 69 in those difficult conditions could have been a lot better if not for the missed putts. A most impressive round, and one of Tiger's best ball striking rounds probably ever. He even admitted that after the round.
If you want to Tiger proof a course, make it 6000 yards with penal rough,small bumpy greens and then the skill level will be reduced as much as possible.
to be honest a hole such as that, that is 6000 yards is probably more detrimental to other players than Tiger... you have to think of what sort of distance & shots Tiger is weekest at & then creating a course of that length & condition... I think shortening, rather than lengthining a course will actually even the field out more...
It would be interesting to see how Tiger plays one of my local Parr 3 18 hole courses, that is my favorite course, against the likes of Campbell, Bjorn, Clarke, Goosen, Vijay, Perry, Verplank, etc
Listened to a Radio show(local/Scottish) this morning whilst out in the tractor helping father in law, they were debating whether to put in about 8-10 new, wide, pot bunkers in front of the most vunerable holes on the Old Course (ie the driveable par 4s and the 2 par 5s) and they called this "Tiger Proofing", I,ve never heard any one mention "Singh Proofing" or "Ernie/Phil/Retief Proofing" I think that says it all!
Either grow Carnousitne type rough or put bound of bounds stakes on both sides of the fairway. Also, put huge clumps of rough 300-350 yeards from the tee...
July 20th, 2005, 05:21 AM
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