Did the R&A bend on Hoylake’s ‘brutal bunkers’?

Was it the sight of a crestfallen Justin Thomas punching his ball from bunker to bunker on 18? Or perhaps it was Rory McIlroy finding the bottom of the same revetted hazard on the final hole, and failing to get out on his first go, that tipped the scales.

Royal Liverpool’s 82 bunkers once more dominated proceedings as the second round of The Open got under way, but it wasn’t because players were still slashing around in a desperate bid to escape.

Sky Sports showed footage of club greenkeepers hard at work before their reporter, Jamie Weir, said the R&A had “instructed greenkeeping crews to build up bunker edges this morning to allow more balls to roll back to the centre. Players felt they were too penal on day one”.

Just spoke about this on air. R&A have instructed greenkeeping crews to build up bunker edges this morning to allow more balls to roll back to the centre. Players felt they were too penal on day one. https://t.co/nTd55EFCD2

— Jamie Weir (@jamiecweir) July 21, 2023

The issue was how they were playing flat at the bottom. That meant if the ball entered at pace it ran into the edge of the revetted face and planted right underneath it.

Nowhere was this seen more dramatically than that hazard on the left side of the green on 18, as some competitors tried to hit the par-5 green in two.

Modern bunker construction often sees a concave face, or an upslope, which encourages balls to return to the centre of the bunker.

The bunkers at Royal Liverpool were undoubtedly difficult. But as the opening round concluded, there were some who asked if they’d gone too far.

Architect Geoff Shackleford, writing on his website, asked if it was “proper links golf” if hazards had been “engineered to produce more morbid outcomes as a defence”.

A counter-argument, of course, is scoring. Yes, there were disasters, but a significant proportion of the field was also under par. Some significantly so.

Shouldn’t the penalty for failing to find your target be harsh – to accentuate the risk-and-reward of making a strategic choice? No-one, to take 18 again as an example, was forcing players to attack the closing par 5 in the fashion some of them chose.

So did the R&A bend to the bunker barrackers? They issued a statement, saying they had made a change to the way they were raked.

“We would like to advise you of an adjustment we have made to the way the bunkers are raked overnight,” they explained.

“Yesterday afternoon the bunkers dried out more than we have seen in recent weeks and that led to more balls running straight up against the face than we would normally expect.

“We have therefore raked all of the bunkers slightly differently to take the sand up one revet on the face of the bunkers.

“We routinely rake bunkers flat at most Open venues but decided this adjustment was appropriate in the light of the drier conditions which arose yesterday.

“We will continue to monitor this closely for the remainder of the Championship.”

It’s a big decision to alter the way a course is maintained during a competition and will not have been taken lightly. It will be interesting to see what effect it has on the rest of the tournament.

What do you think of the decision to the change The Open bunkers? Is it justified? Let me know with a tweet.

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