Golf: On course for low scores

One of the most intriguing elements of this week's British Open is the course. No Open has been played at Hoylake, at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, since Argentina's Roberto de Vicenzo took the title in 1967. Few of the golfers who will tee off there on Thursday night (NZT) will know what to expect.

But that hasn't stopped some stinging criticism of Hoylake, the most trenchant coming from Ron Whitten, a writer for the biggest-selling golf magazine in the world, Golf Digest.

Whitten said the course has become obsolete because it hasn't changed with the times to accommodate modern power players with their high-tech equipment, allowing them to hit the ball further than ever before.

He wrote: "It's a thing of the past. It's history, a distant memory... a relic. It doesn't have one par-five (and there are four of them) that can't be reached in two with an iron, and the par-fours, which look long on paper, will play short on the ground because most are modestly defended dog-legs.

"The course's greatness as a championship test expired about the same time as graphite shafts were invented."

Whitten predicted that the "disrespect" the pros are going to show this "Royal subject" will have Open scoring records "falling like rotten apples."

Tough stuff. His criticism drew a dignified "let's wait and see, shall we?" response from the club although one spokesman rather sniffily pointed out that there was no record of Whitten ever having been on the course.

Ernie Els, one of the few of the big five to have played Hoylake, said he thought the course would be tough for anyone who missed the fairways. And Hoylake's wind will be the key.

A seaside links course, Hoylake has wind and wet weather to spoil the card of many a golfer. But, if fair weather rules, Whitten may be right in predicting low scores. However, links courses typically have hidden terrors and Hoylake might not be the pushover some suspect.

Certainly big Phil Mickelson has been ploughing up and down Hoylake's fairways in his now familiar week of practice before a major. So has Michael Campbell, preferring to visit Hoylake than play in this week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond - a beautiful venue but a "hit and stick" style of golf course compared to the run and bump of a links course.

Campbell, however, found Hoylake has teeth - apparently putting his first five tee shots into the left rough at the first hole in practice.

Campbell is trying to come back from a run of poor form and Mickelson is aiming to come back after his now famous "I am such an idiot" meltdown at the final tee of the punitive US Open at Winged Foot.

He finished tied for 65th in last week's Cialis Western Open and looked a bit off his game after starting with a first round 67.

But Mickelson often does not play well before a major and the form guide may be unreliable.

"You have to," said Tiger Woods when asked if Mickelson would put the calamity of Winged Foot behind him. "Failure is a part of our sport. It's nothing new to him, nothing new to any of us. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, come back out the next week and play."

Woods did just that at the Western Open, firing a final round of 68 to finish tied for second behind Trevor Immelman - and looked ominously recovered from his long layoff following the death of his father and Woods' subsequent rustiness at Winged Foot.

However, two of the top contenders at Hoylake may have finished just behind Woods at the Western - Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk. Singh has shown signs of coming out of a bit of a slump and his putter is beginning to work better. If he controls his most errant club, Singh will be right in the finish. Furyk is in good form and is a fine bad weather player so, if the winds blow, he could be the man.

As we saw with Australian Geoff Ogilvy's surprise win at Winged Foot, the big five (Woods, Singh, Els, Goosen and Mickelson) do not have a mortgage on the majors nor immunity from meltdown.

The best of the rest

Other golfers with a decent shot at the British Open include:

Padraig Harrington (Ireland) - tied for 20th at the European Open in Ireland. Often struggles to live up to expectations at home and is threatening to win a big one soon.

Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) - had another famous meltdown at the Open in 2003 at Royal St George's, taking three shots to get out of a bunker and, Mickelson-like, gifted the title to unknown Ben Curtis. But he is a tough golfer with a good record in the majors and has some fire in the belly this year. You'd have to take him on trust as he didn't make the cut in Ireland.

Tim Clark (South Africa) - short but precise player and a good scrambler. Ideally placed for this.

Paul Casey (England) - temperament may be his only problem but in fine form and aiming to be the first European to win a major for seven years.

Australian army - for longer odds, do not bet against one of the many Australians getting up again. Links courses are common in Australia and any one of Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Peter Lonard, Nick O'Hern and their countrymen could feature here.

Angel Cabrera (Argentina) - would be nice symmetry if he won after countryman Roberto de Vicenzo won at this course in 1967. Cabrera has been coming back to form but his temperament is suspect.