SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Peter Uihlein was back at Royal Birkdale for the first time in nine years, and there were times late Sunday afternoon when he felt as though he was seeing the links course for the first time.
The turf was more brown than green, a sign of hot weather that has been baking Europe and an ominous sign for what figures to be a fast and fiery British Open starting Thursday. The wind was strong, not unusual for links golf along the Lancashire
Coast.
From 256 yards away on the par-4 14th, Uihlein hit 6-iron that landed short of the green and wound up 40 yards beyond the hole. From 226 yards into the wind on the 18th, he smoked a 2-iron — he can't remember the last time he had a 2-iron in the bag — and was just short of the green.
But it was the 15th hole that gave him pause.
“What the hell?" he said from the back of the tee of a 241-yard hole. It was only a few holes later that Uihlein, a former U.S. Amateur champion now with LIV Golf, said to no one in particular, “I just don't remember a 240-yard par 3.”
That's because it wasn't there in 2017, the last time the Open was at Royal Birkdale.
It's the second time in four years the R&A has effectively built a new hole, and as Rory McIlroy said last week, it's sure to be a talking point.
Royal Birkdale began to fill Sunday for the final major of the year, a time to get reacquainted or to see it for the first time. Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka were among those who played, both coming down from the Scottish Open after missing the cut — a first for Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, in nearly four years.
Rickie Fowler shook off the jet lag on Saturday with a casual round at nearby West Lancashire and played all 18 holes on Sunday at Royal Birkdale with Akshay Bhatia, a Birkdale newcomer.
While the changes got their attention — No. 15 is the only new hole, but the reachable par-4 fifth has been redesigned and a few angles on other holes are different — what really stood out is the color of the grass, the firmness of the turf and the forecast.
Sunscreen might outpace the sale of fish and chips this week.
“It's as close to Carnoustie as I've seen,” said Joe Greiner, the caddie for Bhatia who worked at Carnoustie in 2018 when it was so yellow that players were driving the first green and Hideki Matsuyama hit a 3-wood into the burn nearly some 425 yards because the ball was rolling so much.
This is links golf at its best.
“It's windy and firm and you need creativity to land it short — very short — of the green and not be afraid of it,” Uihlein said. And then he flipped through the irons in his bag and said, “Loft means nothing when it's like this.”
Jordan Spieth arrived on the weekend to Royal Birkdale, where he won the third leg of the career Grand Slam in 2017 with an astonishing finish. He was in deep grass in the dunes well right of the 13th fairway, took a penalty drop and then got free relief on the driving range and managed to save bogey. He followed birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to win by three.
It would be a nice moment to relive, except that he can't.
The driving range has changed location, and that area where Spieth took his drop is now a Fan's Village and marked out-of-bounds. The par-3 14th where he began his big run no longer exists. Instead the 14th is what used to be the par-5 15th, the fairway shifted.
Uihlein returned to Royal Birkdale as one of 20 players who went through 36-hole qualifiers in the U.K. Three more spots were added from the Scottish Open, including Johnny Keefer.
The final spot was to be decided in a “Last Chance Qualifier” at Royal Birkdale on Monday. The idea was to give 12 players one last opportunity to secure a spot in golf's oldest championship.
As for Scheffler, his next task was the ceremonial return of the claret jug he won at Royal Portrush last year. And then has four rounds to try to win it back.
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