Royal Birkdale is set to be the fastest and most fiery Open Championship of recent years and that has the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler considering their strategy.
Players said fairways are as firm as Carnoustie 2018 and while Muirfield in 2013 was fast, probably the closest in terms of overall conditions and weather was 28 miles down the coast at Royal Liverpool in 2006.
Tiger Woods took one look at Hoylake’s burnt, yellow fairways baked by weeks of sun – although nothing close to the sustained highs of this summer’s heatwave – and binned his driver, using it just once over 72 holes on his way to his third and final Open victory.
Many players have already made changes to their bag, replacing seven-woods with long irons to take advantage of the extra roll-out on the fairways.
“I think it’s a double-edged sword,” said Masters champion McIlroy, chasing his second Claret Jug after success at Hoylake in 2014.
“All this dry weather and sun and a little bit of wind is obviously great for the course in one way, but when I was here a couple weeks ago the rough was a lot more penal than it’s going to be this week. It’s definitely burnt out a lot.
“The big thing, especially off the tee here, is avoiding the fairway bunkers. You might see some guys being more aggressive off the tee, taking driver, trying to take the fairway bunkers out of play.
“It might be in the rough, but it’s not that penal, so you get a wedge in your hand and you can figure it out from there.”
Defending champion Scheffler’s most recent experience of links golf saw him miss the cut – his first in four years – at last week’s Scottish Open.
And while that allowed him an extra day’s practice at Birkdale he is still fine-tuning his strategy.
“The ball’s just going to run for forever pretty much,” he said.
“There’s a lot of thinking off the tee on whether you want to just hit driver up there somewhere and play from the rough most likely or start hitting some irons, getting it in some fairways and hitting some longer shots into the greens.
“If it wasn’t as firm as it is now there wouldn’t be as much decision-making but with the firmness it creates a whole lot more challenges just to try to control your ball and figure out where it’s going to end up.”
The challenge of 21 Englishmen trying to end a drought for the country stretching back to Sir Nick Faldo in 1992 will be led by Ryder Cup team-mates Justin Rose, Southport’s own Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton and reigning US PGA champion Aaron Rai.
Rose, who in 1998 announced himself to the world here as a 17-year-old amateur by holing out at the last to finish fourth, hopes to ride the wave of home support.
“There is a bit of an X factor to that, not using it as a pressure but sort of playing with a sense of freedom with the crowd,” he said.
“You can’t force it. You can’t have that weight of expectation being a home player.
“I think the crowd really kick in when you’re on the leaderboard. There’s that real energy they provide. I think it’s having a bit of an ace up your sleeve.
“That can be worth a shot or two down the stretch that can keep you going.”
