{"id":15106,"date":"2025-07-17T00:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T00:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/15106\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T00:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T00:55:10","slug":"the-daunting-controversial-par-3-that-could-decide-the-british-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/15106\/","title":{"rendered":"the Daunting, Controversial Par-3 That Could Decide the British Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each hole at Royal Portrush has a moniker: Hughies, Tavern, PG Stevenson\u2019s and Feather Bed, to name a few.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 236-yard, par-3 16th? Calamity Corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That could be where the British Open is decided.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated\u2019s Free Golf Newsletters. dark. Sign Up Now. SI Golf Newsletters<\/p>\n

\u201cI played it Monday (in a practice round) and just hit only the tee shot and missed it down on the right,\u201d J.J. Spaun said. It\u2019s pretty intimidating, like, visually. I didn\u2019t know it was 240-plus yards. Wind-dependent can really make it a tough hole. I think just making four pars on that hole, you\u2019re going to be gaining strokes on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most elevated hole on the course, a tee shot to the right will be swallowed by the deep ravine that could leave players 100 feet below the green. The safer play is to aim left, but players might end up in Locke\u2019s Hollow, named after four-time British Open champion Bobby Locke. In 1951, he hit his tee shot on the hole to the left in each round and made par all four days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2019, the last time the British Open was in Portrush, just 41% of players hit the green. And the putting surface is no bargain either. Rory McIlroy four-putted the hole for a double bogey during the first round en route to missing the cut.<\/p>\n

That year, the hole played as the 42nd most difficult on Tour with a scoring average of 3.247 (0.247 strokes over par). It was the third hardest hole of the championship, behind the par-4 11th and par-4 14th, both ranking inside the top 10 on Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got certain holes that you hang on,\u201d Robert MacIntyre said, \u201clike 16.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flag hunting with @McIlroyRory<\/a>. What club are you pulling on the par-3 16th at Royal Portrush? #TeamTaylorMade<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/S4qX0YSUIT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 TaylorMade Canada (@TaylorMadeCA) July 14, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Long par-3s have stirred up debate. In last month\u2019s U.S. Open at Oakmont, the 8th hole stretched 289 yards, the longest par-3 in major championship history, provoking players to use a wood, hybrid and even driver, something rare in today\u2019s game. It yielded a scoring average of 3.466, making it the fourth hardest hole on Tour this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And players are apathetic to that type of layout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think all the best par-3s are under 200,\u201d Viktor Hovland said at the Memorial Tournament. \u201cYou can maybe have it just over 200, but as soon as you start to take head covers off on par-3s, I just think it gets a little silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s British Open at Royal Troon featured the par-3 8th that plays 123 yards, known as the Postage Stamp. It\u2019s the shortest hole in the championship\u2019s history and the fifth shortest in all of the majors. Despite a triple bogey on it during the 1997 British Open, Tiger Woods had high praise for the iconic par-3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c(The Postage Stamp is) a very simple hole; just hit the ball on the green. That\u2019s it,\u201d Woods said in 2016. \u201cGreen good, miss green bad. It doesn\u2019t get any more simple than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm echoes that sentiment, believing that increasing a hole\u2019s length doesn\u2019t always add a level of difficulty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMore (long par-3s)? No,\u201d Rahm said Tuesday at Royal Portrush. \u201cI think when you find a short hole, we all enjoy the difference in scores. You can take 12 at Augusta, you can take the Postage Stamp, you can take 17 at TPC [Sawgrass]. There\u2019s so many courses in this world that have short par-3s that can lead to a birdie or lead to a big number. That’s what makes the hole a lot more interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a hole that the main difficulty is the length, I feel like that variability is just not going to\u2014you’re going to see a 3 or 4 for the most part and move on. Mainly because, if you make a 250-yard par-3 with water and crazy bunkers and things like that, it would be a little bit too much, right? I think in my case, it\u2019s just more entertaining because in theory, due to the length, we should be able to make par or birdie easily and it just doesn’t happen because the elements get in the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I just find it more entertaining in that sense. I think one of the better par-3s I\u2019ve played was that 15th hole on Saturday at L.A. Country Club (in the 2023 U.S. Open). It was 80 yards, and there was virtually no chance of hitting it inside 20 feet. I think that tells you about those holes that, in theory, should be easy, but it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

But regardless of how players feel about the par-3 16th at Royal Portrush, they\u2019ll need to overcome it to hoist the Claret Jug on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why they call it, what, Calamity Corner?\u201d Spaun said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be some calamity there.\u201d<\/p>\n