British Open 2016: Here's what golfers think of the Postage Stamp hole
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry dish on the shortest par 3 in the Open rotation
We have already discussed what we think of the tough little 123-yard par-3 8th hole at Royal Troon (a.k.a. the Postage Stamp), but what do players think about the hole that once caused a player to make a 15 in the 1950 Open? What do they think about the hole that caused Rory McIlroy to take nine strokes in a practice round earlier this week (he also nicely pitched out earlier in the week as you can see below).
Here are some top players' thoughts on the Postage Stamp.
Colin Montgomerie: "There's never been a decent par 3 over 200 yards, in my opinion, built. [At] 123 yards, the expectation raises dramatically into, you are on that tee and you are a professional golfer. It's your job and you're expected to hit this green at 123 yards. You could throw it on, really. I wish I could. And that's why it's difficult."
Henrik Stenson: "Anyone who wants to see potential train wrecks, if it's blowing hard into off the left, that would be the place to sit in that left-hand grandstand and see a player struggle with that right-hand bunker. I believe it's one of them great little par 3s. On the scorecard it doesn't look much but -- when the wind is blowing and you've got to be precise with a 7, 8, 9-iron, something like that into the wind there -- it's quite tricky."
Justin Rose: "I was playing at that particular day and one of the local members that was walking around it mentioned that G-Mac had hit 6-iron two days previous, and when you start thinking about it in that context, wow, a 6-iron into this green becomes a tiny target under those circumstances. So it's very much on the day."
Jason Day: "The Postage hole is pretty neat with regards that it's so short, but you get that left-to-right wind either in or down off the left, but it's always left to right. And if you get anything kind of curving on the wind, it can go down and feed into that bunker down in the bottom right there. And if you overdo it, that bunker on the top left is pretty devilish."
Near-vertical face on this Postage Stamp bunker @RoyalTroonGC? Rory makes it look easy. #TheOpenpic.twitter.com/SkQauD0QFx
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 10, 2016
Rory McIlroy: "It's one of those holes where you just try to hit it in the middle of the green. Even though it's only 115, 120 yards, you just have to not be that aggressive. Try to hit it in the middle. Even hitting it into the middle of the green is a good shot, and then take two putts. If you make four threes there this week, you're probably going to gain a bit of ground on the field."
Shane Lowry: "If it wasn't famous, you'd probably stand up and think this is the easiest par 3 in the world. But I haven't played it in a tournament, so it's probably going to be a little bit more intimidating tomorrow than it has been the last couple of days. The last couple of days just stood up and flicked away onto the middle of the green and it felt quite easy, but so does the 17 at Sawgrass in a practice round. It will be just interesting to see."
I'm like Bart Scott this week. Can't wait!
















