[MAIN IMAGE: James Ross/AAP Photos]
Lining up for his third Open Championship at Royal Birkdale among his 100 consecutive majors, Adam Scott knows the English course better than most. And the Australian veteran warns it is hiding plenty of challenges to test the world’s best golfers when the opening round gets underway on Thursday afternoon (AEST).
RELATED: Adam Scott honoured with inaugural R&A Spirit of Golf Award
The recent warm temperatures have produced firm and fast conditions with Scott saying the game’s longest hitters in the 156-man field could struggle on the links layout.
“This course will bring everyone together a little bit,” said Scott, who at the US Open in June joined legend Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to have played 100 consecutive majors.
“There won’t be guys with a huge advantage – in fact, I could almost say the shortest and straightest hitters have the biggest advantage starting the week.”
Scott played nine holes at the famed course, just north of Liverpool, last week to get a “good feel for the place”. At his first Open outing at Royal Birkdale in 2008 he tied for 16th, while in 2017 he was joint 74th.
“It’s dried out a lot in five days so sure it plays a little bit different, but it’s good to have a good feel for the place off the tee,” said Scott, whose sole major victory came at the US Masters in 2013.
“You’re not always seeing everything – it’s typical kind of links stuff – the visuals are really important.
MORE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE HERE
“You have to have it clear in your mind’s eye, like what’s out there even though you can’t see it, to feel comfortable to give it a rip off the tee and commit to a shot. So I feel like those rounds, even though the fairways and greens were much softer and greener, will hold me in good stead.”
While Scott has a 2.31pm (11.31pm AEDT) start in the opening round, he says golfers need to take advantage of early tee times, particularly if the whipping wind starts to get up.
“It all plays pretty, I hate to say easy, but up to a certain speed it’ll be OK and then once it kind of crosses up near 20 mile an hour we’ll start losing control a little bit,” the 45-year-old said.
“And that’s where you’ll see the errors made on our part and the bogeys come in, or doubles, and far offline, all that kind of stuff.
“You’re going to have to take advantage of that morning time if it’s calm and then breezy in the afternoon, and I think the greens roll better in the morning just with that little bit of moisture in them they’re rolling nicely.
“They dry out, get a little crusty so that morning round, if you’ve got a good draw and there’s no wind, is going to be really important to set you up for the rest of the week.”
Scott said the recently renovated par-four 18th could make for an interesting finale with the old double fairway removed to provide a stiffer, more traditional finishing test.
“Eighteen, I think, is probably asking the most questions. It’s just a dead straight tee shot littered with bunkers left and right and it doesn’t matter what you hit, it’s going to have to be straight down there.
“It’s one of those holes where you can hit probably a couple of good shots and still have a bad result, which could be interesting on Sunday.”
AUSTRALIAN ROUND ONE TEE TIMES (AEST):
* 5.47pm (Thursday) — Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
* 6.25pm — Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
* 6.47pm — Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
* 9.14pm — Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Gregan
* 11.09pm — Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
* 11.31pm — Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
* 12.59am (Friday) — Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairsto
