It wasn’t the flat patch of land or Hoylake’s calm conditions that defined the opening 18 holes of the year’s final men’s major, but, rather, the devilish bunkers (81 overall) that litter the place.
Leading into the tournament we were warned about all of Hoylake’s internal out-of-bounds and told by one top coach that the course’s new par 3 “could ruin somebody’s career”. But it was an old links standard that caused this disaster: the pot bunker.
American and European players were greeted with a friendly reminder prior to arriving in Haven, Wisconsin, that the bunkers – all 1,012 of them – at Whistling Straits will, indeed, be played as bunkers: