Royal Lytham awaits

We visit Lytham ahead of the Open Championship

IT has been 11 years since David Duval became Open champion at Royal Lytham & St Annes, literally and metaphorically removing his dark shades to reveal his true character to an appreciative British audience.

On a final day best remembered for Ian Woosnam’s discovery he had 15 clubs in his bag on the 2nd tee, which incurred a two-shot penalty, Duval emerged as champion by three shots from Niclas Fasth.

The former World No 1’s winning total was 10 under, but since then par has been reduced by a shot from 71 to 70, with the 6th now classed as a 492-yard par 4.

It will be the fourth time in five years the Open has been played to a par of 70 and, along with Birkdale in 2008, Turnberry in 2009 and Sandwich last year, Lytham will have only two par 5s.

At 7,118 yards, it is over 200 yards longer than in 2001. The most significant changes come at the 7th, which has a new green some 25 yards further back, creating a slightly different approach angle, and the long 11th, where a new tee atop the sandhill to the left of the 10th green extends this hole to 598 yards.

Known for its ferocious and multitudinous bunkers, Lytham is surrounded on all sides by predominantly red-brick housing. Glimpses of the sea are few and far between.

The front nine, with the exception of the 4th, is played with the prevailing wind behind and the closing stretch is regarded as among the most challenging on the Open rota.

The hardest holes are usually the 15th and 17th, mighty par 4s measuring 464 and 467 yards respectively.

Lytham begins with a par 3, and the location of the tee is such that no spectators can gather round to hear Ivor Robson, the starter, announce the players’ names.

Designed by George Lowe, it is a course where length is not always a huge advantage and good scoring is only possible by staying out of the sand. There are more than 200 bunkers (at an average of over 11 per hole).

Get an even stance and the steep lips will present the pros with few problems; but otherwise coming out in any direction is an achievement.

Before 2001, Tom Lehman was the most recent champion, in 1996. The previous two Lytham Opens were won by the late Seve Ballesteros, in ‘88 and ‘79.

Get an even stance and the steep lips will present the pros with few problems; but otherwise coming out in any direction is an achievement.

Other Open business

No Portrush news

R&A chief Peter Dawson spoke warmly of his visit to the Antrim coast last year, while the 2014 Amateur championship has been awarded to Portrush.

But there are no plans currently underway for the Open to return to the course where Max Faulkner won the Claret Jug in 1951.

BBC and the Open

THE BBC’s deal expires in 2016 with negotiations set to start in early 2015. Dawson said the R&A were monitoring the amount of golf the BBC were showing (they have lost rights to the BMW PGA and the Scottish Open).“To be good at something you normally have to do it regularly,” said Dawson.

Long putters

IT may not be imminent, and Dawson was quick to insist no decision has been taken, but it’s clear there is concern. He believes the distinction will have to be made not in terms of the length but of the stroke’s method , which already outlaws “pushing, scraping and spooning”. A new clause might relate to anchoring – though it is not easy to regulate.

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