Hitting a tee shot into any one of the five deep bunkers on the Postage Stamp par 3 at Royal Troon can lead to a nightmare. Finding all three in just one appearance there? Dastardly, as Joaquin Niemann experienced on Friday in the second round of the British Open, seeing his hopes to hoist the claret jug badly damaged in a few sandy minutes.
The Chilean, who went to LIV Golf in 2022 after he won the Genesis Invitational that same year at Riviera, arrived at Troon’s famous short hole at one under for his round. Niemann was well in contention, and on one of the worst days for wind in recent memory at the Open, he just needed to survive the Stamp, playing at only 123 yards. But the hole had become a club-choice conundrum with the wind, much as it does at Pebble Beach’s little No. 7 when it’s blustery.
GLYN KIRK
Niemann’s tee shot found the right bunker, just short of pin-high. His next shot came out too hot and scooted across the green into the aptly named Coffin Bunker. It’s so narrow that certain lies make it impossible to get out in one shot, and that’s what happened to Niemann, who needed two swings to escape—but he had to go out sideways away from the flag and ended up going into the front bunker that so many players were finding with their tee shots.
From there—he was now trying his fifth shot—Niemann blasted past the flag, settling 26 feet from the cup. Even putting was a struggle. He cozied his first putt to six feet, but then missed the next roll, and with a tap-in, he’d made a quintuple-bogey 8.
According to the broadcast, the snowman was the second-highest score at the Postage Stamp in the last six stagings of the Open at Troon. As the second round continued, Niemann’s 8 was one of five double-bogey scores or worse on No. 8. But, compared to many of the holes at Troon, it wasn’t soaked in black ink. There were 26 bogeys or worse, balanced by 24 birdies. The Stamp, at only .07 over par, was playing at third-easiest hole on the day.
Niemann recovered impressively, making two birdies in his first three holes on the back to move into a tie for 18th. But we know he’ll be thinking of this: With a par at the little eighth, he’d have been alone in fourth.
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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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