Good Course, Bad Course ?
Friday 21st July 2006
By Compiled by Jeremy Ellwood and Dan Davies
The great and the good give their verdict on the Hoylake links, the historic setting for this year's Open Championship.
“It's not as quirky as I was told. I thought it would be a little goofier but for the most part it's all right there in front of you. The fairways aren't insane. They don't have many bumps and humps so that's fine.”
Mark Calcavecchia
“The course is fantastic. I read somewhere some article slagging the course off and saying it wasn't up to holding an Open Championship. I have to say I don't know what course they were looking at, because if you take a look at this, it's a pure links. It's as good as it gets. You've got to think it's one of the best bunker positioned courses in the world. You've got to think all the way round. You can putt it, chip it, hit a 5-iron from 40 yards. You can do whatever you want. In essence, that's links golf.”
Darren Clarke
“When you are flying balls on the front of the greens and they are going all the way through and down the embankments over the back, that to me is not true links golf. And that's what we were on our way to seeing.”
Fred Couples
“If you hit one down the middle you're not going to get as crazy bounce, like when we played Royal St George's a couple of years go. There you could hit it right down the middle and be on any side of the fairway or rough.”
Mike Weir
