{"id":37406,"date":"2026-07-16T01:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/37406\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T01:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:06:14","slug":"distance-debate-at-this-british-open-is-how-far-the-golf-ball-goes-on-the-ground-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/37406\/","title":{"rendered":"Distance debate at this British Open is how far the golf ball goes on the ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTHPORT \u2013 How far the golf ball goes has been debated for the last 20 years and distance is likely to be a big concern this week at Royal Birkdale for the British Open<\/a>, with one twist.<\/p>\n

It’s not how far shots are going in the air. It’s what happens when they get on the ground. And with links golf, that’s not always easy to control, especially this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t judge every single bounce perfectly,\u201d Justin Rose said. \u201cBut you have to accept the nature of a links golf course. There’s going to be some good bounces, bad bounces. Just keep playing with a big of freedom and creativity, especially this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re going to get a few funny bounces here or there,\u201d he said. \u201cThat’s all part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 154th Open begins Thursday with a mixture of excitement and curiosity. For those who love links golf, there’s no greater colors than brown and yellow that indicate crispy conditions in which the fairways can run faster than some of the greens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rarely has the forecast been filled with warm sunshine \u2014 slightly cooler on the weekend \u2014 with a cloudless sky that will be a challenge for the R&A to keep the turf from getting too fast.<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy came to Royal Birkdale a few weeks ago and saw what seemed to be a different course. It was greener. The rough was more lush. It’s no longer like that. Yes, it’s harder to control shots running along the fairway But the rough, while still having some thick patches in which players are up to their knees in grass, is more burned and wispy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a double-edged sword,\u201d McIlroy said. “I think all this dry weather and sun and a little bit of wind is obviously great for the course in one way, but when I was here a couple weeks ago, the rough was a lot more penal than it\u2019s going to be this week. It\u2019s definitely burnt out a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing, especially off the tee here, is the fairway bunkers and avoiding those,\u201d he said. \u201cYou might see some guys being more aggressive off the tee, taking driver, trying to take the fairway bunkers out of play. OK, it might be in the rough, but it\u2019s not that penal, so you get a wedge in your hand and you can figure it out from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every hole seems to have options.<\/p>\n

The redesigned fifth plays 321 yards and enough shrubs have been removed that it’s no longer a blind shot from the tee. What players see now is a pond \u2014 an unusual hazard for links golf, but it’s always been there \u2014 and a row of pot bunkers leading to the green.<\/p>\n

Marcus Plunkett, the U.S. Army veteran playing in his first British Open<\/a>, arrived Thursday and smashed driver to the edge of the green. Even with that shot, he’s planning on a 7-iron off the tee.<\/p>\n

The wind is out of a different direction than usual, making the 393-yard 16th hole play downwind and running fast. Most players were hitting no more than 5-iron off the tee to avoid the bunkers. The other option is a driver than can get close to the green.<\/p>\n

It’s like that all over, and it could lead to brilliance and blunders.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve learned in the past, if you start pulling out drivers in an Open Championship, you can do a good job,\u201d Jon Rahm said. \u201cYou can maybe get away with it one round. Over four rounds, you\u2019re going to start finding spots you don\u2019t want to be in, and you\u2019re going to pay the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion<\/a>, trying to become the first repeat winner of golf’s oldest championship since Padraig Harrington won at Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale in 2007 and 2008. The world’s No. 1 player has played only five times in the Open, but he probably spoke for many when he said, \u201cThis is the first forecast I remember seeing it had no rain in it for the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it holds, it should continue to firm up, and we\u2019ve got some warm weather as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It’s a different Royal Birkdale from when Jordan Spieth won in 2017, particularly the new look on the fifth and the par-3 seventh, and a brand-new par 3 at the 15th (the old par-3 14th was removed). Scheffler offered a not-so-subtle jab at the chances, even though he hadn’t seen the course before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing I found interesting is it\u2019s so obvious as to which holes had been redone,” he said. \u201cThey look like they\u2019re not even on the same golf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheffler had to return the claret jug on Tuesday. Someone else takes possession Sunday night when he is introduced as the \u201cChampion Golfer of the Year.\u201d And then it’s eight-plus months until the next major at the Masters in April.<\/p>\n

The four majors are over quickly.<\/p>\n

But it’s only fitting the British Open with its unique brand of golf is the last major of the year. It’s unlike anything players see all year, especially in dry and firm and fiery conditions like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ball is just going to run forever,\u201d Scheffler said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP golf: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/golf<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHPORT \u2013 How far the golf ball goes has been debated for the last 20 years and distance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[528,355,1146,12016,2169,399,208,56],"class_list":["post-37406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-justin-rose","tag-jon-rahm","tag-jordan-spieth","tag-justin-rose","tag-marcus-plunkett","tag-padraig-harrington","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}