Road Hole Bunker an Open winner
created on : 9th Aug 2011

There were 107 bunkers at Royal St George's in the week Darren Clarke won the Open Championship. Now, their number is down to 106 after the replica of St Andrews' famous Road Hole Bunker in the HSBC Golf Zone has - quite literally - disappeared from the face of the Earth.

"No-one," said Peter Fawcus, Royal St George's Assistant Secretary, "would know that it had ever been there."

Precisely 6,939 visitors had a turn at trying to get out of the HSBC Golf Zone's main attraction, with only a small percentage succeeding.

Gary Player, by common consent the finest bunker-player who ever lived, was one success story, Colin Montgomerie another. Player had a go in the middle of the day and emerged to tap-in distance of the hole. Montgomerie's visit was a more secretive affair. The Scot arrived when the Zone was on the point of closing on the Tuesday night. He took off his jacket, caught the green at his first attempt - and arrived at a dinner in the neighbouring tent with a certificate to tell of his success. "It was brilliant fun," laughed Monty, who just missed out on qualifying for this year's championship. "I'm no different from anyone else who goes to the Open. I couldn't wait to hit a shot for myself."

The only reason that there were no stories to compare with that of Tommy Nakajima, the Japanese player who putted into the bunker and took four to escape, is that people were restricted to two attempts. When Nakajima's ball finally emerged in what was the Open championship of 1978, there was polite and sympathetic applause all round.

The exercise may be repeated next year at Lytham and, if it is, Grant Smith, the R&A's Construction Officer and the man in charge of the Road Hole Bunker excavations at Royal St George's, says that other bunkers may or may not be considered. The Spectacles at Carnoustie's 14th are among his own favourites.

The HSBC Golf Zone's club-making display, starting with hickory and stopping at the latest in metal-headed drivers, was another triumph in Open week, with as many as 2,630 connoisseurs wanting to have a shot with the kind of hickory-shafted clubs used by such as Willie Park and Tom Morris at the inaugural Open championship at Prestwick in October 1860.

Andrew Brooks, the professional at Royal St George's, had his first ever swings with a hickory club during a brief pause in his busy Open week. "It was something I'd been meaning to do for years," said Brooks.

He described the HSBC Zone as "Terrific..There was plenty of variety and lots on offer for kids."

Thousands of people enjoyed the Photo Experience, donning a caddie bib and having their photo taken alongside a cut-out of Louis Oosthuizen, Luke Donald or Rory McIlroy. The idea was that they should stand behind the figure and look as if they were recommending a line on the green.

It goes without saying that there were plenty of teenage Rory McIlroy fans and look-alikes wanting to have their picture taken with the new US Open champion.

Some 2,380 people went away with their free caddie picture, while only a handful fewer opted for a picture of themselves superimposed on the front cover of the Open championship programme. By tradition, the programme cover is the preserve of the defending champion.

Who knows, one of the children who went with that choice might in time end up on the programme's front for real...