R&A release official statement in response to eye-catching change made for this year’s Open Championship

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Royal Portrush seems to be set up perfectly for The Open Championship this week.

It’s hard to believe that it was only six years ago when Shane Lowry won The Open in Northern Ireland at Royal Portrush.

The R&A have held the Open at Portrush only twice before this year’s edition, and it’s hard to understand why.

The majestic Harry Colt design is one of the best on the Open rota.

Portrush is unlike normal Open venues in the sense that a lot of the greens have false fronts, and it is sometimes very hard to chase the ball up onto them.

And for the championship this week, the R&A have made a really unusual change, but one that has proven to be extremely popular

R&A release statement in response to change made for The Open Championship

The R&A have brought in new drop zones for The Open this year. In an effort to stop the players from hitting their shots into the grandstands on purpose in order to get a free drop on a nice lie, the R&A have made the drop zones as unappealing as possible.

Players hitting their balls into the grandstands has become known as ‘backstopping’ and is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in the game.

So the R&A’s move to change things up is one that has been welcomed in golfing circles, although perhaps not by the players!

Journalist Dylan Dethier asked the R&A to comment on their decision to ‘trick up’ the drop zones this week.

And they responded by saying: “We don’t want hitting the ball towards a grandstand to be a bail out option and therefore, where possible, we ensure that the dropping zones are not overly generous.“

R&A set precedent that the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour must emulate

Players ‘backstopping’ has been commonplace, especially when hazards are protecting the front of the greens.

This issue has arisen on multiple occasions this season, notably at The Chevron Championship on the LPGA Tour.

On the 18th hole, the players were continually clubbing up and sending their approach shots over the back of the green into the grandstands, in order to avoid the water hazard.

Now, the PGA Tour and the LPGATour absolutely have to follow the R&A’s lead.

If the drop zones are put in places that make it difficult to get up and down, ‘backstopping’ would be stopped overnight.