The Open Championship is all set to begin on Thursday, with the world’s best players gathering at Royal Portrush for the final major of the year.
The 153rd Open Championship has all the makings of being one of the best and most exciting majors in a very long time.
The likes of world number one Scottie Scheffler, hometown favourite Rory McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele are headlining the tournament at Royal Portrush.
Scheffler has spoken about how challenging Portrush will be for the players this year.
Plus three golfer Grant Horvat shot a round of six-over par 77 at The Open venue last week, so it is clearly a very difficult track.
And this year, the R&A have seemingly made a small change that could have a huge impact on the sport in general moving forward.
The Open introduce new drop zones which could transform PGA Tour golf
The players might be unhappy about one local rule that the R&A have brought in for The Open this year.
Players smashing their balls into the grandstands during PGA Tour events has become a big problem recently.
It is an easy bail out for players when there is trouble short of the green or on the opposite side to the grandstands.
The players are then given a free drop, usually giving themselves a pristine lie and a clear line to the pin.
However, that will not be the case at The Open Championship this year.
That’s because the R&A have come up with an absolutely brilliant new plan…
Players might just think twice about hitting their balls into the grandstands this week at Royal Portrush.
Dan Rapaport noticed the same problem on the LPGA Tour
Back in April, the LPGA Tour had a big problem at The Chevron Championship.
The entrance to the 18th green was protected by water, so players were completely taking it out of play by firing their balls 30 yards long into the grand stands.
They were then getting free drops, leaving themselves fairly easy up and downs.
Rapaport shared at the time that it was a big problem that needs to be addressed.
He said: “Second shot for Saigo, does that look similar to you guys? I mean this backstop, we’ve got to address it. We have to address this backstop. It’s just the biggest no-brainer of all-time. We can’t have backstopping winning this tournament. Now she gets to place it, that’s going to roll forward again and now she gets to place it. It’s just, it’s not what you want to see on a 72nd hole of a major. I don’t know what the solution is but this is not what I want to see. Maybe move it 10 yards further back. There’s a reason why other tournaments don’t do this.“
That kind of thing happens every single week on the PGA Tour as well.
Now the R&A have laid out a blueprint regarding how to deal with this particular issue, and it could be transformational to golf in both the men’s and women’s game.
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