HOYLAKE, England — The Royal Liverpool you will see on television during this week’s British Open is not the golf course you may recall having seen in 2006 when Tiger Woods’ dissected it like a high-school science project.
There will be no need to adjust the color on your television set; the course is green this year, not dust-bowl khaki as it was in ’06 when Woods used his driver only once in 72 holes while deftly maneuvering his way around the deep, sunken bunkers that lay like land mines.
After playing 12 holes of practice on Saturday, Woods said the course still can be had without hitting drivers. Others disagree, believing the more lush conditions will require a more aggressive approach off the tees.
“The golf course is playing much longer than it was in 2006,’’ Graeme McDowell said. “There will be a lot more drivers off tees for guys.’’
One thing no one disagrees on is this: Everything depends on the weather and the wind. If it’s blowing, which is in the forecast for Friday and Saturday, the game becomes survival — much the way it always does in an Open Championship played on seaside links.
One consistent theme to players’ pre-tournament assessment of the golf course is this: They must take advantage of the four par-5s, which offer the best opportunities for birdies.
“I think the par-5s are a big key this week,’’ Rory McIlroy said. “If you look back at ’06, I think Tiger played the par-5s in 14-under par. So the majority of his scoring was done on the par-5s. There are four really good opportunities to make birdies out here. Par-5s are going to be crucial.’’
Justin Rose, who won his last two tournaments entering the Open, is big on pre-tournament course-study preparation, something he believes was a big part of his 2013 U.S. Open win.
“I think it’s a very, very fair test,’’ Rose said of Hoylake. “I think that if you think about it as not necessarily how many under par, but how many strokes you’re going to need to win this week. Some par-5s are going to play relatively easy. If you don’t make four, you’re actually dropping a shot. If you take care of the par-5s this week, I think that goes a long way.’’
There is only one par-5 on the front nine — the 528-yard fifth hole. The back nine features three — the 532-yard 10th hole, the 577-yard 16th and the 551-yard 18th.
By today’s length standards of the world’s best players, unless the wind is howling, all of those are reachable in two by most of the field.
“If it blows, it’s going to be a real test,’’ McDowell said. “If it doesn’t blow, guys can make a score, depending on pin positions.’’
Ian Poulter is another players who was vocal about the par-5s being the scoring holes. He called the 18th “probably the easiest’’ hole on the course, saying in practice (with no significant wind) he hit 3-iron off the tee and 3-iron onto the green.
“You don’t need to hit driver off that tee to be able to score,’’ Poulter said. “That hole is certainly reachable in the right wind condition without taking any risk on.’’
One of the tricks to the 18th is that there are out-of-bounds stakes along the right side of the fairway as it runs toward the green, so errant approach shots beware.
“You can open up the par-5s very easily if you can hit driver,’’ Poulter said. “It just depends whether you’re prepared to take on gorse bushes down the left-hand side, bunkers down the right-hand side on a couple of the 5s. So they will be a factor to good scoring this week. You just have to have a good game plan and stick with it and don’t do anything silly.’’
Rose said he doesn’t buy into what everyone believes the winning score will be, so he is leaving Woods’ 18-under winning score in 2006 out of his mind. For example, while everyone was predicting the players would feast on Merion because of its lack of length, Rose said he often played for par, like he always would in a U.S. Open.
“Whatever the winning total is it’s a very fair golf course,’’ he said. “It offers everybody the opportunity to play well. The fairways are relatively flat. The greens are relatively flat, yet the trouble is there, the rough is relatively thick, but nothing is extreme. So I think it offers shot-making. It offers something for everybody. Just the guy who goes out there and plays great golf this week is going to win.’’