Greener pastures await players at this year’s Open Championship

Gone are the days of golden brown fairways at the British Open, at least for this year's version of golf's oldest Major Championship. Enter the lush, green pastures of Royal Birkdale, site of this year's Open Championship.

Founded in 1889, Birkdale hosted its first Open in 1954 and has hosted eight since including the current championship soon to be in progress. The club didn't achieve "Royal" status until 1951, three years prior to hosting its first Open Championship. The first major event to be held at the course was The Amateur Championship in 1946. 

Since Peter Thomson won the first Open Championship to be played at Birkdale in 1954 there have been some slight modifications made to the course. This year the field is buzzing about the color of the course. This might be the only British Open to date where you won't find one brown color anywhere but in the bottomless bunkers and shapely dunes. One writer said the fairways are as green as any exclusive club in America and the old-timers are saying this will go down as the greenest British Open ever.

While acknowledging the greenery, Mark O'Meara, who won at Birkdale ten years ago, said the tournament will be severely affected by the weather as it usually is.

"I think this week depends on what the wind does and how severe it blows," said the 1998 Open champion. "If it doesn't blow that hard, even though the rough is a little deeper this year because it's been a little wetter this spring, I imagine these players, as good as they are, will shoot some pretty low scores. If the wind blows, even par will be a good score come Sunday afternoon. The weather is really what the factor is at any Open Championship, especially at Birkdale."

When asked about the lush conditions, defending champion Padraig Harrington said the growth of the flora and fauna will certainly have an effect on the tournament.

"I can only assume," said Harrington who lives relatively close to Royal Birkdale in comparison to a large majority of the players in the event. "I haven't been out and seen it. I was here six weeks ago - six, eight weeks ago now, and with the weather - I don't live too far away from here across the water, so the weather has been pretty similar here, and the grasses have been growing very well in this part of the world with the amount of rain we've had and heat. Definitely it's going to be lush out there, and I'm sure it's going to be an issue.

"But you've got to remember as well, on any links course, you hit it in the bunkers, you're chipping out sideways anyway," added Harrington. "You hit it in the rough you're probably wide of the bunker, so you probably deserve to be chipping out sideways."

In addition to the greener than usual conditions, Royal Birkdale has undergone a number of changes since the Open Championship was last contested in Southport. Leading up to this year's tournament, the Royal & Ancient oversaw changes that added about 155 yards to the course, vaulting the total measurement to 7,123 yards, with six new tees and a new 17^th green.

That newly constructed 17^th green, which has been moved back making the bottom tier of the old green the top tier of the new green. This allowed architects to add 20 yards of length to the course. Geoff Ogilvy is one of many players who have been critical of what used to be one of the easier holes on the golf course.

"It's disappointing," the winner of this year's World Golf Championships - CA Championship told the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper. "I haven't been here before so I never saw the old green, but this one stands out more than a bit. If Birkdale were a one-hole course this green would be out of character with the rest of the course. It's out of character with the land; it's out of character with the hole. You can see from 250 yards away that something has gone wrong.

"Sadly, it could be a decisive factor in who wins the championship," Ogilvy added. "You could get some really crazy putts going on there. Funky bounces, too. A guy could hit a great shot in and see his ball take a really weird kick left or right. It's fine to have a tough green, but it has to look right. It just doesn't fit the spot that it is in, or the hole that it is on, or the rest of the course."

Aside from objections to the new 17^th green, the players were generally complimentary of the course.

"I think it's strengths are it's incredibly fair," said Lee Westwood who will attempt to become the first Englishman to win the Open when it's been contested at Royal Birkdale. "Most of the fairways are flat. It tests most aspects of your game. I think if you're a good driver of the ball, you can take on a few holes. It's obviously had some length added to it, which makes it quite a lengthy, demanding test."

"I think Birkdale is one of the best links courses in the whole of England, so it's definitely nice. Obviously good weather helps, so we'll see if we get some of that," said Sergio Garcia who made it into the four-hole playoff of last year's Open Championship. "But we're looking forward to it, and I'm sure it's going to be a very exciting week like it always is at the Open."