Dreaded 17th hole puts dent in Herbert’s Open-ing day at Royal Liverpool
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Hoylake: Lucas Herbert held the joint early lead of the 151st Open Championship but after leaving the green at Little Eye, the new 136-yard 17th, he had just become its first victim by dropping three shots to slip back to level par.
Herbert’s tee shot found the semi-rough on the left before his chip rolled past the pin and through the green and found the treacherous bunker on the right.
He left the next one in the sand and then two-putted after he found the putting surface. Two holes earlier he holed a 28-footer for an eagle three which took him back to the top of the leaderboard on three under. And afterwards, he was philosophical but satisfied with his morning’s work.
“I didn’t think I did a lot wrong on 17 to make six but if you’d have offered me even par at the start of the day, I’d have taken it,” he said. “I hit a poor chip there and that’s about it. I don’t think I’ll be the only one to run up a big number there today. Overall, I’m happy with it.”
“I think it’s a great hole, no wind at all you’d take a gap wedge and make a two pretty easily but if that wind gets going, and you can’t really feel it on the sheltered tee, it becomes a very tricky shot. As it was, I made a triple there.
“Our group all missed the green. It’s not easy. It felt like there were about 5,000 professional golfers sitting around us in the stands watching it. But it’s just not easy.”
Lucas Herbert in action at Royal Liverpool.Credit: Getty
Herbert, who won the ISPS Handa Championship Japan in April, expected to finish day one in the top 20, which would see him well-placed to make a weekend challenge.
He gave himself looks at birdie on the 2nd, and 4th before a delay for the group ahead to clear the fairway on the par-five 5th prompted a change of mind on the tee and he put the long iron back in the bag and hit the driver on the way to his first birdie of the day.
He gave the shot back at the uphill 204-yard 6th, failing to get up and down, though birdies at the 8th and 9th with putts of seven feet and 13 feet saw the Australian turn in a two-under 33 and joint top of the leaderboard for the first time.
A greenside bunker at the next cost him a shot but after a run of pars along the windy, coastal holes, he made an eagle at the 15th, where he sank a 28-foot putt that took him to three under.
“To be honest, I didn’t think the putt was getting there at all. I was just trying to lag it up, get it really close, get the speed right. I felt like the greens were a lot quicker today than they have been in the practice rounds,” he said.
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