The Postage Stamp

In the words of William Shakespeare, though she be but little she is fierce.

The Postage Stamp is the shortest hole in Open history and yet one of the most revered par-3s in the world.

To understand why, it’s worth revisiting the hole’s Machiavellian past.

The most recent Championship ace at the Postage Stamp came from Ernie Els in 2004. Even Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson, pushed to the peak of their powers in a titanic Troon tussle, were unable to record a hole-in-one here in 2016.

With that in mind, the hole unsurprisingly played over-par during memorable Open and one of its most high-profile victims was Bubba Watson. The two-time Masters winner started the Championship five-under-par through seven holes but then made an unexpected visit to the infamous 'Coffin Bunker.'

A cruel triple-bogey six followed and Watson struggled to recover from there, shooting a first-round 70 on his way to a T39 finish.

“I hit one bad tee shot all day and it was just at the wrong hole,” Watson said afterwards. “It cost me dear. I love the golf hole, but it has been killing me all week, even in practice.”  

Tiger Woods is another who has encountered past Postage Stamp problems. On the fringes of contention in 1997, a triple-bogey six in the final round put paid to his chances of following up his Masters victory from three months earlier.

So it was no surprise to see him back there during this week's practice rounds. Monday’s Inside The Open film [below] showed Woods nailing his tee shot and tapping in for birdie before heading for a trap and hitting two escapes which failed to reach the green and slowly rolled back to his sandy spikes.

In the mind of the three-time Champion Golfer, finding that small pitching surface is key.

“It's just simple,” he said. “I hit a 9-iron and a pitching wedge the last two times I played it.

“I've hit as much as a 7-iron. But it's a very simple hole; just hit the ball on the green. That's it. Green good, miss green bad. It doesn't get any more simple than that.”

Mother Nature will have something to say about how the hole plays and winds between 12 and 15 mph on Thursday and Friday could spell real trouble.

But there is no ounce of fear among this year’s hopefuls and world number one Scottie Scheffler believes the skills required to master the hole are dying arts in the modern game.

“I think number eight is great,” he said. “I get frustrated sometimes when the solution to distance is just making holes further and further, and then it only just encourages guys to try to hit the ball further and further and not worry as much about controlling your ball.

“The 8th is a good little way to almost step back in time and control your ball a bit more. You don't have to make a par-3 230 yards to make it a great hole.

“If I don't hit the green, it's most likely going to be a bogey unless you're in front of the green; If you hit it in the left bunker, you're going to be glad to be making a bogey because it's probably going to plug, and you'll be hitting up-and-down for your bogey.

“I think great little short holes like that are fun. I think it's an underrated skill for guys nowadays to be able to control your ball, and I think it's something we need to encourage in our game, not just building golf courses longer and longer.

“You can make a short hole with a small green, and it's pretty dang tough.”

The approach from the tee will probably mirror most holes at Troon this week: take the weather out of the equation and hit as low as possible.

“It can be diabolical for sure,” said Bryson DeChambeau. “I don't know too much about it other than hit the centre of the green and I'll be good. Every day, that's going to be the goal this week.

“It’s just going to be a nice low-flighted shot, it’s kind of like Augusta’s 12th in a sense where I always try to play it lower flighted and so that’s the same thing I’m going to do here if there’s no wind.

“If there’s downwind, I’ll try and create some spin, hit it a little higher in the air but for the most part I’ll try and keep the ball out of the air.”

Get the tee shot right and the results can be beautiful. In 1973, 19-year-old David J Russell became the youngest player to hit a hole-in-one in major championship history. Just an hour later, 71-year-old Gene Sarazen became the oldest player to do so.

Both came at the Postage Stamp and both records remain.

It’s a hole which boasts a deep history and guarantees moments of delight and disaster – the challenge for this year’s field is to avoid becoming its latest tragic tale.