The impact of Royal Liverpool’s ‘internal’ out-of-bounds at the 2014 British Open

Throughout this week, we have chronicled the traditions and history that make the Open Championship such a unique event. But at Royal Liverpool, there is one more quirk that is sure to cause some problems as we begin the weekend at the Open Championship.

The quirk, or rather, local rule that I am referring to is the “Internal Out of Bounds” that is lurking on Nos. 3 and 18. If you think of traditional out of bounds, it is usually on the edge of the golf course. That is, if you hit it out of bounds, you are off the property. But Royal Liverpool has OB that is right in the middle of the course. This is done in an attempt to protect the members’ practice area, but more importantly this week to house corporate hospitality tents and concession stands. Here is a great picture of what I mean.

As I mentioned, the internal OB comes into play on holes 3 and, maybe more importantly, 18. Let’s start with the third. That OB line is menacingly close to the fairway. You simply cannot go right on No. 3. If you do, you will almost certainly need to hit a provisional. It’s something that Angel Cabrera found out the hard way early in on Thursday morning.

As you can see, a slight push to the right and Cabrera was in trouble. His miss led to a double bogey and it was only the third hole of the championship.

The 18th hole OB is far more intriguing. Will we see someone lose one slightly right on Sunday with a chance to win the tournament? If we do, it might play out similar to what happened to Phil Mickelson on Thursday afternoon.

With a decent lie and relatively calm conditions, Mickelson was attempting to get home in two on the par-5. He pulled his shot a bit and it bounded over the line, coming to rest against a metal fence.

Thinking nothing of it, Mickelson made his way to his ball. But the ball was ruled way out-of-bounds, a possibility he hadn’t really considered when he just started walking up the hole. He was forced to make the lonely walk (or golf cart ride) back to play another shot. He went from a chance of making a birdie on the easier par-5 to saving bogey with a long putt. Mickelson finished with a 2-over, 74 and was deflated by that creeping internal OB line on his last hole.

It’s worth noting too that Adam Scott appeared to be affected by Mickelson’s shot on Thursday. Standing on the 18th tee, Scott was watching when Mickelson made his way back down the fairway to play another ball. After a longer than usual wait, Scott hit his tee shot way left. Maybe I am overreacting, but it seemed as if he was protecting from going right.

But you get the feeling that when Sunday nerves kick in, the 18th hole OB is going to become more of a problem? It seems likely that we will see the Mickelson scenario play out few more times this weekend, possibly with the championship on the line. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a major story when things wrap up Sunday afternoon.

Whether they go into the OB area or they go left to avoid it, players will be very aware of the internal out of bounds as we finish out the 143rd Open Championship. Buckle up.