Golfer gets rid of sand traps at The Open 2023

Before round 2 on July 21, Royal & Ancient announced that the sand in the trap dries faster than expected, causing the ball to roll closer to the wall, so the Organizing Committee will scratch the bottom of the trap from flat to basin.

At that time, the flat-bottom bunker, which was the norm at The Open battlefields, no longer matched the reality when Royal Liverpool hosted this tournament. And when they reach the bottom of the basin, they return to the same state as when serving recreational golf – the ball easily rolls to the middle, thereby creating a more favorable exit position.

Royal Liverpool has a total of 81 bunkers, all shaped like pots, different sizes but have in common that the wall in the same direction is higher than the opposite side. That feature becomes a "common nightmare" at the tournament because the ball, if lost, often hits the wall.

When keeping such conditions, the opening round recorded many difficult cases, the heaviest was Taichi Kho, who had just passed his professional years but won a cup on the Asian Tour. It took the warehouse six more shots, only to get past the portside bunker on the par5 18th green after catching it on the second shot. Combining two strokes, he scored a quintuple bogey on the 18th hole and went to the bottom of the board.

John Rahm is ranked second in the world twice with a bunker, but the damage is lighter. Both times he had to "handle the sand" happened on the fairway, both hitting the flag in the opposite direction to later score a bogey.

Meanwhile, Tony Finau had to use a putter just to bring the ball from the wall to the middle of the bunker before the 5th green, from which it was easier to get out.

And Rory McIlroy entered bunker 18, forced to abandon the direction of the flag because the trap wall on that side was too high. He chose to hit sideways because that angle was more open even though he was expected to be far from the target. However, this plan was blocked by the left wall. However, the drop of the ball after the defeat accidentally created conditions for McIlroy to direct the flag. This time, he succeeded and kept the hole par as well as the even par score.

After the round, McIlroy said: "Put the ball into those bunkers and you'll have to find your own luck to get out".

The Open was born in 1860, chaired by Royal & Ancient (R&A), this year in the 151st tournament, at Royal Liverpool par71 in Hoylake, England with a prize fund of 16.5 million USD, of which the championship is 3 million USD.