ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (PA) -- In preparation for the 2008 British Open, Royal Birkdale has been lengthened by 154 yards and upgraded in several other areas, Royal & Ancient Golf Club officials have announced. The new layout in the seaside town of Southport, England, totals approximately 7,122 yards.
A new green also has been built at the 17th, along with six new tees and 20 new hazards, 16 of which are fairway bunkers.
"Royal Birkdale has always been a strong Open venue and we feel that by introducing these changes, that challenge can be maintained," said R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson. "We have paid particular attention to the introduction of tee shots that give players a number of strategic options and, through tighter bunkering and the recontouring of green surrounds, intend to make players execute more imaginative recovery shots around the greens."
On the par-4 opening hole, the fairway has been repositioned and the left-side fairway bunker and mound reshaped to be more threatening from the tee. At the green, the left-hand bunker has been repositioned and reworked, and the hollows deepened around the green.
At the par-4 second, two new fairway bunkers were added about 300 yards down the right side. New mounding was added to the left rough between 250 and 300 yards off the tee to better define the fairway.
A new tee on the par-4 third hole is at the back right of the former tee, making the hole dogleg slightly to the right. Two new bunkers added on the left at 315 and 330 yards off the tee, while the green complex received a new bunker in the front right and a series of ridges and hollows were added and the area around the green was recontoured.
The left-hand bunkers near the green on the par-3 fourth hole have been tightened up, and the right-hand bunker expanded and moved closer to the green. Extensive recontouring also was done to the green complex, with mounds and hollows added to the right of the green.
The short par-4 fifth hole had its bunkers tightened up and its green extended behind the right-hand wing bunker, while the par-4 sixth hole has been stretched by 19 yards. A fairway bunker has been added to the corner of the right-hand dogleg, about 280 yards off the tee, while another bunker was added to the left-hand approach to green, with mounding to tie into the left-hand dune.
On the par-4 eighth, ridging has been formed at 260 yards behind existing the bunker on right and a bunker added at 265 yards on the left with ridging behind it. Another bunker was added on the right at 310 yards off the tee, and the existing bunker at 320 yards has been repositioned into a new mound on right. The green also was extended at the back.
The front-nine changes conclude with the construction of a new tee to the back-right of the existing tee on the par-4 ninth to give a better line for the tee shot, and a new bunker was added to the front-left of the green. Also, the fairway was eased left to accentuate the left-to-right dogleg. A bunker at 270 yards out was repositioned in the dogleg, and new mounding and recontouring were added to the right rough beyond that point.
Starting the back side, the tee on the par-4 10th has been enlarged and leveled, while two fairway bunkers were added on the left at 225 and 235 yards and a third bunker was introduced on the right at 285 yards.
The tee on the par-4 No. 11 has been moved back by 24 yards, and a new bunker added on the left at 285 yards off the tee. At the green, the bunker at the front-left has been moved closer to the green edge and tightened.
At the straightaway par-4 13th, a fairway bunker was added on the right at 290 yards, and the existing bunker on the left at 325 yards has been widened by three yards into fairway. The cross bunker on the left at 350 yards has been incorporated into a larger mound, while the greenside bunkers were pulled closer to the putting surface and swales formed in the green surrounds.
A bunker also was added to the front-left of the par-3 14th green, which also has been extended at rear. The 15th features two new fairway bunkers on the right at 300 yards. The fairway on the par-5 15th also has been narrowed on its approach to the green, and extensive recontouring has formed hillocks on the left, short of green.
The tee on the par-4 16th has been moved back 22 yards, while the par-5 17th hole features two new bunkers and mounding added at 310 and 320 yards on the right. Another bunker on the right, 100 yards short of the green, has been repositioned and an additional dune has been added to narrow the fairway. Also, the green has been moved back 20 yards, with present top tier becoming the bottom tier of the new green, and bunkers have been repositioned as appropriate.
The final change was to the fairway of the par-4 closing hole, where a bunker and mounding were added at 300 yards down the left side.
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