British Open Officials Adjust Bunkers After Players Struggle in Opening Round

Dry conditions had shots running up into the face of the bunkers so the R&A raked the sand differently overnight before Round 2.

HOYLAKE, England — In what is being called "bunkergate," the R&A decided to rake all 82 bunkers at Royal Liverpool Golf Club differently overnight, claiming that drier than normal conditions caused balls to run up against the face of the bunkers in the first round of the British Open.

“Yesterday afternoon the bunkers dried out more than we have seen in recent weeks and that led to more balls running straight up against the face than we would normally expect. We have therefore raked all of the bunkers slightly differently to take the sand up one revet on the face of the bunkers," read a bulletin Friday morning from the R&A. "We routinely rake bunkers flat at most Open venues but decided this adjustment was appropriate in light of the drier conditions which arose yesterday. We will continue to monitor this closely for the remainder of the Championship."

The bunker difficulties were on display late Thursday as two players in the one of the marquee afternoon groups, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, struggled with the greenside bunkers on the left side of the 18th hole.

It took McIlroy two to get out of the bunker after attempting to hit his shot out sideways as his ball rested up against the stacked sod face, and he hit a miraculous second bunker shot to 10 feet to save par.

Rahm had to go out backwards to exit the bunker and his result was a costly bogey 6 at the last.

“That's why they're there,” Rahm said. “You have to try to avoid them. Plenty of people did a good job and shot a low score today. It's very difficult to avoid them all.”

McIlroy agreed that the bunkers are true hazards, and the goal is never to hit into one.

“It's just when you hit it into these bunkers, you're sort of riding your luck at that point and hoping it's not up against one of those revetted faces,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, Jon and I didn't have much of a shot with our thirds, so then you're just hoping to make par somehow and get out of there."