The 146-year-old British open venue that drives the world’s best players nuts

livemint.com:

The last British Open at Royal Troon Golf Club in 2016 went down as one of the greatest duels in professional golf history. Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson put together two of the finest performances ever witnessed at a major, trading brilliant shots that cut through the blustery winds on the coast of Scotland. When Stenson finally pulled out the victory with four birdies in the final five holes, leaving him at an Open-record 20-under par and three strokes clear of the American, it might have seemed like the world’s best golfers had made easy work of an iconic course that dates back to the 19th century.

But what made the tournament an all-timer wasn’t simply what Stenson and Mickelson were doing at the top of the leaderboard. It was what happened further back. While the leading pair duked it out, everyone else struggled so badly that third-placed finisher J.B.

Holmes wound up finishing a whopping 11 strokes behind the runner-up. That underlined what makes Royal Troon, which hosts the Open Championship for the 10th time beginning Thursday, such a classic host for golf’s oldest major. As Stenson and Mickelson demonstrated, it’s possible to go low.

But as the rest of the field experienced, it can also be nastier than a mouthful of uncooked haggis. “It’s a really fair test of golf," said reigning PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele. “If it’s really windy, it will be really fun." The hole that explains how Troon can be so utterly devious also happens to be the most famous.

The Postage Stamp, the eighth hole and one of the world’s most recognizable Par-3s, looks like it should be a breeze. At just 123 yards, it’s the shortest hole in the British Open rota. But, as the name suggests, the hole features a tiny green