SOUTHPORT, England — David Duval finally put together two good rounds to get into contention at the British Open, raising the idea that he was close to breaking out of a mystifying slump.
Then came a triple bogey on the first hole at Royal Birkdale, and an 83 on his card to match his highest score in this major. Yet none of that changed his outlook.
“I don’t walk away from today’s round any less confident than yesterday’s round,” the Cherry Hills Village resident said. “If anything, I gained confidence with how I struck the ball and maintained my rhythm. You need good bounces on a day like this to have a good score. I just got behind it and couldn’t get any nice things to happen.”
Starting the third round only three shots out of the lead, Duval’s approach ballooned into the 40 mph gusts and wound up 30 yards to the right of the green in hay so deep he took a one-shot penalty for relief, even though his drop wasn’t in grass much shorter. He pounded that one over the green into another nasty lie, chipped out effectively to 25 feet and made triple bogey.
“It didn’t demoralize me,” Duval said. “I figured that’s three bogeys everybody is going to make.”
He didn’t make a par until the fifth hole and didn’t make a birdie all day. But he wasn’t alone. Duval had one of nine rounds in the 80s.
“It’s about as hard as I’ve ever played in,” Duval said. “I don’t know how you can describe it. You have to be out there trying to hit a shot to appreciate it.”
Forward tees.
Because of the forecast for strong wind, officials moved up the tee markers on the sixth, 11th and 16th holes, the latter two being the most significant. The 11th hole was shortened by 78 yards to play at about 360, while the 16th was moved 68 yards to the members’ tee. But it also changed the angle of attack.
“Actually, it was a harder tee ball on No. 11 with those tees,” Heath Slocum said. “You had three bunkers to negotiate. We didn’t worry about them the first two days.”
Lehman’s skin.
Even with the tees moved forward, the par-4 sixth hole was the hardest at Royal Birkdale with a stroke average of just under 4.8. There was only one birdie in the third round, that belonging to Tom Lehman.
“Do I get a skin?” he asked after his 73.
Turns out it was a fairly routine birdie — hit the fairway, hit the green, make a putt.
“I hit a good drive, then smashed a 3-wood and holed about a 60-foot putt,” Lehman said.
