The opening tee shot at an Open Championship is always a nervous one, but more so at Royal Portrush than anywhere else given the first hole there is probably the toughest challenge on the rota.
The first tee at St Andrews will probably provoke the most nerves of any shot in golf, but it's not a tough one, as long as you aim left, and many links courses have a nice loosener to begin the round.
Not so for the opening hole at Royal Portrush though - just ask Rory McIlroy as the first hole basically ended his Open bid before it had really begun in 2019 thanks to a quadruple-bogey eight.
Named 'Hughies' the opening hole is just 421 yards on the card, not usually a number that would have modern pros shaking in fear for a par four - but with out of bounds on both sides, a huge elevation change up to the green and massive bunkers standing guard, it's a nightmare start.
What makes the first hole at Portrush so tough?
Having out of bounds on both sides of the hole is pretty rare - usually players have a bail out but when they stride onto the first tee at Royal Portrush, nerves flowing through their veins, they're faced with a nightmare.
The 70 yards of fairway width surely narrows in their minds much like the goal shrinks during a penalty shootout, with the dreaded white stakes lurking to gobble up a big slice or a hook.
There's only a couple of bunkers but they're perfectly positioned, one left, one right, in the 250-300 yard landing zone for most players - take them on and you risk slashing it wide and chancing the OB, stay short and you're left with a tough second shot up a deceptively steep hill.
The second shot doesn't get much easier, as although it doesn't look too much on TV the green is elevated some 40 feet up from the fairway and trust me it's a steep bank, with anything short rolling all the way back down the hill if you're lucky, and into a huge cavernous bunker if you're not.
So, as Rory McIlroy found out, big numbers are lurking here.
What happened to Rory McIlroy on the first in 2019?
He'd waited for years to play The Open in front of a home crowd, and maybe that emotion got the better of him as he tugged a long iron a long way left off the tee and cleared the OB stakes.
And it got worse as he'd then have to take an unplayable lie for another penatly stroke before eventually having to put the dreaded snowman on his scorecard - a quadruple-bogey eight!
And just like that, his chances were all-but gone. He made a superb fight of things on Friday but that opening hole ruined his chances, and wrecked plenty of other cards that week.
Venue/Year |
Par/Yardage |
Average |
Double bogey+ |
Course Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Troon '24 |
Par 4 - 366 |
4.117 |
10 |
13 |
Hoylake '23 |
Par 4 - 459 |
4.280 |
12 |
2 |
St Andrews '22 |
Par 4 - 375 |
3.979 |
10 |
18 |
St Georges '21 |
Par 4 - 445 |
4.125 |
57 |
7 |
Portrush '19 |
Par 4 - 421 |
4.190 |
21 |
6 |
Royal Liverpool's first hole played more over its par than the first at Portrush, while the opener at St George's had an incredible amount of big numbers in 2021.
But, still, Portrush just holds that bit more of a fear factor, the hot sweats induced by the white stakes before the mind-boggling number crunching for the uphill second shot.
The terror of coming up short and trickling into one of the deepest bunkers on the course is too frighting to contemplate - and all this taking place on the very first hole.
There's usually a warm welcome when you go golfing in Northern Ireland, and links courses often give you a bit of a lay-up for your opening tee shot, but not at Portrush.
It's a frightening start alright.
