Setup Talk: Thursday at Royal Portrush

In many respects, the Open Championship can be regarded as the best major in golf. From the courses to the conditions to the early-morning viewing, it's a world-class event. HOWEVER, where the tournament is sorely lacking is in its statistics and video sharing. But I will not let that deter me from sharing a couple observations and insights from Thursday's action at Royal Portrush. Would I like to share Scatterplot insights like the U.S. Open? Yes, yes I would. But we've got plenty to work with.

Royal Portrush is exceedingly difficult but it gives you chances to score on its par 5s. Nos. 2, 7, and 12 played as the easiest, second easiest, and fourth easiest holes in relation to par on Thursday. But that's not to say they were complete pushovers.

Running east to west, Nos. 7 and 12 had extremely different setups for the first round. While these are obviously different holes and vary in length — No. 7 is about 80 yards longer than No. 12 —their orientation leads to similar shots into the green and both played downwind in the first round. Because of that, the R&A used completely different pins to test golfers in different ways. On No. 7, they used a back-right pin (red pin below) that sat up on a bowl, just over the second of two ridges that divide the green.

With long shots coming in all day, getting a ball to stop over this ridge in the back bowl was exceedingly difficult. The wind was helping off the left, which theoretically makes it easier to reach this section, but there were penalties for a miss. Those who missed just a little to the right with their approach fell into a runoff area. Those who came up short had to hit a touchy chip up and over the back ridge, as Rory McIlroy executed on his way to a birdie.

Over on the 12th hole, the R&A used the opposite philosophy. Instead of putting the pin in an area that corrals shots like the seventh hole, they set the pin on the front-left of the green where the ball repels both short and left of the pin. Shots into this pin were much shorter than the ones on No. 7, but with the wind hard off the left it was exceedingly difficult to get the ball near this pin. It was pretty easy to get the ball up and down from right of this pin, but those who found themselves too far left were in seriously poor positions.

My guess is the R&A will flip this setup routinely throughout the week, allowing these two holes to differentiate throughout. The slopes around both these greens are very entertaining. If used properly, we're in for a rewarding weekend as golf fans.

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