The Open Championship makes a welcome return at Royal St George's this week, with the Kent links set to provide a tough challenge.
Last year's event was cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, meaning Shane Lowry got to keep hold of the Claret Jug a little longer.
The Irishman was a popular winner at Royal Portrush in 2019 and will be among a star-studded field competing for the honour of Champion Golfer of the Year this week.
The course is a glorious setting for such a titanic battle, and here we take look at some of the key holes that prospective winners will need to tame.
HADES IS GONNA GET YOU
The par-four eighth hole is considered the toughest on the course, where many a championship hopeful has come unstuck.
It was originally a par three before a course rebuild ahead of the 1981 Open, but now a three on this 450-yard hole – nicknamed 'Hades' – requires pinpoint accuracy from tee to green.
In 2011, when Royal St George's last hosted golf's oldest major, the hole played at an average of 4.37, with 27 double bogeys recorded to go alongside 140 bogeys.
There is some respite for those who can steer clear of two bunkers that are positioned such that they are particularly hard to avoid from the tee, with 33 birdies posted 10 years ago.
DON'T GET LOST IN THE HIMALAYAS
The only hole that ruined scorecards with more frequency than the eighth in 2011 was the par-four fourth.
With an average of 4.52, this 495-yarder permitted just 16 birdies, while there were seven scores of triple bogey or worse.
It was even tougher in 1985, when the average score was 4.60, with the key here being to avoid the 'Himalaya' bunker off the tee.
The dauntingly large dune stands guard to the fairway, which borders a putting surface that features out of bounds posts tucked tight against its back.
THE STRATH: A WELCOME SIGHT
It's not all toil and trouble on this track, as the par-five seventh proves.
This whole, called the Strath, was mightily generous a decade ago, handing out eagles to eventual winner Darren Clarke and Phil Mickelson in the final round.
Nobody should take this forgiving 566-yarder for granted, though, as the green is guarded by a trio of steep-sided sand traps ready to swallow up any wayward approaches.
Anyone wanting to post a strong score should be looking to lay down a marker here.
THE END IS NIGH
The 18th hole is a challenge on any course just because of the psychology of it – hold your nerve for one final challenge, or else a day's work may be undone in a matter of minutes.
In this case, the par-four closer poses a danger no matter what the context, as it played at an average of 4.62 in 1985 and was only slightly less troublesome at 4.33 in 2011.
At 450 yards it's not the distance that causes issues, but the precision required with the approach.
Even if you manage to avoid two gaping bunkers off the tee, the notable dip to the left of the green – nicknamed 'Duncan's Hollow' after George Duncan's woes there in a 1922 loss to Walter Hagen – is waiting patiently for any errant approaches.
Europe retain Solheim Cup as Carlota Ciganda stars in dramatic draw with US
Home favourite Carlota Ciganda played a starring role as Europe retained the Solheim Cup after a thrilling 14-14 draw with the United States, the first in the biennial contest’s history.
Trailing 4-0 after the opening foursomes, Suzann Pettersen’s side rallied magnificently at Finca Cortesin and it fittingly fell to Spanish star Ciganda to ensure the trophy would remain in Europe with her fourth win from four matches.
With Ciganda pegged back to all square on the 15th against Nelly Korda, the United States were briefly on course for an outright win due to the status of the remaining matches.
However, Ciganda then hit a stunning approach to the 16th to set up a winning birdie and, after Maja Stark had beaten US Open champion Allisen Corpuz to make it 13-13, repeated the feat on the 17th to ensure Europe would at least retain the trophy.
Emily Pedersen still had an outside chance to halve her match with Lexi Thompson and secure outright victory, but Thompson calmly holed from 10 feet for par on the 17th to close out a 2&1 win.
“I’m so happy just to do this for Suzann, for Spain, I’m just so proud,” Ciganda told Sky Sports.
“When I saw Suzann on 16 she told me a couple of things and I was like, ‘I’m just going to do this for her’, because I love her and she deserves this. I love my team, I love Europe, I love Spain, I love Solheim Cups.
“It’s been a great week and I’m just so happy to be here right now.”
Sepp Straka says place on Europe’s Ryder Cup team continues ‘incredible ride’
His accent is as American as his caddie, but Sepp Straka believes he has gone the extra mile – thousands of them in fact – to prove his dedication to Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
Straka was asked to compete in the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi in January, a team event between Continental Europe and Great Britain and Ireland which it was felt necessary to revive in the wake of 2021’s record Ryder Cup defeat.
The only problem was that the Austrian was contesting the Sentry Tournament of Champions the week beforehand in Hawaii, which meant undertaking an epic journey across 14 time zones.
“Francesco (Molinari, captain of Continental Europe) was the first person to talk to me about the trip,” Straka told the PA news agency.
“My first reaction was that I don’t know if I’ll make it because I don’t think that I can get there.
“Then I looked into the flights a little deeper and realised that I could make it for the Tuesday and it didn’t start until the Friday.
“Once I realised I could get there in time to prepare then I wanted to make the trip because it was huge in terms of getting to Rome and also getting comfortable playing team golf. I think that is something we don’t get to do a lot.
“I’ve always wanted to be a part of it. I kind of put myself in a place last year for consideration for the team and I knew that would show my commitment.
“From there on, I could focus on just trying to play my best golf and put my name out there.”
Straka won two points from his four matches in the Hero Cup, including a foursomes victory over Ryder Cup team-mates Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton, but then missed the cut in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and Dubai Desert Classic.
However, he claimed his second PGA Tour title in the John Deere Classic in July and two weeks later finished joint second in the Open at Royal Liverpool, his second top 10 in a major in 2023.
Such performances meant Europe captain Luke Donald felt he “couldn’t leave” Straka off his team and duly gave him a wild card, making Straka the second Austrian after Bernd Wiesberger to play in the contest.
“It’s been an incredible ride,” said Straka, whose family moved from Vienna to Georgia when he was 14 – he went on to play on the University of Georgia with twin brother Sam.
“Kind of all started by winning the Honda (Classic) last season and thankfully I was able to ride that and gain confidence and just keep improving my golf game.
“I feel like it’s in a place where I give myself a lot more chances now than did I early in my career and yeah, it’s been an incredible ride the last few years.”
As for having a southern accent and an American caddie in Duane “Dewey” Bock, Straka joked: “I was thinking about maybe getting a translator. Maybe my brother can translate for me for the week just so we don’t have to hear it.
“Dewey is a great caddie. He’s been awesome to have on the bag and it’s helped me so much over the last few months.
“He is definitely red, white and blue. A bunch of the European caddies have been giving him crap about having a US yardage book cover but he’s already changed that. We’re working on him.
“He’s a professional. He’ll do his best job that he can and it will be great.”
Suzann Pettersen ‘out of words’ after Europe square Solheim Cup ahead of singles
Captain Suzann Pettersen was almost lost for words after Europe maintained a brilliant fightback to head into the final day of the 18th Solheim Cup needing six points to retain the trophy.
After losing the opening foursomes 4-0 on Friday, Pettersen’s side rallied to win eight of the 12 points available to level the scores at 8-8 and keep alive their hopes of an unprecedented third straight win in the biennial contest.
“I’m out of words, but we have to remember we’re not there (yet),” Pettersen told Sky Sports.
“There’s still 12 points up for grabs tomorrow but we made quite a comeback, now we’re tied and now we just put it into fifth gear and we keep going.”
Both sides won two of the Saturday morning foursomes before the home side took the fourballs session 3-1 for the second day running, home favourite Carlota Ciganda delighting the large crowds with her third win from three matches.
Ciganda partnered Swedish rookie Linn Grant to a 2&1 victory over Danielle Kang and two-time major winner Lilia Vu, the European pair covering the front nine in eight under par with Grant being an incredible six under on her own ball.
Leona Maguire and Charley Hull had earlier combined to beat Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing 4&3, while Madelene Sagstrom and Emily Pedersen defeated Rose Zhang and Andrea Lee 2&1.
The only win for the United States came courtesy of Cheyenne Knight and Angel Yin, who defeated Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall – who had sat out the first three sessions – on the 18th.
Maguire, who will be one of three European players to contest all five sessions, said: “One more day to give it our best shot and I think that’s the great thing about this team, there’s so much fight. We’ve never given up.
“I said to Suzann I needed someone with energy for this afternoon and Charley has lots of it. We had a lot of fun, lots of chats, lots of good times with the caddies, and so it was just a really enjoyable walk out there.”
Hull, who has played just twice as she nurses a neck injury, added: “I sprained my neck earlier in the week, sort of a facet sprain, and still hurts a little bit, but it’s gotten a lot better.
“But playing with Leona today was great fun. She’s always in the game and she played unbelievable.”
Grant and fellow Swede Maja Stark had earlier secured a vital win in the foursomes to keep their side just two points adrift of the United States after the third session.
Ciganda had led from the front as she partnered Pedersen to victory over Vu and Jennifer Kupcho, but defeats for Maguire and Anna Nordqvist and Georgia Hall and Celine Boutier gave the visitors a 7-4 lead until Grant and Stark closed out their match with Kang and Lee in brilliant fashion.
Stark holed from 25 feet for birdie on the 17th to move one up and, with their opponents in close on the par-five 18th, Grant holed from 10 feet for birdie to seal the win.
Grant told Sky Sports: “It’s amazing. The last two holes gives us so much momentum. We’re on such a high right now, it feels great.”
The close friends had lost the opening foursomes on Friday and were split up for the afternoon fourballs, but repaid the faith of Europe captain Pettersen on Saturday.
“It’s so much fun, especially getting that confidence from Suzann putting us together,” Stark said. “Two rookies has got to be a little hard for her to put out in the first group yesterday.
“I think there were a lot of nerves involved on the first few holes yesterday and getting to play with her (Grant) again is just amazing and I knew that we could do it. It was just about letting loose and just doing it.”
Nordqvist and Maguire had been two up after eight holes against Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang, but bogeyed the ninth, 10th and 11th to fall behind.
A birdie on the 15th got the European pair back on level terms, only for them to bogey the 17th as Nordqvist appeared to choose the wrong club and fired her tee shot into a bunker at the back of the green.
Hall and Boutier, who had surrendered their unbeaten record on day one, never recovered from losing the first two holes to Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz and were unsurprisingly left out of the afternoon fourballs.
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