The 151st Open: What has caused tournament officials to make bunker changes at Royal Liverpool?
Greenkeeping staff have built up the bunker edges at Royal Liverpool to allow more balls to roll back into the centre of the hazards; it follows complaints from players during the opening round at The Open; watch throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports
By Ali Stafford at Royal Liverpool
Last Updated: 21/07/23 3:51pm
The R&A has made adjustments to the way the bunkers are raked at The 151st Open after players complained about them being too "penal" at Royal Liverpool.
Jon Rahm referred to the bunkers as "proper penalty structures" following his opening-round 74, while Rory McIlroy said "you're riding your luck" if you finish up in the sand traps around the Hoylake course.
Tournament organisers confirmed in a statement that the bunkers were being raked "slightly differently" ahead of the second round to build up the edges of them, allowing more of a slope to get balls back to the centre and giving a better chance of getting out at the first attempt.
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"Yesterday [Thursday] afternoon the bunkers dried out more than we have seen in recent weeks and that led to more balls running straight up against the face than we would normally expect," the R&A said in a statement on Friday morning.
"We have therefore raked all of the bunkers slightly differently to take the sand up one revet on the face of the bunkers. We routinely rake bunkers flat at most Open venues but decided this adjustment was appropriate in light of the drier conditions which arose yesterday.
"We will continue to monitor this closely for the remainder of the Championship."
Rahm was one of many players forced to pitch out backwards from the sand during the opening day, with McIlroy taking two attempts to get out of a greenside bunker at the final hole of his level-par 71.
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Justin Thomas was another to struggle in the sand on Thursday, racking up a quadruple-bogey nine at the par-five 18th, while former Open champion Stewart Cink expressed concerns after his opening-round 68.
"The bottoms of them are so flat that if a ball comes in with any momentum, it's just going right up to the lip and stopping," Cink explained. "There's not a little upslope that helps you at all. They are very penal."
Are players getting a fair deal?
Former PGA champion Rich Beem explained the changes, telling Sky Sports: "They've softened the blow a little bit on the upslope, giving a little bit more of a hope of not going right against the bottom of that face."
Sky Sports presenter Nick Dougherty explained there were "a few too many guys with unplayable conditions out there", before adding: "It should make it slightly easier, but it's almost like the weather gods have said 'no, we will make up and pick up the slack for that'."
Dame Laura Davies warned the move could cause further issues. She said: "What they've created now is the potential of hitting the face of the bunker, popping up and instead of just being at the base, it could plug now and that will have its own problems."
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