The Open: Jaco Van Zyl becomes first player to birdie St Andrews' notorious 17th hole
Last Updated: 17/07/15 4:12pm
Jaco van Zyl finally became the first player to birdie the 17th hole early on the second day of the 144th Open at St Andrews,.
None of the 156 players in this week's tournament managed to pick up a shot on Thursday at the Road Hole, which had a stroke average of 4.833 with a number of players saying they were happy to finish it with a 'par' five.
But the wind change made life a lot different at the Old Course, especially on the closing holes, and Friday saw two of the first six players make birdies on the penultimate hole.
First of those was South African player Van Zyl, who made five on Thursday but looks set to miss the cut despite improving 10 shots on his first-round effort with a three-under 69.
"I didn't think too many people were going to birdie it yesterday as a three-shot par four," said Van Zyl.
"Yesterday I hit driver, had 277 yards to the flag and I laid up with a three-wood, then hit sand wedge and then lob wedge and made a great 'par' five.
"Today it was a good drive and from 195 yards I hit a stinging three-iron to about 20 feet and rolled it in.
"It is a great hole. It starts with a tough tee shot and there is just no room for error with the second shot: you can bail out short right but it doesn't give you a four.
"Miss it right you're on the road, miss it left and you're in the bunker. It takes two quality shots and even if you are on the green it still doesn't guarantee you walking off with four."
Only 20 minutes later, another South African was celebrating a birdie at the 17th, with Thomas Aiken making what could be a vital birdie in terms of him making the cut.
Aiken was struggling with five holes to play but made three birdies on his way to the clubhouse, including following up his Road Hole birdie with another at the last to reach halfway at level-par 144.
"I hit a pretty good drive down the second fairway because I didn't fancy getting over the shed and I hit an unbelievable two-iron to about 10 feet and made it," Aiken added.
"Yesterday I hit an unbelievable drive and had 276 yards to the flag tucked three yards over a bunker, which happens to be the deepest bunker in the world.
"It was kind of tough. I hit two great shots to hit it about 20 yards short of the green and had no real shot from there and just putted it 15ft and unfortunately didn't make that - but made a good 'par' five."
