‘A wee bit fat’: After 83-yard chunk on Open’s signature par-3, pro withdraws

The pint-sized Postage Stamp hole at Royal Troon — aka the 120-ish-yard par-3 8th — has given golfers fits since it was shaped and rolled and cut into existence roughly 150 years ago. Tiger Woods made a 6 on the hole at the 1997 Open. That same week, British pro Steve Bottomley needed a combined 17 strokes to finish the hole, in just two rounds. “You don’t need a 240-yard par-3 for it to be hard,” Woods said earlier this week.

In the opening round of the 152nd Open Championship, Romain Langasque added another page to the Postage Stamp’s long and colorful history.

The 29-year-old Frenchman was one over when he arrived on the tee at the 8th — nothing to sniff at in the wild and windy conditions the players faced Thursday. But his scorecard didn’t tell the full story, because Langasque was hurting. He’d tweaked his back on the 4th hole.

The result of that injury: maybe the ugliest swing of the day at Royal Troon, a fatted wedge that carried all of 84 yards before burying in tangled rough well short of the green. It was the kind of shot you’d expect from a nervy amateur on Troon’s signature hole, not from the 142nd-ranked player in the world.  

“He just hit it a wee bit fat,” Scottish golf legend Sam Torrance said generously on the Open’s global broadcast.

Langasque’s next swing? Not much better. From ankle-high fescue, he skulled a chip through the back of the green. Langasque took all of six paces toward his ball before removing his cap and whirling back around to declare to his playing partners that he would hit no further shots in what was his fifth Open start. Langasque was withdrawing.

“Hurt my back on hole 4 and it became worth and worth [sic] after it,” he tweeted later in the day. “see you next year”

Langasgue is the third player to withdraw from this Open. Sebastian Soderberg of Sweden tapped out earlier in the week with a back and rib injury, and David Duval, the 2001 winner, pulled his name from contention last week.