Welcome to GOLF.com’s “Seen & Heard” video series, where we’ll endeavor to give you an inside look at golf’s biggest events through the eyes and ears of our onsite crew. On deck this week: The 2023 Open Championship from Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Let’s go!
ICYMI: John Lennon’s house and a round at West Lancashire | Inside Day 1 at the Open Championship
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All of the GOLF.com on-site crew has officially arrived in Hoylake and they’re hitting the ground running.
After a day of getting their bearings at the host of this year’s Open Championship, Day 2 at Royal Liverpool was one of exploration. Even amid a busy day of press conferences, the abroad team made sure they got out of the media center (centre?) to check out all the sights and sounds Hoylake has to offer.
James Colgan, GOLF.com’s resident media insider, shared that Nick Faldo would be back in the booth calling the action this week. And, coincidentally, the crew ran into Sir Nick on their walk to the course.
“Basically, he’s just kind of obsessed with working,” James says. “Came back out of retirement for this.”
That’s not the only famous media run-in the team had on the day, though. Once they got through the gates, James ran into NBC broadcaster and fellow Syracuse alum Mike Tirico, who gave some insight on what to expect from the course this week.
“It’s a lot greener than it was in 2006,” Tirico says. “If you go back and watch the [Tiger] Woods highlights in ’06, it has a brown [look]. One gentleman who used to be the head of the R&A would refer to it as ‘biscuit brown.’ You think of a biscuit over here, that color defines links golf in a warm summer. They’ve had a lot of rain here and it has not been that warm. This is the one spot in the world that has not had record-breaking heat in the summer … It was more like this in ’14, but not even this green.”
The lush conditions are sure to be welcome for the players who won’t have to navigate the baked-out conditions of yesteryear, but that doesn’t mean things will be easy. Especially with the interesting local rule the R&A will implement this week as it pertains to out of bounds.
On the 18th hole, there is internal out of bounds all along the right side of the fairway. The hole might look wide open and playable, but with the threat of a stroke-and-distance penalty with any loose shot, it becomes a knee-knocker.
“Very very nervy,” senior editor Sean Zak says. “That’s one of the key things about Hoylake.”
Come Sunday, it very well could help decide who hoists the Claret Jug.
Check out the entire Day 2 recap from Hoylake in the video above.
