Calamity Corner

Signature holes at The Open tend to have evocative nicknames – think Royal Troon’s Postage Stamp or the Road Hole at St Andrews.

Royal Portrush’s Calamity Corner is rather less subtle. You do not have to be a golf expert to grasp that the 16th might be the moment that a round falls apart, or even a tilt at the Claret Jug.

The 236-yard par-3 lived up to its billing in 2019 when just 41% of players found the green in regulation, the lowest of any hole.

It is the highest point on the Dunluce course, spectacularly picturesque with little protection from the wind that blows off the Atlantic coast.

Royal Portrush club pro Gary McNeill sums it up: “It is one of the highest holes on the course, so the views are spectacular but if the wind gets up then it will be so hard to putt from, let alone shoot from the tee.

"It is immense and one of the most famous par-3s around. There will be some drama there.”

Where the Postage Stamp is renowned for being the shortest hole at The Open, with hazards in all directions, Calamity Corner is different.

It is of course much longer, and there is one standout danger – whatever you do, don’t stray right.

That is where a deep ravine is just waiting to swallow up any stray balls, which could find themselves up to 100-feet below the green.

With the chasm on the right, the obvious play is to hit left. Do that and you will likely find yourself in Locke’s Hollow, named after the legendary Bobby Locke, the four-time Champion Golfer from South Africa.

When he played The 80th Open at Portrush in 1951, he took one look at the hole and made the decision to play to the left on all four days.

By landing in the bowl-shaped dip on the left, he was able to escape with a par on each occasion.

Calamity Corner enjoyed its fair share of victims six years ago, including one of Portrush’s local favourites.

By the time Rory McIlroy arrived on the 16th tee, his homecoming had already taken a sour turn – an eight on the first will do that.

McIlroy avoided the ravine on the right but still managed to four-putt on his way to a double bogey. From there, any hopes of making the cut had all but evaporated.

Gary Woodland, meanwhile, came to Portrush in 2019 fresh from winning the US Open and quickly spotted the danger posed by Calamity Corner.

He said: “I think you’ll see a lot of balls going left. Right is no fun. And that’s obviously weather dictating. If the wind is blowing and it’s coming into you and it’s raining, it’s going to be a brutal hole."

The numbers back that up, even if Woodland himself escaped with a pair of pars from his two tussles with Calamity Corner.

Shane Lowry was another who avoided disaster on 16 on his way to being crowned Champion Golfer, with three pars and a birdie.

But it all could have been very different when he inadvertently pushed his shot a few yards to the right.

Having aimed left, it worked out for the best as he hit arguably his best tee shot of the round - even if it came with a bit of a scare.

So what is the trick to escaping unscathed? McNeill gives something of an idea.

He said: “As the name suggests, it's a very challenging hole from the Championship tee – 236-yards over a very deep chasm to not a huge target when you're all the way back there.

“I think every competitor would quite happily take a three in each round. It's a hole where if you get it wrong you can easily run up a double-bogey or worse, particularly if the player pushes it out to the right and doesn't make the carry across.

“The ball has a tendency to bounce and make its way right down to the base of that chasm and then you're at the mercy of what lie you get down there and you're trying to play a shot up a very steep bank to a blind target.

“It has the potential to be a real card-wrecker – most players will kind of aim to the left centre of the green and just try and play up that left-hand side, where you do get a little bit of assistance from the mounding.”

When the evening draws in on the Sunday, there is every chance that Calamity Corner will have the decisive say in who lifts the Claret Jug, particularly if the conditions take a turn for the worse.

Whatever happens, it will be a must-watch hole, whether you are lucky enough to be in Portrush to take in the action live, or following every shot on our dedicated Par-3 Channel.