British Open 2024: Joaquin Niemann hits three (!) different bunkers to score eight on postage stamp
British Open 2024: Joaquin Niemann hits three (!) different bunkers to score eight on postage stamp A tee shot into one of five deep bunkers at Royal Troon’s Post Stamp par three can turn into a nightmare. Did you find all three in one occurrence? As Joaquin Niemann infamously experienced in the second round of…
British Open 2024: Joaquin Niemann hits three (!) different bunkers to score eight on postage stamp
A tee shot into one of five deep bunkers at Royal Troon’s Post Stamp par three can turn into a nightmare. Did you find all three in one occurrence? As Joaquin Niemann infamously experienced in the second round of the British Open on Friday, seeing his hopes of hoisting a mug of Burgundy tarnished by a few minutes in the sand.
The Chilean, who won the LIV Golf double this year, arrived at Troon’s famously short hole for his round at one under par. Niemann was well in contention, and on one of the worst windy days in recent memory at the Open, he only had to survive the Stamp, playing to just 123 yards. But the hole had become a club choice conundrum with the wind, just as it does at little No. 7 at Pebble Beach when it’s gusty. The result of the Niemann’s tee was unlucky, and his ball struck green, but rolled in the fashion of Horsehoe in the right bunker.
He received too many bullets at his next blow, and he made his way through Green in a serious bunker with precision. It’s so narrow that certain lies make it impossible to get out in one shot, and that’s what happened to Niemann, who needed two swings to escape—he had to go out sideways away from the flag on the second attempt and ended up going into the front bunker that so many players were finding with their tee shots.
From there—he was now trying his fifth shot—Niemann blasted past the flag, settling 26 feet from the cup. Even putting was a struggle. He got his first putt within six feet, but missed the next and tapped in for his fifth consecutive bogey at eight. Snowman’s score was the second-highest at the Postage Stamp hole in the last six Opens at Troon, according to the broadcast. As the second round continued, Niemann’s eight was one of just five players to post a double bogey or worse on the eighth hole. But unlike many holes at Troon, it wasn’t drenched in black ink: there were 26 bogeys or worse, balanced by 24 birdies. The impression, only 0.07, played in the third powerful hole per day.