Windy 14th Hole Does a Number on Several Cards

On venerable Royal St. George’s, there was a dragon Thursday. It spit fire, too, and a lot of golfers got burned.

The dragon took the shape of the 14th hole, a 508-yard par-5 on a day when the wind was blowing straight into the worried face of Peter Jacobsen, who took one of two 9s on the hole.

There were five triple bogeys and seven double bogeys. Of 155 players in the opening round of the British Open, 39 failed to make par there.

To the right, just off the narrow fairway, inside the picket fence, lies an out-of-bounds marker. Jack Nicklaus went out of bounds there on the way to a 7. Nick Faldo’s tee shot went out of bounds after landing in the middle of the fairway and skipping right.

To the left is jungle-like rough where you can lose your ball. Craig Stadler did on the way to a 7.

Then there was Peter Jacobsen. He was three under par as he stepped to the 14th tee.

He hit his first shot left and never found it. “Found three others,” he said. “Wanted to eat two of them.”

Jacobsen hit his second tee shot right--right out of bounds.

On his third attempt, he finally found the fairway.

“I thought I’d be hitting my third shot here on Saturday, not on Thursday morning,” Jacobsen said.

He took a 9 on the hole, four-over par, while shooting a 71.

That’s the Open.