Hole 18

The safe shot here is down the left hand side, but this is also the longest route to the flag. If a player is one behind on the 72nd hole, he may decide to flirt with the heavy rough and out of bounds down the right hand side, in order to go for the green in 2.

Birkdale 18th

18th Par 4 Championship tee 473 yards Medal tee 472 yards

Justin Rose says: 18th is a hole that suits a little bit of fade from the tee. You can aim at the bunker that is out at about 300 yards from the tee and just work the ball from the left back into the middle of the fairway. I think this hole could play anything from a driver off the tee to maybe a 2-iron depending on the wind direction . Once you have hit the fairway the green gets wider as you play it. Anything landing in the middle of the green is a much wider target than anything landing short and you have got a very small landing area to land the ball into. Again it?s a hole that needs a lot of respect and par is a good score on 18 to hopefully win The Championship.

Brian says: This is a great finishing hole. From the tee the line looks down the right-hand side because that is the shortest route to the flag. But that is also where the rough is deepest and where there is out-of-bounds. It is safer to play towards the left and cut the ball back in. For the second shot, players should try to pitch the ball on the green, from 180 or 190 yards out, to take out the front bunkers if at all possible.

Hole 1|Hole 2|Hole 3|Hole 4|Hole 5|Hole 6|Hole 7|Hole 8|Hole 9|

Hole 10|Hole 11|Hole 12|Hole 13|Hole 14|Hole 15|Hole 16|Hole 17|Hole 18|

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