Grass browner on other side

The road to Royal Liverpool Golf Club takes golfers through roundabouts and blind curves, hugging the left side of the street until a beige golf course comes into view.

The road to Royal Liverpool Golf Club takes golfers through roundabouts and blind curves, hugging the left side of the street until a beige golf course comes into view.

If golf in the United States is a steady diet of tree-lined forests, the links courses that are host to the British Open are pockmarked dunes where the challenge comes in shaping shots over ancient mounds.

8220;It8217;s the birthplace of golf, it8217;s where the game started, and it8217;s different,8221; Billy Andrade said after securing an exemption into the British Open. 8220;We8217;re over here on lush golf courses where you have to hit the ball high, and you go over there and you8217;re not on a lush golf course, and you have to keep the ball low. Everything about it you appreciate. It can be raining sideways and the fans won8217;t move from the grandstands. It8217;s about golf, it8217;s not about how many cocktails you can have in somebody8217;s corporate tent.8221;

A month after the United States Open at Winged Foot Golf Club belted the world8217;s best golfers 8211; and the world8217;s best golfers belted a few tents 8211; several players are embracing their inner romantic at the 135th British Open which begins Thursday.

Instead of Phil Mickelson chasing his fourth consecutive major championship, several golfers are trying to recover from a week at Winged Foot that dished out misery. Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie, each with a chance at victory, made double bogey on the 18th hole in the final round.

Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington saw their putters grow cold at the wrong moments. Tiger Woods missed the cut.

The British Open has often served as a balm to the bruised, despite the occasional dodgy weather. The fairways at British Open courses stretch wider than those in the United States Open. The greens roll a few counts slower.

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For many players, the British Open evokes a special memory. 8220;My first hole that I played in a British Open was 1987 at Muirfield,8221; Andrade, 42, said. 8220;I hit it on the green 50 feet from the hole. The pin was back left and I was front right. Everyone clapped because I hit the green and it was a hard hole into the wind.

8220;Over here you can hit it stiff, and sometimes you won8217;t hear anything because they really aren8217;t paying attention,8221; Andrade said, referring to the United States.DAMON HACK