Wind May Make Things More Difficult on Back 9 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes

As is its custom, the British Open will be decided today on the last nine holes at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where the leaders will play into the wind blowing off the Irish Sea.

“The backside will be very, very difficult,” Seve Ballesteros said. “The combination of the last nine holes and the wind . . . who knows?”

Nick Price, who leads the 117th Open Championship by two strokes, said there are two other key holes, but they are on the front side.

Played downwind, Price said the 490-yard No. 6 and 549-yard 7th, both of them par 5s, are holes that must be birdied if he is to stay ahead of Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle.

“You know at least one of us going to make birdie, birdie on those two holes,” he said.

After the turn is made, Price said the par-3 12th is the next big hole. The 198-yard hole has a raised green sheltered by bunkers and exposed to the prevailing northwest wind while the tee is sheltered by trees.

“It’s the first really difficult hole on the back nine,” Price said. “You need to get a solid three there so you can walk off the green confident for 14 and 15.”

The 445-yard 14th and the 463-yard 15th are both par 4s, but they play longer than that because of the wind. Price birdied 15 Sunday when he hit a 2-iron to within three feet of the cup.

“The best 2-iron I have ever hit in my life,” he said.

He may need more of them, Ballesteros said. What happened Sunday is nice, he said, but it is also incomplete.

“It was pressure today, but the pressure is not really on the third day,” Ballesteros said. “The pressure is on the backside tomorrow. That’s when we start making mistakes.”