Statistically, the Road Hole didn't become that much tougher by pushing the tee back 40 yards and technically off the Old Course grounds. St. Andrews' famously quirky 17th played to a 4.67 stroke average last week, just .04 higher than five years ago.
Hardly makes it worth the outcry that met last fall's notice about the change. Beyond the numbers, though, it's how the wayward shots played that led Royal & Ancient chief Peter Dawson to declare it a success.
"We were hoping that the road might come more back into play — and by gosh, it did," Dawson said in his post-Open remarks. "We had far more people on the road this year through the back of the hole than I've seen at previous Opens in recent times."
With longer irons played into the green, misses were more likely to scoot through than simply bounce off. Miguel Angel Jimenez's bank shot off the wall onto the green was one of the week's most memorable, and Martin Kaymer's Sunday mishaps cost him a few spots in the final standings.
Needing a fourth: Louis Oosthuizen's triumph leaves just one berth vacant for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, pitting the year's four major winners in a 36-hole competition Oct. 19-20 in Bermuda.
Should Oosthuizen, Phil Mickelson (Masters) or Graeme McDowell ( U.S. Open) also capture next month's PGA Championship, the slot will go to the former major champion with the best combined finish in this year's majors.
Of former major winners, Tiger Woods is the only man to finish in the top 25 of all three thus far.
Future glimpse: Illinois' Scott Langley and Georgia's Russell Henley, who shared U.S. Open low amateur honors at Pebble Beach, are among 12 collegians in the field for this week's Nationwide Tour event in Columbus, Ohio.
Now in its fourth year, the Nationwide Children's Hospital event invites the College Golf Coaches Association's newly named All-Americans to participate. Don't count the youngsters out.
In 2007, BYU junior Daniel Summerhays became the first amateur to win a Nationwide Tour event. Last year, Oklahoma State's Rickie Fowler lost in a playoff to Derek Lamely.
Tap-in: Last week's Reno-Tahoe Open went off without a full field — six slots of the 132-man lineup remained empty after all the alternates got in. Chief culprit: A whopping 29 Monday withdrawals.
—Jeff Shain