Asked for the goofiest bounce he got all week, Charles Howell III said, "Hitting the curb with my left tire."
At least his car had brakes.
Get the ball rolling along the humps and bumps, and who knows where it will stop?
"The bounces are 20 yards in the air," Howell said. "You have to realize that's going to happen. I played three practice rounds with Tiger, and between us there were a lot of good shots that wound up in the rough. It's going to happen to everybody."
Still, a little luck goes a long way at any major.
David Toms hit a 5-wood at the 2001 PGA Championship that would have gone over the green if it had not struck the pin and dropped in for an ace. Lee Janzen thought he had a lost ball in the final round of the 1998 US Open until it mysteriously dropped out of a tree.
Yes, there will be strange bounces. But shotmaking still counts.
"It doesn't matter if you hit the ball mediocre," Nick Price said. "One of the things I've learned over the years about playing links golf is it's not a question of playing pure shots all day long. It's how well you manage the golf course."
There is a road map for playing Royal St. George's, which is why experience might count more here than any other links.
Give the edge to Els, who played here in 1993 at age 23 and shot four rounds in the 60s to tie for sixth. Price was also in contention that year, while Bernhard Langer was never worse than third in his three British Opens at Royal St. George's.
"Good golfers who play this course regularly would say that as soon as you've hit the ball, you know which way it's going to bounce," Royal & Ancient secretary Peter Dawson said.
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