Thursday At The Open: Bunkers Steal The Show

South African amateur is among a trio tied at the top as Hoylake's flat-bottomed sand pits wreak scorecard havoc for several stars.

Royal Liverpool dried out. Peachy news, right?

The old links put up a fight despite benign-by-these-parts breezes. Super.

Except Royal Liverpool dried out and the coveted links condition seemed to accentuate a pre-tournament, man-made bunker floor flattening of the courses 84 bunkers.

“Forged by Nature,” the R&A’s new Open slogan this year, morphed at ti…