Rory McIlroy and Co can’t escape the claws of ‘Wee Beastie’, as Royal Troon’s famous Postage Stamp wreaks havoc at The Open – but local amateur shows the way forward

It tells you everything about the eighth at Royal Troon, the Postage Stamp, that a 20-year-old Scottish amateur made birdie on his Open debut and the last player to lift the Claret Jug here needed a six, with three shots from the same bunker.

‘The Wee Beastie’, as the locals call it, is the most iconic hole on these Ayrshire links and for good reason. Triumph and disaster lie just 120 yards away.

Find the green, as Calum Scott, the youngster from the Highlands, did and birdies are yours for the taking. If the wind’s blowing and you find one of the five bunkers around this minuscule green and it will eat you alive.

Henrik Stenson was one to get chewed up on the opening day at Royal Troon.

The Swede played the Postage Stamp in level par over the four days in 2016 when he beat Phil Mickelson to win one of the greatest head-to-head battles in Open history to be crowned Champion Golfer of the Year.

‘The Wee Beastie’, as the locals call it, is the most iconic hole on these Ayrshire links and for good reason

Henrik Stenson was one to get chewed up by the hole on the opening day at Royal Troon

Not this time. His tee shot found the right bunker – as did many, many more – and it took him three to get out on his way to triple-bogey.

‘It’s always a dangerous place to be,’ said Stenson after his round of 77. You can say that again. He wasn’t the only one. Daniel Hillier made triple, too, after finding the same bunker and also taking three to get out.

They all found it. Tiger Woods found it and made bogey. So did reigning champion Brian Harman. Rory McIlroy found it, needed two to get out and made double. Collin Morikawa put his tee shot short of the green and still managed to stick his second shot in there and also took two to escape. Scottie Scheffler went in but, naturally, got up and down for par.

At one stage, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Wyndham Clark – playing in the same group – all stuck their tee shots in the right-hand trap. Patrick Cantlay found the same one but chipped in for birdie. ‘You don’t see that every day,’ said one of the patrons on the viewing balcony.

It was not like it all day, though. The Wee Beastie took time to sharpen its claws.

The Postage Stamp is tucked away in the furthest reaches of Royal Troon, a mile-and-a-half trek from the first tee, and by late morning, the patrons were queuing back to the next hole for a seat. They knew big names were coming and they wanted blood.

Mail Sport took our seats just in time to see John Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Scottish Open champion Bob MacIntyre take aim.

All three found the green, Rahm and Fleetwood sunk their putts and MacIntyre was a lip-out away from the full set of birdies. No wind, no problem.

Robert MacIntyre found the green and was a lip-out away from the full set of birdies

Rory McIlroy found the hole’s pesky bunker, took two to get out and carded a double

A man in a woolly Wolves hat took a tinfoil parcel out of his plastic bag and unwrapped a ham sandwich, no other carcass into which the patrons could sink their teeth.

Then came McIlroy. Time for the Postage Stamp, and the patrons, to lick their lips. McIlroy found that pesky bunker, took two to get out and carded a double.

And with that, the Wee Beastie claimed its first big name. It would claim more, including one of its old masters in Stenson.

All this, too, with a wind that never billowed or swirled. Breezy at best. Just wait until it really starts to whip.