BBC golf stalwart Ken Brown said it looked like they should be doing a barbecue on it. Sir Nick Faldo said he couldn’t understand why you’d want bits of cement on you rather than grass. And appalled golf fans commented that the recent restoration works around the famous St Andrews Swilcan Bridge made the course’s most famous stone feature look like “a DIY patio”.
England will look to respond to their opening Six Nations loss to Scotland when they take on Italy, and they can now call upon Henry Slade.
Real Madrid will face Al Ahly in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup on Wednesday without key pair Karim Benzema and Thibaut Courtois.