Nov
03

Is Valderrama as Tough as they make out?

Posted under Course Reviews by Swinger

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Ever since the great Tiger Woods rolled his approach at the 17th back into the water not once, not twice but three out of four times back at the 2000 World Championships many golfers class Valderrama as one of the toughest courses in the world.

With the weather conditions yesterday the course just got even harder, with grey clouds looming during the morning through to mid afternoon and the winds gusting and impossible to read saw some big scores being put up on the card. Two that stood out were that of Sandy Lyle who was 23 over par after two rounds and Ronan Rafety who registered a massive 30 over par after.

Conditions were a little better later in the afternoon which saw Justing Rose mainly thanks to his ace on the first day, take a 4 shot lead as the only player under par after two rounds. However with Valderrama claiming so many souls in the past few years it would not take too much to see the winning score be an over par.

So where are the key points? All of the holes have their features mainly the tree lined fairways that mean anything slightly off line from the tee is a potential shot dropped as the trees are not very forgiving. Miss the green and end up in the rough then you are in the deep sticky stuff in more ways than one. The rough for this competition is tough as it has been for all of the tour competitions this year.

Holes to be aware of as tough going are the long par 5 fourth hole with water to the right of the green makes those unpredictable winds a major factor when playing your second into the green. Then there is the par 4 tenth with water on the left and right a good tee shot doesn’t mean you are in prime position and the slope up to the green can be a killer as Mark Foster found out in the second round stopping his ball on the green to see it roll off and very much away from the hole (about 50 yards).

The winds on the back 9 play a massive factor in the high scores and the elevated tee on the long par 3 fifteenth a tricky green to hit and Sergio Garcia saw his shot fall short and in the sand because of the winds. The hardest is left till last, the seventeenth classed by some as one of the hardest holes in golf, a slight right hand dogleg par 5 you need a really good second shot to get the ball to stick to the green and stay there.

As the weekend goes on I have no doubt that there will be more big numbers put up on the score cards but having taken the long walk around the course yesterday I can completely understand how the worlds best have struggled with the conditions this week.