European Tour toughens up its act
● Harsh words from Mcilroy appear to have sunk in as Desert Classic set-up looks a lot harder
Rory Mcilroy maybe more than 8,000 miles away playing on the PGA Tour in California, but it seems his comments late last year about European Tour courses needing to be toughened up has had the desired effect.
Twelve months ago, the Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club was ripped apart by American Brys on Dechambeau, who shot rounds of 66 - 66 - 68- 64 in winning the Omega Dubai Desert Classic by seven shots with a sensational 24-under-par total.
From what the players and caddies are saying, no-one will get close to that in the $3.5 million event this week due to the Karl Litten- designed course being a different beast altogether for the second leg of the Desert Swing.
Landing areas have been narrowed, collars of rough have been brought in closer to greens and the rough is juicy. No, make that very juicy. On top of that, a new tee has extended the ninth, which was already one of the toughest holes on the course, by 25 yards to create an overall par72 test playing at 7,353 yards.
It can’t just be a coincidence, after Mcilroy’s strong remarks on course set-upon the European circuit following an appearance in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland last October.
“I’m honestly sick of coming back over to the European
Tour and shooting 15-under and finishing somewhere around 30 th–I don’ t think the courses are set up hard enough,” said four-time major winner Mcilroy, pictured, who has played here in the past, winning, in fact, in 2009 and 2015 but is skipping it again this year to play in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
“There are no penalties for bad shots. It’ s tough when you come back when it’s like that. I don’t feel like good golf is regarded as well as it could be. It happened at the Scottish Open [in July]. I shot 13-under and finished 30th. It’s not a good test. I think if the European Tour wants to put forth a really good product, the courses and set-ups need to be tougher.”
Ernie E ls, for one, echoed
MCIlroy’ s comments and it would seem they have been take non boar data course where the big South African won three times.
“I think there was a consensus at the end of last year that the players wanted the courses to be a bit tougher,” commented Stephen Gallacher, another player with an impressive record on this track, having recorded back-toback wins here in 2013 and 2014.
“I think Rory was vocal about it, including having some thoughts on the Scottish Open, and I think when guys like that talk, people listen, and I think here they have tried to make it a bit tougher.”
Helped by a third-round 62, Gall ac her claimed the first of his title triumph sin the desert with a 22- under total before repeating the feat 12 months later with a 16-under aggregate. The Lothians man knows the course as well as anyone playing this week and says its teeth have certainly been sharpened.
“It is a totally different setup,” added the four-time European Tour winner. “They have changed the shape of the fairways. They have raked the sand, grew the rough and dragged it against you.
“As always, the course is brilliant, don’t get me wrong. But they are obviously trying to make the winning score higher as it is certainly tougher. If you miss the fairway, you can’t reach the greens. The greens are brick hard, so it is tough to get any hold on them. There’s also a new tee at the ninth. It was probably the hardest hole on the course and now it’s been made even harder. If you were four times on the fairway there this week, you’d take that.
“The onus is hitting the fairways, that’s for sure. You can’t even hit 3-wood on a lot of the holes as that leaves you a really long club in, so you have to be aggressive. I think the guy who wins this week will probably lead in fairways hit. Tough but fair is great, and I think they have got it pretty much right here.”
Back to defend his title, De C ham be au noted the “rough is longer” this year.
World No 10 Tommy Fleetwood is the highest-ranked player in a field that includes Open champion Shane Lowry, 2017 winner Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson.