Cup course is classic Nicklaus
Players like greens, mix of par-4 lengths
INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA Spread out on a massive plot of land, with towering high-rise buildings creating a stunning backdrop and the nearby West Sea generating soft breezes, the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea is a perfect fit for The Presidents Cup.
Playing to a par of 72, the immaculate course can be stretched to 7,380 yards and will play even longer because of soft conditions. Water can come into play on half of the holes for the match-play scrap between the USA and the Internationals. Aggression will come into play on all 18.
“I like it a lot. I think it’s great. I think it’s great for long hitters,” J.B. Holmes said. “You’ve got some pretty big fairways, and you can definitely attack it with your irons.”
The course is a blend of short and long par-4s, including the drivable 14th, doglegs to the left and right, challenging par-3s with sharp edges and four par-5s that are all risk-reward. When asked if any hole stood out as a superb matchplay hole, Bubba Watson didn’t hesitate.
“One through 18,” he said. “It really is, with the way the course is set up right now, with the soft fairways, wide-open fairways, there’s going to be a lot of fairways hit, which means people are going to attack a lot. There’s a great chance of a lot of birdies and not that many bogeys because of the fact that you can hit a lot of greens. You can hit a lot of fairways. So I think it’s going to be more of a birdie-fest than a sloppy bogey to win or anything.
“It’s like most Jack Nicklaus courses. … The greens are very difficult; there’s a lot of shelves, undulations on the greens where you’re trying to hit the ball in the right spot and if you don’t could be a very difficult two-putt. It’s just tricky getting the ball in the right spots, and that’s how Nicklaus has always been.”
Phil Mickelson, who has played in every Presidents Cup, liked the greens from themoment he stepped on the one at the first hole.
“The greens are some of the best-conditioned greens we’ve seen. There are no imperfections,” Mickelson said. “They are as good as you could possibly have, and the golf course is extremely fun to play. It’s very well-designed. It’s a wonderful golf course, and the bunkering is beautiful aesthetically.
“It is a very well-designed golf course.”
World No. 2 Jason Day, the only player among the Internationals who is ranked in the top 10, said his approach to each hole would depend on weather conditions, the score of the match— and how much he wanted to risk with his target line.
“I guess it’s not a traditional Korean golf course. It feels like America with how the layout is,” Day said. “It’s definitely long. I mean, it’s a traditional kind of Nicklaus course, where it’s a little forgiving off the tee box and kind of deadly if you short-side yourself.
“Second shots are crucial into these kind of greens. There’s a lot of undulation on the greens, and they are very difficult. So it’s going to be hard if you’re not hitting it straight.”
“It’s definitely long ... and kind of deadly if you short-side yourself,” Jason Day said of the course Jack Nicklaus, above, designed.