The 2018 Solaire Philippine Open was played at one of the hardest tests of golf I have encountered. The main test at ‘The Country Club’ in Nuvali is that the course is 7,100 metres or a little over 7,800 yards which included two relatively short par 3’s. As you will see in the pictures below, I have included a shot of the 9th hole as the yardage book shows it but I promise you, it seems a lot longer than even the book suggests. To add to the enormous size of the course, the greens were firm and the rough was thick. Needless to say, it was a test! Despite the courses difficulty I have to say it was very fairly setup, there are no tricks of excessive slopes in the greens, it simply is a very strong test of golf from start to finish. The general consensus amongst the players is that the par of the course is somewhere between 4 and 5 over par. This proved to be an accurate assumption in my opinion as despite what I would normally describe as poor scoring averaging 5 over each day, I maintained a mid 30s position in the field all the way through.
I myself had a fun, yet draining week and learned a lot from playing such a challenging course as you need to work extremely hard from start to finish, which in turns means pressure. I look forward to the next event at this course, perhaps later in the year as I would love another go at this monster having been around it a few times now. Once again I must convey my thanks to the Tournament committee of the Solaire Philippine Open for the invitation to such a great tournament and I hope to be back again next year.
My next event is the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Championship on the Faldo Course at Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Cavite, Philippines which tees off on March 7th through March 10th.
17th Hole – par 3
Tim Stewart Golf 