The players at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final were effusive in their praise for the course at San Domenico Golf after the opening day’s play, with many believing it is in better condition than they have ever seen it.
The spectacular Mediterranean links has been blessed with stunning weather conditions thus far, which has made scoring a little easier but if the wind does pick up, as it has in previous years, it could become a different beast altogether.
Nevertheless, the players are enjoying the conditions in the early part of the week and have had particular praise for the course set-up, which has been as challenging as ever, yet enjoyable to negotiate.
Home hero Andrea Pavan knows every contour of the layout at San Domenico Golf, who sponsor the young Italian, and he used his local knowledge to good effect by notching eight birdies in a round of 66 to share the lead on five under par.
The Rome resident said: “It’s a beautiful part of the world, and I always enjoy coming here. I’ve obviously played the course many times but this is my first tournament round here, so it feels a little bit different. But I’ve managed to read the greens well and I also know where you can miss the fairways and how the course plays in the wind, so if it comes in the next few days, it might help my chances.”
Joint first round leader Julien Guerrier said: “The conditions are quite good at the moment, much better than the last time I was here two years ago when the course was really difficult, so I'm expecting some good scores out there this week.”
Fellow first round leader Jorge Campillo of Spain, continued: “The conditions were pretty good on the first day, there was hardly any wind, a little more in the morning but the weather was awesome so hopefully every day can be like that, the course is nice, I enjoy playing out here.”
Irishman Simon Thornton said: “The course doesn’t run that much but there is a bit of a ‘linksy’ feel to it, which suits me coming from Royal County, especially if the wind picks up.”
Jamie Elson of England said: “The course isn’t too penalising off the tee, you can afford to play a lot of safe lies from the tee and keep out of trouble so I had a few decent lies in the rough.”
The San Domenico Links Course opened in 2003 and was designed by European Golf Design, who have created many famous courses such as Celtic Manor, Portmarnock in Ireland, and PGA Catalunya.
The course is spread over 7,000 yards of lush land featuring undulating Bermuda grass with views of the Adriatic Sea from every vantage point.
