In 2014, the Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex was held in Wales for the first time and it was at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club where former Ryder Cup Captain Bernhard Langer set a new record as he won by a mammoth 13 shots.
The Championship returns to the stunning Welsh links in 2017, and it’s not just us looking forward to revisiting the Welsh coast, take the players’ words for it.
Five-time Open Championship winner Tom Watson, a master of links golf, said: “I really fell in love with it immediately. It’s a great test of golf.
“From the first hole on, it was just one after another, it was just, this is a really good hole, good hole, great green complex.
“The differences of this golf course and other Open venues, the greens have movement to them. Movement, meaning, you have a lot of greens that will fall away.
“You have greens that they go uphill, and you have downhill shots, uphill shots. That’s what I like about the golf course is the variety of elevation changes and contours.
“This would make a great Open Championship golf course in my opinion.”
It’s not just the former American Ryder Cup Captain who holds the course in high regard, with former European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie, who oversaw Europe’s victory at Celtic Manor Resort in 2010, singing the praises of Royal Porthcawl.
“This is fiery, this is a true test of links golf,” said Montgomerie. “It’s a very underrated and underplayed golf course.
“The first five holes are particularly tricky. I think the greens have a lot more contours in them than normal links greens. Then you reach the par five sixth and you feel you can get off from there. If you can play the first five holes in level, you’ve almost broken the back.”
Former Masters Tournament champion Fred Couples, a five-time US Ryder Cup player, said: “It is right up there with the best courses I’ve played over here. You had better be a pretty good golfer to play four rounds here. It is a true test. It’s absolutely spectacular.”
Clickhereto purchase tickets and see for yourself in 2017 why this wonderful course is held in such high regard.
