The song says that twenty years is nothing. In the case of the Real Club Sevilla Golf, twelve have passed. Twelve years since the last time the Montequinto course, in the capital of Seville, hosted its last major international tournament. In this case, with the permission of singers and poets, twelve years is a lot. A long time without seeing the Sevillian coliseum dressed up. The players missed it, their families, especially their families, the referees, the organisers and all the fans. The Real is very Real, although it is true that some things have changed over time.
The twenty-fifth edition of the Challenge of Spain, which starts this Thursday, does not resemble too much what was seen in the Open of Spain 2012, a tournament that ended with the victory of Francesco Molinari, years later winner of the Open Championship, and which marked until today the full stop for the Real de Sevilla. The first big surprise, the most commented among the tournament’s backstage, is the rough. Or the lack of it…
Surely everyone remembers it. There were very few tournaments throughout the year with better protected fairways than the Real’s. US Open style. High, dense, juicy, even. A headache. That rough was a kind of black hole. All the players feared it like a green stick. In more than one edition, a ball in the rough was synonymous with taking out the wedge, to the street and to another thing butterfly… You didn’t even think about looking at the green.
This year there is no rough. Or very little. Something is noticeable, but nothing like before. The course, in this sense, is more affordable. It is said in the rumours that the winner will be between -20 and -25. We’ll see. A lot will depend on what happens with the greens. It’s hot in Seville. Hot, hot. In principle, the idea is to make the greens hard from Thursday. Hard and fast. There is talk of a speed around 12.5 on the stimpmeter. If so, if they manage to achieve firmness and that speed, think more about -20 than -25.
Another feeling that floats in the atmosphere is that with the advance of technologies and the tremendous physical preparation of the players, the course has become somewhat short for professionals. For the hitters, not even super, you get to all the par 5s in two, in some cases even with iron 6 or something less, and the longest club you see in two on a par 4 is an iron 8, not much more.
In fact, there is a corner of the Sevillian Real that awaits tempting the biggest hitters. It is hole 12, a short par 4 with a dogleg to the right. From tee to the entrance of the green, shooting over the dog leg, there are 314 meters. Will anyone dare to play in one? Some voices point to Joel Moscatel, Wilco Nienaber or Lauri Ruuska. We’ll see. If the wind helps, don’t doubt that someone can try, although the short failure on the right is almost death.
In short, everyone is happy about the return of the Real to the highest level of competition and expectant about how it will be able to defend itself with today’s advances. The course, as always, like any day of the year, is in perfect condition. What a joy. Its return is a joy, a breath of fresh air after some other course that has already been played this year in the Challenge Tour…
The Challenge of Spain will be the seventh international tournament to be held at the Real de Sevilla. It all started in 1993, shortly after its inauguration, with a Challenge, five tournaments of the European Circuit were also played (an Open de Sevilla, three Open de España and an Open de Andalucía) and the remembered World Cup of 2004.
