This Thursday marks the start of the third edition of the Porsche Singapore Classic if the third wave of the monsoon and its torrential waters allow it. We’ll have to see how far it can go: some fear the tournament will be decided over 36 holes, and certainly no one, at this point, with the weather forecasts in hand, expects all four rounds to be completed.
In the previous two editions (2023 and 2024), the required 72 holes were played, and if the consistency award were to be given right now after those eight rounds of competition, it would undoubtedly go to Alejandro del Rey. The Madrid player, who boasts a third place (2023) and a seventh (2024), has never played over par at the Classic course at Laguna National Golf Resort, the venue of the event, and his average on this par 72 is an impressive 68.62 strokes.
This course suits the Spaniard well. He feels very comfortable. “It suits me well, and I think it’s, among other things, because it’s usually played very soft, and from the tee, the ball doesn’t roll, so it favours me because of my hitting power; it’s a wide and soft course. You have to do everything in the air. I like those undulating greens because you have to be imaginative in recoveries. You also have many varied positions on the fairway because the whole course is very undulating, and I like that, and I think it favours me against somewhat more robotic players who prefer more neutral ball positions.”
But not everything is good news. Del Rey has a thorn in his side, and it is none other than hole 6, a par 4 that is certainly not a formality, well defended with water along the entire left flank, but it is neither the longest nor the most complicated hole on the course, according to statistics. In 2023, he went out to play the final round in the leading group and started with three consecutive birdies that catapulted him up the leaderboard, but a double bogey on hole 6 abruptly halted his chances.
It’s the classic unfinished business. He has never made a birdie in eight rounds of competition, and his score on this hole is +6. “Yes, it’s a thorn in my side. In 2023, I hit with the driver from the tee, but it didn’t go well. And in 2024, I played more with the 3-wood and some 2-irons, which also didn’t go too well because I didn’t hit the fairway… You have water all along the left side, and the problem is that if you miss on the right, the ball ends up higher than your feet and in the rough, with a shot to a tricky green, which is also defended with water on the left. I think this year I’m going to try to hit confidently with the new 3-wood, which is working very well for me,” he explains.
On the opposite side of the scale, we should place hole 18, a rather short par 5, usually played as the easiest on the course, where Álex has a cumulative score of -8 in eight rounds. Nonetheless, beyond his dilemma on hole 6, one of the keys for Del Rey this week might be hole 14, the longest par 5 on the course, which the Madrid player has not yet fully exploited, with two birdies, one bogey, and six pars in the eight rounds he has played. Be that as it may, and pending how much and how it can be played in Singapore this week, it seems a favourable place for Del Rey’s second victory on the European circuit, with or without the permission of the troublesome hole 6.
