Top JWC field faces new look Vines layout
IN: News | Australasian PGA | Johnnie Walker Classic (2006) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 08 Feb 2006
A new look Vines Resort layout greets the field for this week's Johnnie Walker Classic with nine new holes introduced from the last time an event of this nature was played here in 2001.
The holes are new only to the tournament however as they are part of the original Graham Marsh and Ross Watson 27 hole layout which was opened here in 1989. The previous tournament course consisted of the Ellenbrook and Lakes layouts before the introduction of a further nine holes in 1998 saw a composite layout in use prior to the Heineken Classic moving to Royal Melbourne in 2002.
The new nine hole loop, which forms the front nine holes of the renamed Lakes course at The Vines, has been included to provide a fresh new look to what is already a highly regarded tournament facility.
Not that the new nine holes has been necessarily free of controversy. Several of the greens on that nine contain significant undulations and some of those who have played those holes for the first time this week have expressed surprise at the level of contour in the large greens. As is often the case however, players at this level find a way to manage themselves around the course by week's end and a fairer guide to players' opinions is likely to be had next Monday rather than today.
The greens on pro-am day measured around 11.5 on the stimpmetre which is close to what they will likely stay given the contour in some of the greens and the possibility, as is often the case here in the Swan Valley, of afternoon winds as the quaintly named Fremantle Doctor kicks in. The Fremantle Doctor is the name given to the afternoon winds from the nearby Indian Ocean.
The greens are Pencross Bent and both they and the golf course generally are in fine shape for the course's first test of tournament golf since 2001. The heat in the Perth region at this time of the year ensures that such greens need to be carefully managed as they are, of course, cool season grasses. The one saving grace is that the heat here is a very dry heat and as a consequence does not have the same detrimental effect that a similar heat would have in a more humid region.
The last time an event was played here was the Heineken Classic in 2001 when Michael Campbell completed the second of his two consecutive victories. The New Zealander is back but of course this time as the current US Open Champion.
The tournament brings the Johnnie Walker back to Australia for the first time since Ernie Els' simply stunning win here in Perth - but at the Lake Karrinyup course - when he won by a massive ten shots over Stephen Leaney and Andre Stolz. Ernie Els also won the event in one of its two other visits to Australia in 1997 at Hope Island and in 2002 Retief Goosen won when it was played for the first of two consecutive years at Lake Karrinyup.
This year's field is missing Els, but it does contain five of the top fifteen in the world and many others who are more than capable of winning here. Tri sanctioned between the Australasian, the European and the Asian Tours, the event brings together many of not only the leading players in the world but some fine emerging players.
The favourite will be the world number three, Retief Goosen, not just because he is the world number three but because in his first tournament back from a five week break since his win at the South African Open, he was 6th in Dubai last week. He has form in Perth, albeit at Lake Karrinyup, but he is one of - if not the - class acts of the field and as such deserves favouritism.
The next highest ranked player here is Adam Scott who is defending the title he won last year in Beijing by three shots over Goosen with Campbell and Henrik Stenson third. Scott has yet to win in Australia and although he has gone close on one or two occasions his legion of Australian fans will no doubt be willing him on for what would be an historic win for two reasons. He would become the first to defend a title in this event and of course win for the first time in Australia.
In his press conference today Scott talked off the work he has done in the last few weeks since his only start of the season at the Sony Open when 18th. "I played quite nicely there," he said referring to Hawaii. "I have worked on issues to do with my takeaway trying to take it back straighter as it was getting a little outside and with Augusta in mind it will help me develop the draw that I will need there."
Scott has a great record in events when he has led. Events such as this event last year, the Players Championship and the Scottish PGA at Gleneagles to name but a few he has led then extended his lead. "I have often thought about that," he said when asked. "Maybe it is because I feel I can control the field from the front and obviously if I am in front I played well to get there. I am now also keen to perhaps work on my Sunday rounds a little more. At the Australian Open for example a 68 on Sunday, although I know it was difficult that day, would have got me into the playoff."
Scott liked what he saw of the new Vines layout. "I don't remember a lot of the previous one but I liked the new holes. There is just the one I don't like and that is the 5th. I think that is a bit funky. I think by the end of the week as this course firms up however the course will require some very precise shotmaking."
Robert Allenby is here also after his three wins in Australia at the end of 2005 and then a break of seven weeks for tournament golf and five weeks from golf full stop. It is his longest break from golf since his car accident in 1996. He played last week in Phoenix but in his words was "just getting the rust out" when he finished in 55th.
Allenby won the JWC in 1992 when it was an Australasian Tour only event. "I like the course here. I am hitting more three woods from the tee here now but funnily enough they are actually going further than I remember my driver going, back when I won here. I have won before around here in the early Heineken classic days but this week will be a great challenge off the tee especially if it gets firm. I would like to see the course and the greens get firm."
Michael Campbell obviously, as mentioned earlier, has a liking for the Vines layout but like others was surprised at some of the contouring in the greens. He too has had quite a break, interrupted by a week at the Mercedes Championship where he played well to finish 4th. That form and his liking for the Swan Valley venue might just see him in the thick of it on Sunday.
Colin Montgomerie survived a tumultuous week personally last week but did not survive the cut in Dubai. "I was not mentally with it," he said referring to the fact that he had rushed from London to Dubai on the Tuesday night arriving on the Wednesday after finalising a huge settlement with his wife. "Now I can refocus on this week and get things headed in the right direction again. I really like the course here and would like to see it get firmer."
Referring to the nine which is being used for the first time this week, he said although the greens were severe in some cases, he liked it.
"There is a real premium on the second shot to put yourself in a area of the green from where you can create realistic birdie chances and to a large extent that is my strength. It is not long by any standards but that certainly does not make it any easier." After missing the cut in Dubai he stayed on and practiced at the nearby Montgomerie course in Dubai of which - of course - he was a co designer and said that his good week in Abu Dhabi when 6th was a better guide to his current form.
Peter Lonard has a great record at home including a runner up in this very event to Ernie Els in 1997 at Hope Island on the Gold Coast. He returns to tournament golf after a three week break following two reasonable weeks in Hawaii but the greens and their significant contours may be an issue for him this week. He does have the tee to green game to suit a layout that is very strategic in nature however. It might just be that the three week break is his biggest hurdle.
Mark Hensby is here after a break of more than two months since his last event, the Australian PGA. He was to return at the Torrey Pines tournament - and would have no doubt played last week in Phoenix where he lives - but for a car accident in Phoenix two weeks ago in which he did some damage to his forearm and saw his young son airlifted to hospital. He seems better now and his son is doing well and he is itching to get back to tournament golf.
Local golfer Nick O'Hern would love to do well and more especially in front his home crowd. His last Australian event was when he capitulated in the final round of the MasterCard Masters but he has played well in two European Tour events and appears close to returning to the form that saw him get to number 24 in the world late last year. This course, which requires precise strategic play, should suit O'Hern down to the ground.
There are many other chances, perhaps too numerous to mention, but the tournament organisers have assembled a balanced field of top class local and international players.
The Asians are headed by Thaworn Wirachant who led last year's Asian Tour Order of Merit and India's Shiv Kapur who finished fourth in his rookie year in 2005.
All the ingredients are in place for a most intriguing event. A new and yet proven tournament venue, a high quality field and the return of golf to a Western Australian public who likely felt hard done by the fact that they lost the Heineken Classic to the East Coast four years ago. They will be as keen to prove that was a mistake as the players in the event will be to win.
