HONG KONG GOLF CLUB OFFERS ‘UNIQUE TEST’ FOR LIV PLAYERS

HONG KONG – Hong Kong Golf Club, the historic site for this week’s LIV Golf Hong Kong, will be played on a composite course that’s 6,710 yards long.

That’s not a number Bryson DeChambeau is familiar with.

Asked when he had last played a course that short, the Crushers GC captain replied, “Realistically like in competition? Probably never.”

Roughly half of the 54-player field has competed in the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open, which has been held at the club since 1959. Thus, they have experience navigating the shortest course to date in LIV Golf.

But for players such as DeChambeau, Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm and HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, who are all making their debuts here, the layout offers challenges they’re ready to embrace.

“It's definitely a unique test,” DeChambeau said. “There's a lot of shot shaping you've got to have out here, and your iron play has to be on point.”

Mickelson has enjoyed plenty of success on short-yardage courses; he’s won five times at Pebble Beach, which plays to less than 7,000 yards as the primary course of that event. He likes the strategy that shorter courses demand.

“That makes for a very interesting tournament because of the number of ways to play so many of these holes,” Mickelson said. “Different clubs off the tee, different shots into the green. It’s just a very fun strategic cool golf course to play.”

Or as Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith described it: “A smart person’s golf course.”

Rahm, who noted that the tree-lined fairways remind him of his teenage days in northern Spain, said he never pays attention to course yardage. Even so, he thinks the course will actually seem longer, especially on second shots.

“A lot of tee shots, you're simply not allowed to be sitting drivers, so you're playing it to a spot,” Rahm said. “ … You have the option of hitting driver if you want, but you're going to have to be extremely accurate.”

Indeed, one of the big questions centers around the usage of drivers.

DeChambeau might be limited to two – the 551-yard par-5 third and the 493-yard par-4 ninth (he also said the first hole is a possibility). He was surprised that he could use the club that often.

4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson, on the other hand, anticipates using his driver a minimum of six times. “It kind of depends on the wind,” said DJ, whose only appearance at HKGC came nine years ago.

It certainly depends on strategy, too. Mickelson cited the 288-yard par-4 fourth hole as an example.

The normal inclination would be to try driving the green (driver or 3-wood) but that would require navigation over trees. Another option would be to use a 3- or 4-iron and get within 60 yards of the pin. Or play it even safer with a 7-iron and pitching wedge.

“There are a lot of ways to play some of these holes out here, and I try to have one, two or three options based on how I feel or how I’m playing or how the round is going or how I’m hitting it that particular day,” Mickelson said.

The decreased reliance on driver this week should help teams that aren’t blessed with big hitters throughout the lineup.

Take Majesticks GC, whose three co-captains each rank in the bottom half of driving distance through the first three events this season. Ian Poulter won the 2010 Hong Kong Open, shooting a career-best 60 in the process, and he thinks this could be the week his team finally makes some noise.

“It's a course which sets up, I think, for us as some oldies that don't hit it 350 yards,” Poulter said. “It's quite refreshing to come to a course where for the most part we won't really be using driver. There's only a couple of holes probably on the course that lends itself to hitting driver. Accuracy is something hopefully Team Majesticks can lean on this week.”

The all-Australian Ripper GC ranks 12th in the league in team driving distance, and Smith is not happy with his performance off the tee this season. It’s led to a slow start for the Aussies, but thinks the course could be an equalizer against some of the bigger-hitting teams.

“Absolutely I would expect that the leaderboard – particularly at the top end of the leaderboard – is going to be a lot different this week, given what the course provides,” Smith said. “… It’ll be an interesting week. Hopefully for our team, it’s the week that really kicks off the rest of the season.”