The opening day of the Open de España presented by Madrid, when Sam Bairstow and Ugo Coussaud topped the leaderboard with respective 65s, provided plenty of talking points. The competition is well underway and once again Club de Campo has shown why it is a worthy venue for Spain’s open for the thirteenth time. The place looks immaculate.
The players found out first-hand on day one just how stern a test the Madrid layout can be. Let’s take a look at a few of the stats from Club de Campo yesterday, when some of the biggest names in golf pitted their wits against the course. It is well-known that the fairways are narrow so accurate driving is vital if birdies are to drop.
On Thursday on Club de Campo’s Black Course only five holes played under par. The small, firm greens are proving to be its biggest defence this year. Many of the players have mentioned that the putting surfaces are very fast so approach shots need to be pinpoint accurate and the touch of a surgeon is required with the short stick.
For that reason, the toughest holes of the day were two of the par threes, the 11th and the 3rd, 211 and 208 yards long, respectively. 11 was the hole players found most difficult to negotiate (average of 3.31 shots), with only four players managing a birdie, while on the 3rd, only eight players beat par. Nobody birdied them both. Only Sam Bairstow, Ross Fisher and Manu Elvira managed an under-par aggregate for the two holes. The twelve birdies on 3 and 11 contrast with 90 players who slipped up on one of them. However, it was the Black Course’s fearsome 1st that produced the most double bogeys or worse. Eight players succumbed to its perils.
On the other hand, the three par fives on the Madrid layout were the most accessible of the day, providing players with the best opportunities to put a red number on the card. Let’s see how they fare on Friday.
