They are competing on a testing course at Bernardus Golf near Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, which hosted the Dutch Open on the DP World Tour from 2021-23. It has a Surrey heathland feel, that can play like a seaside links in certain areas.<\/p>\n
But that fast running aspect has been compromised by the storms that lashed the layout on Wednesday. “I think it’s a great course for matchplay,” said Stark.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of bunkers that you don’t really want to be in. You can have a lot of really long irons into par-four holes as well.”<\/p>\n
The par threes are also likely to generate plenty of drama, especially the 15th where matches will reach a crucial stage. “It is my favourite hole both visually and strategically,” says Bernardus club professional Roel Verdonschot.<\/p>\n
“It is built for drama. Players must decide whether to take the risk and attack the pin for a short birdie opportunity or play towards the middle of the green and accept a longer putt.<\/p>\n
“The tee is sheltered, so the wind can be difficult to feel, even though it is still influencing the shot.”<\/p>\n
And any match that goes the distance will involve an exceptionally tough 389-yard par-four closing hole. There is water from the left of the tee, while bunkers await players attempting to play safely towards the right.<\/p>\n
And the green is tiny with a deep run-off to the left and water to the right. “The 18th is the most difficult playing hole at Bernardus,” said Verdonschot.<\/p>\n
“You face a tee shot that you cannot afford to miss left, but you do not want to miss right either. If a close match reaches the 18th, there is a very good chance of drama.”<\/p>\n
Which is completely in keeping with Solheim Cup matches, especially those staged in Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They are competing on a testing course at Bernardus Golf near Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, which hosted the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-842819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}