Italy's Quiet Golf Champion – Francesco Molinari

A year ago Francesco Molinari put the seal on a remarkable twelve months with one of the most sensational tournament displays ever seen in Asian golf, when he and Lee Westwood finished streets ahead of a world-class field at the WGC-HSBC Champions. Tim Maitland reports.

When Francesco “Chicco” Molinari briefly raised his hands in the air and gazed momentarily up the cheering Shanghai crowds in the grandstand at Sheshan last year, you would have had little clue from his body language that he had just gone eyeball to eyeball with the hottest player on the planet and won. 

Even now, when he looks back at the best performance, the biggest victory, the most spectacular year of his career and a season unparalleled in the history of Italian golf, his voice – a deep baritone – rumbles along at exactly the same steady, careful, unflustered pace. 

"It was very, very good. It was probably the best golf I’ve played so. When you’re playing against the number one in the world it doesn’t get any tougher than that, especially the way he was playing. It was just a great week for my confidence and my self-belief to see that I could compete against the best in the world," the 28-year-old explains, his tone showing no hint of the kind of excitement of someone describing the day and the week where he delivered a performance that he had strived for most of his life.

There’s no hint of exhilaration when he considers the culmination of a remarkable twelve months in his life. It started when he won the Omega Mission Hills World Cup for Italy with his older brother Edoardo in Shenzhen and continued when he twice played alongside Edoardo as his brother won his first European Tour events in Scotland. If that wasn’t enough the brothers, who were born a little under two years apart, paired up again to help Europe win the Ryder Cup and, circling the globe, Francesco returned to China to claim the biggest prize of his career taking his season earnings to within a few Euros of 2.8 million.

 The vanquished in this case is far more effusive than the victor.

“Last year’s event was great! Myself and Francesco ran away from the field! We played a different golf course that week!” exclaims Westwood, who was starting his first of what would be 22 weeks at number one.

“It was pretty much flawless golf,” Molinari muses modestly.

As the quiet champion, Molinari is perhaps destined to be filed in the same place that the 2006 Shanghai winner Yang Yong-Eun occupied until he became Asia’s first male Major Champion and his 2009 PGA Championship cast his previous achievements into a new light. Both are symbolic of the arrival of relatively new golfing nations to the sport’s top table and, at the times of their win, neither golfer had the same superstar status as some of the other names on the HSBC Champions roll of honour like Phil Mickelson (2007 & 2009) or Sergio Garcia (2008).

They have one other thing in common: to win both produced a performance so perfect that they remain a regular reference point.

“I try to revive the feeling I had that week. I played with such poise. It was my perfect tournament,” Yang said the week before he enshrined himself as a legend of Asian golf.

Molinari’s emotions are he’s exactly the same.

“Definitely! What is left for me from that week are the feelings that I had on the golf course; being competitive, being really in the moment and just the attitude I had on the golf course, rather than the game itself,” he says.

It’s hard enough to believe Francesco would need such a reference point, so unchanging is his demeanour: even people close to his family say that while brother Edoardo rides a more typically Italian emotional rollercoaster, Francesco never deviates.

What’s almost impossible to believe is his claim that, as a child, learning the game in Turin, his dentist-father frequently banned him for ‘throwing the toys out of the pram’.

“I used to throw clubs as a kid and swear and if my Dad saw me from other holes throwing clubs he wouldn’t let me play for a couple of weeks. That was the punishment for not behaving on the golf course,” Francesco explains.

“I think I was lucky to learn the lesson as a kid. When you turn professional you try really hard think about what you’re doing and not about what happened or what is going to happen. I think that’s what I did really well in Shanghai.”

Patience has proved a virtue in other ways too. At the insistence of their parents, both Edoardo and Francesco had to complete degrees at the University of Torino (Edoardo studying Engineering and Francesco choosing Business) before starting their golf careers.

Although the younger Molinari initially singles out improving year-on-year rather than his victories, there have been plenty of highlights in his professional life.

“The World Cup and the Ryder Cup were two of the biggest moments in my career. The win in Shenzhen was great, playing against Rory (McIlroy) and G-Mac (Graeme McDowell) in the last round and winning by one shot at the 18^th is always something special. Being the first World Cup success for Italy alongside my brother Edoardo was just something really unbelievable.

“The Ryder Cup is an unbelievable experience; different from any other emotion you can feel on the golf course. The first morning we were not even playing and when we went to the tee they started chanting “There’s only two Molinaris” and it was just a lot of fun. I thought it was one of the best chants of the week. It’s a lot of tension and a lot of pressure but at the same time it’s also a lot of fun because you don’t play for money, you don’t play for world ranking points… you just play for winning and the team.”

As for the steady improvement, Molinari admits that the law of diminishing returns applies as you get into the jet set of tour society. This year he has strived for a little more distance and in the process lost some of the pinpoint accuracy.

That’s not the only change. This year Molinari has played fewer events to make room for the Majors and other WGC tournaments that his HSBC Champions win has allowed him to add to the cream of the European Tour’s events.  The results haven’t been bad – top 10s in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Volvo World Match Play Championship and the BMW Italian Open and, the highlight, a third place finish at the WGC-Cadillac Championship – but they haven’t been as consistent as previous seasons.

The other big adjustment has been the arrival of his first child, a son Tommaso, born this year on February 5^th.

“Life changes after a baby. You have to adapt to the new condition of being a parent, but it’s fun. As soon as he smiles you forget about anything that happened – good or bad – on the golf course. It gives you a different perspective,” Molinari reveals.

So, Molinari returns to the HSBC Champions not quite on the crest of the wave that swept him to the biggest win of his career, but looking forward to defending his title on what he describes as “a phenomenal” 18 holes of golf.

“It’s going to be different! We won the World Cup in China and now I’ve won in Shanghai; obviously I really like playing in China! It’s going to be fun to be back there another year. The HSBC Champions was just the climax of a fantastic year for me. I’m really looking forward to going back there this year and try and do the same,” he says.

How he’ll be received will be interesting. Perhaps like “YE” Yang Yong-Eun it will only be a Major championship that will make a nation relatively new to the sport re-evaluate the near-perfection he displayed last year.

If Francesco Molinari doesn’t get the recognition from the golfing public, the player he vanquished believes the Italian certainly has got it from his peers; the people that matter most.

“I think he did by all the players. That’s who you want recognition from,” Westwood says.

“He played very nicely,” the Englishman adds.

It’s a comment that sums up Francesco Molinari perfectly; simply because it is so understated.

Francesco Molinari Profile:

Personal

Nationality: Italian

Born: 8^th November 1982, Turin (Torino) Italy

Height/Weight: 5ft 8in/11st 5lb (172cm/72kg)

Family: Wife Valentina (m. 2007). Son Tommaso (b. 2010)

Lives: London, England

Education: Degree in Business, University of Torino (Università degli Studi di Torino/UNITO)

Other interests: Snowboarding, Football (Supports Inter Milan and West Ham United)

Career

Professional wins:

2010 WGC-HSBC Champions, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai China

2010 Ryder Cup, Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales

2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup, Mission Hills, Guangdong, China (with Edoardo Molinari)

2006 Telecom Italian Open, Castello di Tolcinasco G & CC, Milan, Italy

Other Professional Landmarks:

November 2010: career-best 5^th place in the European Tour’s “race to Dubai” order of merit

October 2009: reached top 50 of the Official Golf World Rankings for the first time

2004: Turned pro after earning his European Tour card at his first attempt at Q School

Amateur wins:

2004 Italian Amateur Stroke Play Championship; Italian Match Play Championship; Sherry Cup, Spain

2002 Italian Amateur Stroke Play Championship; Italian Amateur Foursomes Championship (with Edoardo Molinari)

2010 HSBC Champions victory:

Became the first wire-to-wire winner in the history of the HSBC Champions

His first European Tour victory since the 2006 Italian Open – a gap of four years and 185 days and 125 European Tour events between victories

His first WGC victory of his career, in his fifth WGC appearance

Moved into the top 15 of the Official World Golf Ranking; his highest career position

Marked the first time since the WGC events started in 1999 that European Tour members had won three events in the same year (Ian Poulter (WGC – Accenture Match Play), Ernie Els (WGC – CA Championship)

Became the 17th different winner of a WGC event, while Italy became the ninth different country to win a WGC event

The Molinaris joined Seve and Manuel Ballesteros, who in 1983 both won, as the only brothers to win in the same European Tour season. (1983 Seve – PGA Championship, Irish Open and Trophée Lancôme; Manuel – Timex Open. 2010 Francesco – WGC-HSBC Champions; Edoardo – Barclays Scottish Open and Johnnie Walker Championship)

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2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship Holes 13-18 with Rory McIlroy, Martin, Mazo and more!

Abu Dhabi Golf Course

 Q: How do you make one of the best tournaments on the European Tour schedule even better?

A: Lengthen the course, toughen up the bunkering and bring in one of most innovative sponsors in golf.

Tim Maitland sat down with some of the world’s top players to work out how to plot your way to success at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

A great event is just about to get better. The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Abu Dhabi Golf Club have produced some great championships and some great champions: Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, who seem to have taken out a time-share on the trophy, would feature on anyone’s list of Europe’s elite golfers.


In part three of this series, Tim Maitland asked a group of European Tour golfers including Roger Morgan, Gregory Bourdy and Rory McIlroy how best to navigate holes 13-18 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Course.

Abu Dhabi Golf Course

Hole 13 Par 4 414 yards 378 metres

Roger Morgan (New Zealand)

Caddied for Sandy Lyle MBE in the 1990s, including the last big win of a great career at the Volvo Masters in 1992. More recently worked for Pelle Edberg and several other Swedes. Last season was spent with Fredrik Andersson Hed.  

It is a short par four. If you hit driver you have got to hit it over the right edge of the bunkers on the left, but they’ve added another bunker in the landing area this year to make that shot more complicated. 

You have to make sure you don’t pull it because the rough on this course can be quite severe. If you happen to push it you’re bringing the trees and more rough into play on the right-hand side.

If you hit a good drive you can go in there with a nine iron or eight iron, even a wedge sometimes, depending on the wind. 

It’s a difficult green. You have to be on the right level if you’re going to make birdies.

When the pin is on the right, it’s a very difficult green to hold – especially coming out of the rough – so you have to make sure you get on the fairway. You have to be quite specific with your judgement there. If you spin the ball too much you can leave yourself with a very difficult putt. It looks very large, the right portion of the putting surface, but your judgement has to be spot on because if you go long you leave yourself a downhill chip and short of it, you’re going to be in the trap. 

It’s quite an innocuous looking hole, but it can bite you!

The mistake you don’t want to make: Going right off the tee. There’s a footpath on the right side and if you get there, if you’re not in the thick grass, you can be in the sand and you’ve got trees to negotiate.

Hole 14 Par 4 490 yards 448 metres

Mark Mazo (USA)

Caddied for Rhys Davies’ 2010 win in Morocco. Formerly with Garrett Willis on the PGA Tour.

It’s a pretty big hole and they’ve made it even bigger this year. When we had it, it was playing straight down wind. Even first out on a Friday morning we were still hitting a three wood. Later in the day, we were hitting soft three woods.

You play the three wood, despite the holes length, simply because the tee shot plays short and the bunker (at the corner of the dogleg) comes up pretty quickly. Ideally you get it down to the right half of the fairway, just short of the right fairway bunker, and that’ll leave a mid-iron in; a five or six iron. The fairway bunker on the left extends further into the fairway now, which is interesting.

It’s a pretty accommodating green. You do have to be a bit careful to some of the pin placements – especially the one short left, because it’s very, very easy to miss the green short-left chasing that particular pin. It’s not the easiest up and down. There’s enough severity on the slopes where, if you are short-sided, it’s very difficult to get up and down.

Although the green is seemingly quite big, it’s actually quite shallow, it’s just broad. If you can get the ball to pitch in the middle of the green you’re never going to be too far away. The pins on the right side are bad to chase. The one straight at the back is probably the easiest one to get to; where you can play to the middle and it releases, great, and if it doesn’t you’ll always have 25 feet.   

The mistake you don’t want to make: Getting too aggressive on the tee when it’s playing down wind. The fairway on the right comes up pretty quick because it plays down wind and the whole fairway runs away from left to right. You don’t need too be aggressive, because it’s just a high-draw seven iron, which at that point becomes a scoring club.

Hole 15 Par 3 177 yards 162 metres

Pablo Martin (Spain)

Winner of the 2009 Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek in South Africa. Became the first amateur to win a European Tour event when he captured the 2007 Estoril Open de Portugal.

Hola! Fifteen is a great little par three and it’s a great birdie chance. You’ll be really disappointed if you don’t get a birdie on this hole. Together with 18, out of the last four holes these are the clear birdie opportunities if the wind is not blowing. 

You can go right at every flag, because you’ve got some tough holes coming up; 16 and 17 are really tough and 18 is a great risk-reward hole. 

You’re probably hitting between a nine iron and a six iron, depending on the wind and how the flag is positioned. It’s a calculated risk, but it’s a clear option for a birdie. It’s a par three and every par three you’re happy with par, but this one you’re looking more for a birdie than a bogey.

It’s a tricky green. You definitely need to hit it close from the tee, because you can get some funny putts with a lot of break in them.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Short-siding yourself. If the flag is long and you’re over, then you’ve got a really tough up and down. Anything long on that green is not good.

Hole 16 Par 4 475 yards 434 metres

Gregory Bourdy (France)

Winner of the 2009 UBS Hong Kong Open, the 2008 Estoril Open de Portugal and the 2007 Mallorca Classic.

This one and the two holes after, they are very exciting! It’s a very good finish.  16 is a tough hole. We need to use driver or three wood; for me it’s a driver because it’s a long hole.  We need to drive between the two bunkers, one on the right and one on the left. Then we still have a long shot to reach the green! Depends on the wind, but it something like a five iron. 

You’ll see guys in among the trees. It’s not really tight – the fairway is quite large actually – but we like to cut the corner a little bit to get a shorter second shot. Sometimes we get too greedy and out the ball in the trees, the bunker or the rough. 

It’s important not to be too far from the hole. It’s quite a huge green with some hills, not big, but you can still have a difficult putt, so it’s better to stay close to the pin. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: If you miss with your driver it’s a very tough hole. The mistake is to be in the trees, the bunker or the rough.

Hole 17 Par 4 483 yards 441 metres

Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)

Won the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship three days short of his 21st birthday to become youngest PGA Tour winner since Tiger Woods in 1996. Winner of the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic. Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

It’s a pretty long par four, over 480 yards, and it usually plays into the wind. You’re usually trying to hit it just to the right of the fairway bunkers, maybe hitting it 280 up there because it’s usually into the wind. You’re leaving yourself something like a mid- to long-iron into the green. Last year I was probably hitting six and seven irons in there and it’s a pretty flat green.

The toughest pin position is the one on the front right, which is guarded by the front-right bunker. 

When the wind drops you can get it up there and leave yourself with a short iron and then if the pin is anywhere on the left side of the green it is quite a good birdie chance.

Otherwise it’s a tough hole: 16 and 17 are holes where you’re just trying to make par and hope to pick one up at the last. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: I remember last year I birdied it on the last day to give myself a chance, so I have fond memories of this hole. Making birdie to be just one behind made a big difference. It was big for me, definitely! It’s definitely a deciding factor in who is going to win this tournament.

Hole 18 Par 5 557 yards 509 metres

Matteo Manassero (Italy)

Won the 2010 Castello Masters near Valencia, Spain at 17 years and 188 days to become the youngest winner in the history of the European Tour. Also broke the legendary Seve Ballesteros' record as the youngest-ever full European Tour member.

Ciao! Bongiorno! This is a very good par five, because if you’re long you have to hit the first straight and well. If you’re not that long, the lay-up is not that easy and the second shot gets complicated.

For the long hitters the eighteenth can be a reachable hole. The first shot can be very tricky because you’ve got water and wasteland on the right and usually you’ve got thick rough on the left and a bunker.

I’m not one of the big hitters so my line is always just to the right-hand side of the bunker; on that line I’m never going to run out into the bunker or rough. That gives me 230 or 240 metres to the green. That’s not reachable for me. So the lay-up, the big bunker on the right is the direction for the lay-up. 

We’ll aim at the centre/right-side of that trap with either a rescue or a four iron to keep between 70 and 55 metres and leave that big right-hand bunker out of play.

Then we’ve got a third shot which can change a lot because the green is 50 meters long. Usually there are two flags on the front and two flags on the back, which makes a lot of difference; it can be a wedge or a little 58 [degree wedge]. It’s difficult to get the distance right. It’s a very good hole, a very good hole.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Not so much mistake, but this hole is different for the long hitters. I remember Alvaro [Quiros], the superstar, last year being over 280 metres off the tee, finishing just before the water. The water and the bunker comes much more into play for the long hitters. It’s a more tricky first short, but then they have a second shot to quite a wide green. That makes the hole easy for them, but they have to be very precise with the first shot. 

Abu Dhabi Golf Club - 18th Hole

Thanks again to Tim Maitland for his interview of European Tour Golfers for the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship!



photo credits: Getty Images/Tim Maitland


How to negotiate holes 1-12 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club can be seen on the Golf for Beginners blog:
2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship Holes 1-6
2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship Holes 7-12




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2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship: Holes 1-6 with European Tour players

Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Q: How do you make one of the best tournaments on the European Tour schedule even better?

A: Lengthen the course, toughen up the bunkering and bring in one of most innovative sponsors in golf.

Tim Maitland sat down with some of the world’s top players to work out how to plot your way to success at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

A great event is just about to get better. The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Abu Dhabi Golf Club have produced some great championships and some great champions: Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, who seem to have taken out a time-share on the trophy, would feature on anyone’s list of Europe’s elite golfers.

“I don't know if it can be better than the last few years, because it was always fantastic the way they did it.  But I'm sure HSBC the way they are involved in [the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai] – the way they handle that event – I think that they can improve it still a little bit,” mused Kaymer, the defending champion, who returns to Abu Dhabi with his first Major under his belt. 

“I think HSBC since many years is a huge sponsor of golf, a huge supporter of golf, and for us players, it's always nice to go back to Abu Dhabi, especially for me, the last three times I've played there, I won twice.  But HSBC together with IMG, I am pretty sure they are going to put a fantastic event together,” added the 26-year-old German. 

The falcon, the unique and symbolic clubhouse that stands sentinel as the season starts each year, will watch over an event that is new and improved in every way. The trophy is also in the shape of a falcon!

Firstly, the plain and simple fact of the European Tour’s domination of the 2010 worldwide season – the lion’s share of the Majors, the World Golf Championships and the Ryder Cup – has sparked a debate: I many ways it may well now be the world’s strongest pro circuit. 

The course has had an overhaul; greenside bunkers are deeper and more punishing, the sand traps around the fairways have been added to or strategically altered to further complicate the options off the tee.

And then, joining up with the tournament’s driving force – the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority – you have the new sponsor, whose main target in year one of their involvement is to help enhance the experience for the golf fan and to make the event more accessible and enjoyable for the golf-curious.

“You wouldn’t, as a sponsor, want to make broad, sweeping claims about improving an event as good as this,” said Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“But we do have a track record in golf and a reputation for state-of-the-art spectator villages, so it’s a good starting point. We’ll reach out to people and see what we can bring to the golf community and see whether we can bring new people out to enjoy the event.” 

While the world’s local bank may sound modest about its potential impact, the players seem to have fewer doubts that a strong tournament is about to get better.

“It’s happy news!” said Peter Hanson, part of the wining European Ryder Cup team.

“It’s been a strong tournament for a number of years, but hopefully it will be even stronger with HSBC coming in. They definitely make a difference. They’ve proven that in [Shanghai]. I played all of [the HSBC Champions] since the first year in 2005 and that tournament just gets bigger year by year.  The Abu Dhabi golf course is good and we’ve been spoiled staying in one of the best hotels in the world. It’s a favourite week of the year!”

Let's tee off along with the Euro Tour Golfers as they let you in on the secrets of navigating through the Abu Dhabi Golf Course!

Hole 1 Par 4 405 yards 370 metres

David Horsey (England)

Winner of the 2010 BMW International Open in Munich Germany, numberone ranked player on the 2008 European Challenge Tour.

This is a great chance of birdie really. If you hit driver between the traps and down the right side, you’ve got only a wedge into the hole. As you stand on the tee the ideal line is between the right-hand and left-hand traps; it’s about 280 yards to run out into the left-hand trap, which is about my distance, so I just need to keep it in front of that bunker. Some of the flags are quite difficult to get to because they’re cut quite close to the edge of the green, but generally it’s a great birdie chance. The green is quite slopey and you can spin it back to a right-hand flag because there’s a bit of a backstop there. On the left there’s a little hump in the green so, depending on where the flag is, you need to control where the ball bounces and spins.

It’s a great chance to ease yourself into the round.

The mistake you don’t want to make: It’s a nice gentle start, compared to the rest of the course. You can get a bit cute around the greens sometimes: short is dead. You can spin it off the front of the green and end up with a 40-yard pitch shot, but probably the worst you can do on this hole is bogey.

Hole 2 Par 5 600 yards 548 metres

Colin Byrne (Republic of Ireland)

Caddie for Eduoardo Molinari for his 2010 Barclays Scottish Open win and 2010 Ryder Cup

I’d have to say this is a chance. The hole plays shorter than the yardage: the wind is normally helping and the fairway has got a bit of run to it, so if you can get your drive away you can really get it down there. I know 600 yards looks a lot to amateurs, but these guys have got the name on their bag. They don’t usually struggle for distance.

Off the tee the line is the right column of the temporary arch that is usually there in the distance and there are no real tricks to the hole, although there is a new bunker to the left of the landing area this year that might complicate things. 

Even if you get in the rough, there’s a chance of getting a flyer which can actually help you get there in two.

There’s water to the right of the green, but if you can reach it in two you have to go for it even if the green is quite small. Even playing it as a three-shotter, these guys are absolutely deadly with a wedge in their hands. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: I don’t care what anyone else says, you have to think this is a birdie chance.

Hole 3 Par 4 439 yards 392 metres

Simon Khan (England)

Winner of the 2010 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, England

It’s a deceptive hole. This tee moved back two or three years ago. You never used to hit driver. It used to be a three wood over the corner off the forward tee. They moved it back a good 60 yards and you had to hit driver and the bunkers are definitely in play down the left. So you would hit driver at the right-hand trap over 300 yards. Even though it’s downhill you shouldn’t reach that; I don’t reach that. I haven’t seen how the bunker on the right has been reconfigured, but I’m told it’s more in play, so the game-plan might change this year.

It’s a slightly uphill second shot to a really sloping green from back to front and a bit left to right. On a calm day you’re going to have 130 yards to the front, so an eight iron to the back and a nine iron to the middle. When the pin’s back it’s a hard pin to get to.  You’ve got to be quite aggressive to get back there.

The front right pin everyone hits it to the left of the pin [to avoid the bunker on the right side of the green] but then you’ve got a tricky downhill left to right putt, so it’s not one of the toughest holes but it grab you as well. If you hit your tee shot left and because it’s not easy to hole putts. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: The bunkers on the left tempt you a little bit. It dog-legs left and you think you can just hit it over those bunkers, but it’s a big hit to carry over there. Into the green it’s easy to spin the ball back to the front and you’ve got a tough two putt from down there. It’s not the longest hole, but it’s full of danger.

Hole 4 Par 3 174 yards 159 metres

Peter Hanson (Sweden)

Winner of the 2010 Czech Open and 2010 Iberdroia Open Cala Millor Mallorca. Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

It’s a great hole; a fantastic hole. If the pin is on the front of the green it’s playing a lot easier than if the pin is at the back. All the pins on the back of the green are a lot more difficult. Normally the prevailing wind is off the right, when we play this hole and it can be pretty strong. You need to hit a seven iron or six iron into the wind. A great hole! It can play so differently difficulty-wise when you move the pin around. The green is covered by bunkers on all sides and they’re even deeper and more difficult this year.

The ridge across the green is big enough that you have to get it up there if the pin is up the back. If you’re playing a little too conservatively and don’t get onto the back level the chance of a birdie putting from front to back is very, very small and you might be looking at a three-putt.

I like the shorter par 3s rather than these 240-yard or 250-yard holes where you’re hitting three woods or three irons. This is about accuracy and about controlling the ball and controlling the flight.

The mistake you don’t want to make: The one place you don’t want to hit it is long. If you hit it into the back bunker you have a very difficult up and down. That’s the big mistake. You’re pitching onto a down slope and that’s why the back pins are so difficult. You’re on a little bit of a top tier and from the back bunker you’re in big trouble.

Hole 5 Par 4 469 yards 428 metres

Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden)

Winner of the 2010 BMW Italian Open in Turin

The fifth hole is a really tough one. It’s normally played into the wind (if I remember it correctly) and it’s a long hole with a green that’s quite undulated and tough when you get there. It’s 430 metres long and the wind makes it play more like 460 or so; so it’s a tough par four.

I remember it as a driver-three-iron/driver -four-iron hole. We don’t get tested that often for length – there are a few holes in the world that are really long – but it seems the courses, the new courses, get longer and longer.

You definitely have to be on the right level of the green to make putts, but the middle level is quite big so you can still have a chance to hole a decent putt from a decent distance.

The mistake you don’t want to make: If it’s into the wind you can’t fly the bunker on the left and they’ve added a new bunker in the landing area on the right this year. You have to play down the right, but the closer you get to the left side the shorter your second shot.

Hole 6 Par 4 469 yards 428 metres

Abu Dhabi Golf Course - 6th Hole

Billy “Foz” Foster (England) 

2009 HSBC Caddie of the Year. The other half of Lee Westwood’s rise to world number one; caddied for Lee at the 2010 Ryder Cup. 

I have absolutely no idea about this hole! The one time we played Abu Dhabi Lee missed the cut doing handstands and I can hardly remember this hole! 

It must be selective memory loss. Something like that.

I seem to remember there is water that comes into play down the left and the tee shot sort of snakes to the right. A lot of guys were hitting a three wood off the tee in the region of 270 yards, which would leave probably an eight-iron into the green. Some guys were trying to take it on; being more aggressive, cutting a driver and feeding it down into the neck of the fairway to leave a wedge in. There’s a new tee  and they’ve added a fairway bunker in front of the water on the left so until we see it, it’s hard to know exactly how it’ll play.

Looking at the yardage book, there’s a longer carry to the right side of the green and it breaks from right to left in the middle of the green. It doesn’t look too funky a green.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Driver certainly brings the water into play on both sides off the tee.

Photo credits: Getty Images/Tim Maitland

Golf for Beginners (and Tim Maitland) will bring you hole-by-hole golf tips from European Tour golfers playing in the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships all this week.

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships holes 7-12
2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships holes 13-18


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