Barclays Singapore Open

The Race to Dubai enters its final stages this week as the European Tour heads east to Singapore for the Barclays Singapore Open. A mix of rich history, modern development and a melting pot of different nationalities make Singapore one of the most unique and diverse places on the planet and it’s a real highlight of the European Tour season.

The event itself is missing some of the European Tour’s big names with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher all competing at the Volvo World Matchplay Championship near Malaga, Spain. That said, with the Race to Dubai nearing its crescendo, a number of big names have made the trip to Singapore with the likes of Titleist Ambassador Adam Scott and Pro V1 loyalists Geoff Ogilvy, Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington all teeing it up at Sentosa Golf Club for the event. The event is co-sanctioned between the European and Asian Tours which ensures that players from all four corners of the globe are competing for the title. It’s a truly cosmopolitan field in a truly cosmopolitan venue!!

Titleist Ambassadors in the field this week include:

European Tour
Adam Scott
Robert Karlsson
Gregory Bourdy
Pablo Larrazabal
Mikko Iloen
Brett Rumford
Soren Hansen
Shane Lowry
Michael Hoey
Tano Goya

Asian Tour
Chinnarat Phadungsil
Rick Kulacz
Darren Beck
Gagangeet Bhullar
Noh Seung-Yul
Mo Joong Kyung
Adam Blyth
Mitchell Brown
Marcus Booth
Andrew Dodt
Prom Meesawat

Click here to view the slideshow

The layout at Sentosa Golf Club is extremely highly rated among the players. Perfectly manicured fairways and greens are always welcomed but the course also provides one of the most spectacular settings of the year with a number of holes providing great views of the Singapore skyline and the Indonesian Ocean. At 7300 yards, par 71 the course is certainly a long one but with the heat and humidity in Singapore at present the length of shouldn’t present too many issues to the players. Their focus will undoubtedly be positioning their ball in the right area of the fairway to allow them to attack the pins. The greens at Sentosa Golf Club are large and undulating and the pins can be tucked away in some tough positions. In addition, the putting surfaces have been constructed with a high-tech, sub-air system that allows moisture to be literally sucked out of the greens. This gives the green staff the ability to firm up the putting surfaces as they see fit which will put even greater emphasis on placing the ball in the right area of the fairway in order to create an appropriate angle to attack the flag.

With the event taking place in Asia the team flew out to work with the players but there was obviously no Titleist Tour Support Vehicle (TTSV) on site. Our driver, Ian Martin, is our very own “Iron Man” but Singapore is too long a drive even for him. Without the TTSV on site it wasn’t possible to build new product for the players so requests for new equipment were understandably limited. That said the team did receive a request from Titleist Ambassador Soren Hansen. Soren arrived in Singapore only to discover that his 909D2 driver had been damaged in transit. In typical Soren fashion, he remained totally unflustered by this issue and calmly put his back up driver in play, but he did ask for a replacement ‘gamer’ to be built. An order has gone into our European Tour Workshop in St Ives, England for the new driver and we’ll have it with Soren for his next event.

Soren Hansen

Model: Titleist 909D2
Loft: 9.5°
Shaft: Aldila RIP 70 X-Flex
Length: 45”
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet .580 Ribbed (Std)
Swingweight: D3

Another Titleist Ambassador to place an equipment order this week was Brisbane native Adam Blyth. Adam is a member of the Asian Tour and, currently placed 11th on their order of merit, will be looking for a strong finish to the season to move into the top 10. Adam touched base with the Titleist team to place an order for the new AP2 irons. Feedback on this iron from the Tour has been unanimously positive with most players commenting on the improved feel of the iron. Adam was keen to get himself a piece of the action and a set of new AP2 irons will be with him very soon.

Adam Blyth

Model: New Titleist AP2
Composition: 3-PW
Shafts: True Temper Rifle 6.5
Length: +1” (#6 iron @ 38.50”)
Lie: 2° Flat (#6 iron @ 60.5°)
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet .580 Round (+1/64”)
Swingweight: D8

Final word today goes to Titleist Ambassador Seve Benson. The perception of life on Tour is often one of glitz and glamour but Seve’s week really highlights the amount of hard work and dedication required to play on the European Tour. Seve currently lies 117th on the Race to Dubai, just two spots outside the magic 115 which guarantees playing privileges for 2010. He wasn’t exempt for this week’s event in Singapore but took the opportunity to try and play his way into the tournament through a qualifying round. Seve left London’s Heathrow Airport on the Saturday night and, following a 14 hour flight, arrived in Singapore at around 7pm Sunday (local time). He was then up early on Monday morning for his tee time at the qualifying event where over 70 players were teeing it up for just five places in the Singapore Open. Unfortunately Seve didn’t manage to claim one of the five spots and flew straight back to London late on Monday night. That’s one tough commute!!! This serves to illustrate the lengths that certain players must go to in pursuit of their card on the European Tour. It is likely that Seve has just one further event to try and improve his position on the Race to Dubai and secure his card for next season. Seve’s a great guy and given the effort that he is putting into keeping his card we are all really pulling for him to make it inside the top 115 and be out on Tour with us next year.

Be sure to check back with the Blog next week for further updates as the biggest names in golf come together for the final WGC event of the year at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, China. A $7 million purse is up for grabs as tournament winners from the European, USPGA, Asian, Australasian, Japanese and Sunshine Tours come together and, with a field of proven tournament winners, it promises to be a week of intense competition.

Add comment October 30th, 2009