Vattanac Golf Resort in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, has opened its new West course, designed by Faldo Design.

The West offers a contrast to the resort’s Faldo-designed East course, which opened in September 2019, with narrower and more undulating fairways, water features and Paspalum greens. The new layout is playable from 4,935 to 7,249 yards.

“It’s a great moment to see the West course now open and ready to play,” said Sir Nick Faldo. “The West course complements the East course magnificently with its fluid shaping, giving the design its own identity.

“The West course offers a slightly more intimate look and feel to the resort’s East, but just like the East it offers different strategic challenges with fairway positioning and shot choice crucial for players looking to find reward and an inviting line to the green. It certainly asks questions of golfers’ game-management: long, short, left or right from the tee can find difficulty and create a complicated hole. However, with five sets of tees, the course is accessible to all with something for every golfer, meaning enjoyment out on the course will not be hard to come by.”

The two courses feature scale models of Khmer historical architectural sites, including Angkor Wat, Preah Vihear and Bayon. A statue that pays homage to Angkor ruler King Jayavarman VII can be seen on the seventh hole of the West course.

“Much like the East, the West course project focused heavily on celebrating the amazing culture in Cambodia and Vattanac Golf Resort’s surrounding environment to create the course’s truly unique character. By integrating cultural inspiration into the landscape, like the Terrace of Elephants replica statue or the Dragon Lake for example, the course has a real sense of place and its local features help to create an unforgettable experience,” said Faldo.

Vattanac now moves into its next phase of the development, which will include ‘Night Golf’ and a golf academy.

Karl Whitehead, general manager at the resort, said: “We are extremely excited at what we are creating here, following Mr Vattanac’s vision, and look forward to delivering a new standard of golf resort in southeast Asia that will be compared to the world’s best. The golf academy is a key component of this project as Mr Vattanac is extremely passionate about growing the game of golf in Cambodia”.

Mark Chapleski, president of Troon International, who will manage the course, said: “Cambodia certainly has a new golf destination, and we are proud to be part of this world class project. Mr Vattanac’s passion for quality is infectious and we share his ambition to make Vattanac Golf Resort a landmark for golf, not only in the region, but worldwide. Stay tuned for phase two, that will take Vattanac Golf Resort to the next level”.