42 PAR F I VES At the end of this year’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, which was held in January at the Kyle Phillips-designed Yas Links, Tyrrell Hatton, the 2021 champion, was not happy. Hatton finished sixth in the event, three shots behind winner Thomas Pieters, but that was after taking seven on the par-five eighteenth on day two of the tournament and nine on day three. The home hole at Yas is a huge par five, 646 yards long and with the Persian Gulf – or at least the sliver of it that separates Yas from its neighbouring islands – all the way down the left-hand side. Architect Phillips has set the hole up to offer clear decisions on both the first and second shot: one can cut the corner, going over the water, and shorten the hole, or one can bail out to the right, making it a certain three-shotter. A central bunker in the drive zone separates the two routes. It is a highly strategic hole. Hatton, however, let f ly at the hole with both barrels when talking to reporters after the tournament. “What’s wrong with it? Where do you start? It shouldn’t have a bunker in the middle of the fairway, and it shouldn’t be over 600 yards from a forward tee,” he said. “If you hit a good drive as a pro you should have at least a chance to go for the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par three, and that’s if you play it well. Hardly anyone will get there in two with the wind even slightly against you. “I would love for a bomb to drop on it and blow it to oblivion to be honest. It’s just such a terrible finishing hole. And the fact that they moved the tee back today is ridiculous. I hit a really good tee shot and still had 290 yards to the front. I could peg-up a driver and still not get there. It would be a much better finishing hole if you’re actually rewarded for hitting the fairway, which as it stands, you’re not. “As for me, I hit my tee shot straight down the middle into that ridiculous bunker and thought my best route out of there was to steer my second over to the tenth fairway, although that still left me nearly 220 yards to the pin for my third.” “I don’t think the hole needs defending,” architect Phillips told GCA. “The wind was huge that week, and all the folks involved in the course setup felt it held up amazingly well to remain playable all week. In that wind, you had to be careful and thoughtful all week. The safe play from the backmost tee was short-right into the 50-yard-wide fairway. It is a hole that can be a three-shot five some days, but if the tee is forward by one box, it becomes a two-shot. From the pro tee it allows professional players to risk hugging the shoreline and being rewarded with reaching the green on the second shot. Playing from forward tees, higher handicap players can tackaround the shoreline in three shots and avoid having to make a heroic carry over the water.” Part of Hatton’s rant can safely be considered as the outpourings of a very disappointed man. That a professional golfer would be unhappy at a central fairway bunker is hardly surprising, but at the same time, that fairway is about 75 metres wide where the bunker is. If the fairway were half the width “ Holes which are out of range for the tour pros are few and far between”
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