In 2015, the US Open was held at Chambers Bay, a complete departure from what we'd come to expect for the sport's brutalist major. Chambers Bay's greens in particular were problematic for many, but Gary Player felt the entire experiment had failed miserably.
"This has been the most unpleasant golf tournament I've seen in my life," he said. "It's actually a tragedy." Player went on to bemoan the sheer length of the course, its playability, and its cost. He felt that being open to the public meant it should be easier and more affordable. Most of all, he thought it unfit to host a national championship.
In October that same year, the Gary Player Course opened at DLF Golf and Country Club. It boasted of big lakes and unique bunkering; the former man-made, the latter made unique by having foam faces and often seeming to point in the wrong direction. Within a year, it had been selected to do as Chambers Bay had done and host a national championship – the Indian Open.
The first day's competition saw 18 players fail to break 80. The second featured a round of 90 by someone ranked inside the world's top 400, one that started with a bogey and quickly got worse with the player in question 13-over at the turn. Future PGA Tour winner Dylan Frittelli shot 80 on Saturday and come Sunday there were as many rounds in the eighties as there were in the sixties.
Bad weather can make this sport virtually impossible, but this was all to do with a bad golf course. That is a matter of opinion – just as Mr Player's view on Chambers Bay had been – and I was soon told by Player's design company that many players disagreed with mine. That's undoubtedly true. Also true is that Eddie Pepperell said the course was designed by Satan himself.
Both those two putted the lights out, Chawrasia in particular, but their willingness to accept what comes their way was also beneficial and that's a quality Molinari has. It's partly why he's such a strong advocate of Valderrama.
That course is unalike this one in almost every way except how difficult it is. And, along with Celtic Manor, it seems to provide some really strong DLF pointers through players like Chawrasia himself, Julian Suri, Andrew Johnston, Sihwan Kim, and plenty more.
Celtic Manor is an even better study. The Wales Open has only been going to the 2010 Course since, well, around 2010, and there have only been three Indian Opens here, yet there are a dozen or more players with form at both. Gallacher and Johnston are among them along with Nacho Elvira and Callum Shinkwin, the last two winners in Wales.
A proven winner including at difficult courses like Leopard Creek and Le Golf National, it's a little surprising he's not been given more respect by the layers especially as he arrives in good form having made all four cuts to begin the year and been ticking over nicely before Christmas.
Larrazabal also boasts a Chawrasia-like short-game which is bound to come in handy, just as it did for 2018 champion Matt Wallace, and I thought he was a serious eye-catcher when selected on these pages for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship just a month ago.
Third at Valderrama and Celtic Manor, it's no wonder Korhonen took to DLF when 10th on his debut here and it could have been a good deal better, as he was the best driver in the field and hit a stack of greens only to suffer a poor week with the putter.
That can be the way with Korhonen and helps explain what to many will be an off-putting set of form figures, which read 11-MC-MC-MC-8-MC-MC-MC-MC since the Italian Open last September. Korhonen has putted poorly seven times and missed the cut seven times. He's putted decently twice, and finished 11th and eighth in much better fields.
As and when he gets the flat stick fired up we should expect him to go really well and while there's little to suggest whether it'll be this week or next, I like the way he's hitting the ball and the fact that a difficult test like this one would appear ideal for another veteran of the field.
He missed the cut by a shot last week and in Singapore so will feel his game is closer than it looks, just as he'll know that this is a much more suitable test. His second-round 68 in Thailand was his best since signing off with a 64 in Portugal and he's fancied to emerge from another apparent slump just as he has in each of the last two seasons.
MASAHIRO KAWAMURA is another player whose form doesn't necessarily suggest he's ready to win, but not all missed cuts are equal and he's been close to the weekend in all three starts since some seriously strong form either side of Christmas.
Kawamura contended for the Australian PGA Championship where he unsurprisingly proved no match for Cam Smith, and then returned with 34th place in Abu Dhabi, lying fifth after round one and inside the top 10 at halfway only to suffer a quiet weekend.
One of the low-key most capable maidens around at this level, he went close when fifth at Green Eagle last year and is another with all the form I'm looking for: a blemish-free record at Valderrama with a best of eighth, second here, fifth at Celtic Manor, sixth on one visit to Dar Es Salaam, and other tough-course form such as third at Galgorm Castle.
I imagine Kjeldsen enjoyed seeing Thorbjorn Olesen win last week as most of the Danish contingent will have, and I'm in no doubt whatsoever that this short-hitting veteran will be glad to get away from a run of tournaments on long, soft courses.
DLF can stretch beyond 7,500 yards but there are at least five tee boxes per hole and with conditions so difficult during each of the three previous editions, it seems likely tournament organisers are again forced to reduce the yardage simply to ensure that the field can get around the course during daylight hours.
That will help Kjeldsen, who has strong form at Le Golf National, Celtic Manor and in particular at Valderrama, and there were times last year when he looked capable of winning again at this level.
Fifth place at Wentworth was the best demonstration of that but he also held the first-round lead at Valderrama and finished seventh in Scotland to show that when granted favourable conditions, he can remain competitive.
With his approach play seemingly still firing (21st last season) and having done precious little wrong at Amata Spring, where he dropped just three shots in 36 holes and carded a three-under 69 in round two, he could improve massively for a return to India even if he didn't pull up any trees when finishing towards the back of field on his first start here in 2019.
Back then, Kjeldsen had been shooting some big numbers following a good start to the campaign, whereas this time he has something to work with. At a course which will force many into submission, his accuracy and short-game skills can see him outperform odds of 250/1.
Thomas Bjorn, like Kjeldsen, has the wedge game and experience to go well and his last top-10 finish at this level came at Valderrama. However, that was back in 2019 and while he'd played some good stuff when 34th here a year earlier and has been doing so again lately, his compatriot is the one who has proven he can still compete over 72 holes.
Posted at 1710 GMT on 20/02/23
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