“If the wind stays like this, the winner will not be under par.”
That’s the verdict of Nicolas Meitinger ahead of this week’s Pacific Rubiales Colombia classic, at Country Club de Barranquilla, where strong winds are giving the players plenty to think about and plenty to be excited about.
Hole 1, par 4, 386 yards
"Number one is a driver off the tee and you need to aim to the right a little. There is Out of Bounds on the right and the range is on the left and you really have to aim at the OB to end up in the middle of the fairway, because of the wind, and then you still have a punchy seven iron. It’s a scary tee shot and if it’s seven in the morning and it’s your first shot, it’s not exactly the one you want!"
Hole 2, par 4, 387 yards
"You hit driver here, it’s pretty short and you have enough room to start it over the 11th hole and hopefully it lands on the second fairway and then you have a lob wedge. It’s a lot of crosswinds so you just have be careful it doesn’t fly right. It should be a birdie chance but you can’t see the green so that makes it a bit difficult but you should be getting an opportunity here."
Hole 3, par 3, 170 yards
"This should be a short and easy par three but there’s a lot of wind off the left. It’s a punchy five or six, whatever you can do. It slopes to the right and if it kicks down to palm trees you have a bunker shot with the wind so it’s a tricky little hole."
Hole 4, par 5, 426 yards
"There are crosswinds off the left, they push it everywhere so you have to start over the bushes to end up on the fairway. It’s a two iron-two iron and then pitch. The par fives are short but they play long with the wind."
Hole 5, par 4, 426 yards
"You have enough room here to start it left – there are cross winds again. There are bushes on the right so it’s a tough green to reach, you still have a seven iron or six iron and there are bunkers on the left but this for me is not a birdie hole."
Hole 6, par 4, 336 yards
"Now you get to the holes that are downwind and they are a bit easier. This is only 300 metres so you can hit a driver close to the green or five iron-gap wedge."
Hole 7, par 5, 540 yards
"Seven is a short par five, downwind. You just lay up two iron or a soft three wood and then a five or six iron and this is another birdie hole, if you don’t end up in the bunkers or the bushes. The bushes are like Out of Bounds though, if you go in there you don’t want to find your ball!"
Hole 8, par 3, 175 yards
"This is a really tough par three. It’s very much downwind. If it pitches on the green it won’t stay so you either hit it low and before the green or just hope you get lucky and it pitches on a downslope. There’s a bunker behind left and if you go past it’s a tough chip back."
Hole 9, par 4, 445 yards
"On nine there’s enough room on the right to rip your driver down the right and the crosswind will take it, then you have punchy nine iron or eight iron to a big green, enough to work with."
Hole 10, par 4, 396 yards
"You have the second hole on the right here so it’s better to start off the right here as it’s also parallel to the first hole. It’s a driver and punchy nine iron. You don’t want to hit a big draw because there are palm trees between one and ten so you don’t want to end up in there."
Hole 11, par 5, 515 yards
"Here, you just aim right into the ocean and hope the wind takes hold! Or you might end up on the second and then you have a blind shot but you can have a two or three iron so it’s an easy par five."
Hole 12, par 4, 375 yards
"This is an easy enough one, punch a three wood or driver and you have a wedge or nine iron straight in but if it catches too much wind it’s tricky."
Hole 13, par 3, 187 yards
"This is a tough par three, 170 into the wind so it’s a two iron but you have enough room to fall short and to work with."
Hole 14, par 4, 405 yards
"Then we move into the ‘into the wind’ stretch. This is a driver-nine iron so you can birdie this hole but it’s into the wind, you never know if you’ll be short or long on the green, you just have to try to hit it close."
Hole 15, par 4, 390 yards
"This is the much the same as 14, a two iron or three wood off the tee and then you have a nine iron in."
Hole 16, par 4, 437 yards
"This is a big dog-leg left, you rip your driver over the left corner and then you have a gap wedge or a lob wedge. I would say this is a birdie hole for sure."
Hole 17, par 3, 190 yards
"This is a par three similar to eight, just a little longer but you can hit a high nine iron and you have more room on the green. There is a slope short of the green but you can at least leave it on the green here without it dropping off, not like eight."
Hole 18, par 5, 560 yards
"This is a good par five finishing hole. It’s a little into the wind off the right but if you’re hitting driver, you can go for a three wood and end up short of the green you probably won’t get up but this is a birdie hole. There are five birdie holes and sox double-bogey holes!"
