The European Challenge Tour breaks new ground this week at the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge with the inclusion of a par six, the first of its kind on either The European Tour or the Challenge Tour.
The 15th on the Legend Course at the Penati Golf Resort played as a par five in last year’s inaugural staging of the tournament, won by Scot Andrew McArthur, but this week will play to its full 783-yard distance.
This will make it the longest hole in the history of The European Tour or the Challenge Tour, outstripping the previous longest of 705 yards on par five 16th of the North Course at GreenEagle Golf Club, which hosted the 2010 ECCO Tour Championship.
Ricardo Gouveia, fresh from winning last week’s AEGEAN Airlines Challenge Tour by Hartl Resort, thinks that the inclusion of this unique hole should encourage some good scoring this week.
“I just played it this morning in a practice round and it’s interesting!” he said. “They’ve changed the 11th to a par four so that 15 can play as a par six.
It is a birdie opportunity, definitely. If you don't mess it up there's going to be a lot of low scores there this week
“It’s the first time I’ve ever played a par six, I’ve never played one even out of tournament anywhere.
“It’s pretty much the same as playing the par five, you end up playing in from more or less the same area. I’m actually going to try to play it as a par five.
“It is a birdie opportunity, definitely. If you don’t mess it up there’s going to be a lot of low scores there this week I think.”
Gouveia had originally planned to skip this event but changed his schedule to be in Slovakia this week on one of the finest courses on the Challenge Tour schedule.
And the 23 year old from Portugal is hoping for another strong finish to help boost his chances in the Road to Oman Rankings, in which he currently sits in second place.
“The course is great, I played here last year and I really liked it, even though I didn’t play my best,” he said. “I wasn’t supposed to play this week but I wanted to come here because I like the course so much, it’s awesome and I like the conditions out there.
“After winning last week I now definitely have a better chance of finishing in the top 15 so I’m just going to try to keep this form going for as long as I can, and if I can guarantee the card early in the year that would be great.
“But I’ll keep fighting to the end, it’s why I’m here and it’s why we’re all here. It’s not easy but it’s not supposed to be easy, and one or two bad results for me and good results for others and everything can change very quickly.”
Gouveia is the highest-ranked player in the field this week, with Road to Oman leader Sebastien Gros taking a week off after tying the course record of 63 last week on the Beckenbauer course at the Hartl Resort on his way to joint third place.
Six other members of the current top 15, who will automatically qualify for The European Tour if they remain in those positions after the season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final in Muscat, Oman, are in action this week, offering a good opportunity for lower-ranked players to steal a march on some of the absent leaders.
Additional focus is on Clement Sordet, the French 22 year old who makes his professional debut this week having represented Europe in last year’s Palmer Cup.
