The D+D Real Czech Challenge Open is set to go ahead as planned this week at Golf & Spa Kunetická Hora despite the reported weather issues in Prague.
Days of heavy rain in the country’s historic capital forced some evacuation from low-lying areas after the swollen Vltava River burst its banks, however conditions 95 kilometres east of Prague in Pardubice, where the host venue for this week’s second Czech Challenge Open is located, were slightly more favourable and the event is as yet unaffected.
Opened in the autumn of 2007, the course at Kunetická Hora was designed by 14-time European Tour champion Graham Marsh and built on an environmental area created from ash pile deposits sourced from a local power station over the last 45 years.
This unique construction has helped the layout survive the recent torrential rain seen across Austria and the Czech Republic, downpours that saw 150 millimetres fall in just two days the week prior to the tournament.
Gary Butler, European Challenge Tour Tournament Director, said: “The course is built on a minimum of 15 metres of ash and that has undoubtedly helped it deal with the substantial amounts of rain we have seen in the last couple of weeks.
“If it wasn’t constructed on such a foundation we would be struggling to play, no doubt. There have been a number of closures in the surrounding areas but Kunetická Hora is coping admirably.
“At the moment, every teeing area, green and bunker is unaffected while only three fairways have areas holding small amounts of water. The 16th is perhaps the worst affected and the only hole that could be shortened as a result.
“But in general, the course is very playable and that’s testament to both its excellent foundations and construction and the work of the Kunetická Hora green staff.”
