The players taking part in this week’s Fubon Senior Open have been effusive in their praise of the Miramar Golf and Country Club and Taiwan as a whole as they take part in the only Asian-based Senior Tour event of the year.
This year’s Fubon Senior Open is the penultimate tournament in the 2012 Senior Tour schedule and in its second year, with an increased prize fund of $450,000, is becoming increasingly popular with the players who make the journey to the East Asian island.
Peter Dahlberg, for one, is having the time of his life, helped by the six under par opening round of 66 which he carded to move into the share of the lead in Taipei.
“I played here last year and it rained very heavily which made it quite a difficult week but this week it has been just fantastic,” he said.
“The weather is good and the people are really great and my caddy looks a bit like Angelina Jolie so that always helps!”
His co-leader Tim Thelen, meanwhile, believes it is one of the best venues he has played this year.
“This is a great golf course and as it is Jack Nicklaus-designed, there are no easy greens so it is very difficult once you get on the putting surface,” said the two-time winner on tour this year.
“It is a faboulous lay-out though. We get a lot of great courses on the Senior Tour and this is definitely up there amongst the best. It is a great course and in tremendous shape this week.”
Andrew Murray, who lies in tied second place going into the second day, agrees that it is a very testing lay-out at Miramar
“It is a really good course and you have to be very careful with your approaches. You will make a lot of fairways but from there you have to be so precise.
“there are certain parts of the green which you need to avoid otherwise you will have a very difficult putt and if you miss the greens, even by a half a foot, you could be buried because it is really fluffy around the greens so it is certainly a great test.”
