Tricky Saturday greens

Steen Groth Clausen has prepared the greens for the final round at the European Amateur Championship. His advice to the players is to be cautious with their approaches

Anne Krogh, 23. august 2008

The 9th green

It’s the final day of the European Amateur Championship in Esbjerg, Denmark, and like the previous days, Steen Groth Clausen from EGA has been up early to setup the course for another round of championship golf

- The course has the same level of difficulty as the previous days, but we vary the holes every day. We have a different pin placement for all five rounds – included Tuesday practice round. The greens are 10,5 on the stimpmeter. We can’t make them faster, because then it would be difficult to find places to put the pin on the undulated greens, says Steen Groth Clausen.

The first players had the luxury of calm weather with almost no wind, but according to Steen Groth Clausen that doesn’t necessary mean, that the players will post low scores today.

- The setup is on par with other championship courses. It may look easy at first glance. We also hear comments from the players along the lines of: “I’m going to crush it today”. But they don’t. The leading player is 4 below par. They have to be very careful where they place the ball, because the greens are big and the undulations make them tricky, says the man behind the course’ setup.

If the calm weather continues, the championship will be decided between a small group of players. If the wind picks up, it will – pardon the pun – blow the competition wide open.

Follow the action from Esbjerg