European Tour Insider: New venue in Czech Republic
By Nick Dye, European Tour Insider
The European Tour has a sparkling new destination this week.
After a 12-year break, the Tour's holding an event in the Czech Republic, and it's hoped the event will prosper in a new setting.
Fittingly, the venue is the Prosper Golf Resort in Celadna, a town between the country's second and third largest cities: Brno and Ostrava.
It's taken some planning for players to get there, though. They've taken flights into the capital Prague followed by a further internal flight or a long drive. The television crew has journeyed via Poland. But the course surrounded by picturesque mountains seems worth the effort.
The Moravia Silesia Open is so named, because the region is committed to growing its tourist industry and in particular its reputation as a destination for golf.
And "sparkling" is fitting, because the event's presented by ALO Diamonds. You don't have to trawl the net far to find dazzling images of the Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova bedecked in their finest jewels.
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How does a diamond company mark its sponsorship of a golf event? By displaying the world's most expensive golf ball, made from white gold and studded with thousands of their stones. A hole in one prize is also a diamond.
THE MECHANIC'S MASTERPIECE
Hoping to shine in the Czech Republic will be Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The Spaniard will be regarded as the favorite since he co-designed both the Old and New Course at the Prosper Resort. Indeed, it was his first project as a course designer.
For someone famed for his accuracy, it's no surprise that the course is tree-lined and demanding off the tee.
"The Mechanic" showed his arrow-straight skills finding the fairways at Turnberry two weeks ago with a tie for 13th, so he feels in good form.
THE AXEMAN COMETH
The newly crowned SAS Masters champion Ricardo Gonzalez is also due to play the Moravia Silesia Open.
The Argentine won superbly in Sweden last weekend with birdies on five of the last six holes to snatch a two-stroke victory. It was his fourth European Tour title and the first in five years.
At the last, he produced what looked a miraculous shot from the trees to around 4 feet. He was wild off the tee and looked in trouble, but he saw things differently: "The gap was small, but I was seeing it very big."
Still, he knows what it's like to be among trees.
Having missed out on qualification for the Open Championship, he returned home to work on his ranch. He chopped down trees and stacked the timber from early until late.
"It's not highly recommended to have all that physical effort, but it definitely recharged the batteries and helped with motivation," Gonzalo said.
Angel Cabrera's nickname is El Pato (The Duck) while Eduardo Romero is El Gato (The Cat). Gonzalez is now El Hombre del Hacha -- The Axeman.
SUITS YOU SLATTERY
Lee Slattery had given himself a break from golf, although not as energetically as Gonzalez.
Instead, he and his girlfriend spent a week in England's Lake District. He left the golf clubs at home together with his cell phone so there could be no disturbance. I don't think he took to writing poetry, though, and it was the wrong time of year for daffodils.
Slattery had led the event at Barseback before slipping back, but he'll feel it's another step closer to maintaining his playing rights for next year. The good-looking former Challenge Tour No. 1 should never have to go back to his former job of working in a High Street clothes shop.
ANOTHER GREAT DANE
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Danes Anders Hansen, Soren Kjeldsen and Jeppe Huldahl have all won on the European Tour this season -- and Huldahl came close again in Malmo. Now there's a new Viking raider to look out for.
The 19-year-old Jacob Olesen tied fourth last weekend in his first Tour event. He usually plays at a different grade, but has already won at that lower level this season. He may get into other events now.
NURTURING NATHAN
The same goes for Nathan Smith. The 26-year-old American also enjoyed his best Tour finish in a tie in fourth in Sweden.
The man from Santa Cruz, Calif., is largely playing on the second-tier Challenge Tour and recently boasted a tie for ninth on that circuit in Switzerland. His finish in Sweden last week would have been all the better, if his start had not been so hairy.
"Getting to the tee late and getting a two-stroke penalty kind of hurts" he said, reflecting on dashing to the tee box just moments before he would have been disqualified. "I was sprinting to the tee.
"I ran all the way from the driving range to the 10th tee which is probably 500 yards, and then I made bogey which turned into a triple. Somebody had told my caddie we were an hour behind, so we're just going to take it out of his pay check."
Fellow Americans James Driscoll and Will MacKenzie didn't fare as well as Smith in Malmo, but they enjoyed their stay.
Moving on from Turnberry, Driscoll said, "I just wanted to get a little different experience, and I'm glad I did. I'd like to do it in the future, too. Maybe I'll do one or two next year -- it's just a fun way to mix up the year. Will's the one who encouraged me to try to get into the tournament, and Jesper (Parnevik) was nice enough to pull some strings."
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