Updates To Twenty Ten Course Include Improvements To Bunkers, Rough And Greens
(NEWPORT, Wales) – The Celtic Manor Resort – host of golf’s 2010 Ryder Cup and premier luxury retreat less than two hours outside London – announces the PGA European Tour’s Celtic Manor Wales Open (June 3-6) will provide a final opportunity for leading professionals to experience its Twenty Ten Course under tournament conditions before October’s Ryder Cup.
European captain Colin Montgomerie has directed a substantial improvement program over the winter, including changes to bunkers, rough and greens. It will be the toughest layout ever set up in the decade-long history of the Celtic Manor Wales Open.
Purpose built for the team match play excitement generated by the Ryder Cup, the course features water on six of the last eight holes and is poised to produce a thrilling climax when the eyes of the golfing world are trained upon it in October.
Before then, the Twenty Ten hosts its third Celtic Manor Wales Open from June 3-6, having won rave reviews from Ryder Cup stars and other leading players on the European Tour when it staged the event in 2008 and 2009.
One such enthusiast, Captain Montgomerie, has been working closely with Celtic Manor’s Director of Golf Courses, Jim McKenzie, to implement some final tweaks to the layout.
“We’ve deepened a number of bunkers with larger faces and the rough will certainly be consistently thicker than it has been in previous years,” says McKenzie.
“The greens will also be a lot firmer which is something we’ve been working toward since the course opened in 2007 and which has always been a high priority for Colin Montgomerie. It means only properly struck iron shots will be rewarded by stopping quickly on the greens.
“The course has now had the benefit of a few years of growing in and I’m confident it’s the toughest, but fairest, golf course we’ve seen for the Celtic Manor Wales Open.”
The biggest single revision from McKenzie and his team and has been scooping out a huge swale to the left of the 11th green, increasing the chance of misdirected shots finding the lake or leaving a tricky tight lie from which to get up and down.
“I think it will be a huge advantage for Colin to see the refinements that he has recommended in tournament play before the Ryder Cup,” adds McKenzie, former head greenkeeeper at the West Course at Wentworth.
“The most notable change to the landscape of the golf course is the new swale spilling off the left of the 11th. It’s made the green a much narrower target, as it should be for a reachable par-five, and will leave players with their hearts in their mouths if they pull their approach shots that way.
“The remedial work has also seen us remodel the greenside bunkers with larger faces on holes 7, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 18. Drainage in these and other bunkers has also been improved.”
Europe’s Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills says: “We are delighted with the superb progress made on the Twenty Ten Course by Jim McKenzie and his team, in consultation with Colin Montgomerie, ahead of The Celtic Manor Wales Open in June and the Ryder Cup later in the year.
“This is the 11th Wales Open and the third to be played on the Twenty Ten Course and spectators will again enjoy the great viewing opportunities that this excellent golf course offers.”
As well as top-class sporting action at one of the European Tour’s leading events, the Celtic Manor Wales Open offers spectators the chance to enjoy family attractions in the tented village and provides great value for a full-day outing.
Past champions of the Celtic Manor Wales Open include Ryder Cup stars Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Ian Poulter, Paul McGinley and Paul Lawrie.
For more information or tickets, visit www.walesopen.com or call +44 01633 410318.
About the Celtic Manor Wales Open
The Celtic Manor Wales Open was the first European Tour event to be staged in Wales for a decade when Steen Tinning won the inaugural event in 2000. Prize money has more than doubled in the 10 years since with a roll call of champions which includes Ryder Cup stars Paul Lawrie, Paul McGinley, Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Robert Karlsson. The championship was held on the Wentwood Hills course from 2000-2004 before switching to the Celtic Manor Resort’s Roman Road course from 2005 to 2007 as work was carried out on the new Twenty Ten Course.
The Twenty Ten, the first course ever to be purpose built to host the Ryder Cup, took over the staging of the Celtic Manor Wales Open from 2008. The Celtic Manor Wales Open strives to offer visitors more than just a golf tournament and sumptuous hospitality provision has been complemented by a tented village of attractions for all spectators to enjoy.
For further information, visit www.walesopen.com
About Celtic Manor Resort
Located less than two hours outside London, Celtic Manor Resort will host golf’s 2010 Ryder Cup and is the UK’s foremost luxury retreat. Featuring 1,400-plus acres of panoramic parkland and wooded hills, it is recognized as the “Gateway to Wales.”
A popular destination among business and leisure travelers, golf-tour operators and corporate incentive agents, five-star Celtic Manor offers myriad amenities. These include three championship golf courses (the Twenty Ten, Roman Road and Montgomerie), two lavish hotels (the majestic, 330-room Resort Hotel and historic, 70-room Manor House), five savory restaurants, two tranquil spas and state-of-the-art health clubs, a golf academy and miles of hiking trails. A convention center, exhibition hall, array of well-appointed suites, meeting rooms and large ballrooms are also available to host groups up to 1,500 for conferences, weddings and other special events.
Celtic Manor is privately owned by founder Sir Terry Matthews, the Ottawa, Canada-based telecommunications entrepreneur who was born on the Celtic Manor site when the original Manor House was a maternity hospital.
Getting There: Celtic Manor is 45 minutes from Bristol International Airport (BRS) and Cardiff International Airport (CWL). Daily, non-stop flights are available from Newark, New Jersey (EWR) to Bristol on Continental; and daily, one-stop flights are from New York (JFK) to Cardiff on KLM via Amsterdam. London Heathrow Airport (LHR) is a two-hour shuttle, with rail service from Paddington Station (London) to Newport, Wales also available.
Contact:
Stephen Reynolds
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David Wood
Buffalo Communications
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