The Championship at Laguna National Preview

Brett Rumford defends The Championship at Laguna National
Brett Rumford defends The Championship at Laguna National
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Fergus Bisset
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published

The European Tour travels to Singapore this week for The Championship at Laguna National. Formerly known as The Ballantine’s Championship, Brett Rumford is the defending champion.

Lowdown: The European Tour travels to Singapore this week for The Championship at Laguna National. Formerly known as The Ballantine’s Championship, Brett Rumford is the defending champion.

This event was first contested in 2008 when Graeme McDowell was victorious at Pinx GC in South Korea. The event has been held five further times in South Korea with Thongchai Jaidee, Marcus Fraser, Lee Westwood, Bernd Wiesberger and Brett Rumford the champions.

Last season, Australia’s Brett Rumford eagled the first extra hole to win a playoff against compatriot Marcus Fraser and Scotland’s Peter Whiteford.

This year, the event is being staged by the Laguna National G&CC in Singapore. It’s a return to the island country for the European Tour which co-sanctioned the Singapore Masters with the Asian Tour between 2002 and 2007, and the Singapore Opens of 2009-2012.

The Masters Course at Laguna National is an Andy Dye design and has been used a number of times on the European Tour as host venue for the Singapore Masters.

The weather forecast for this week looks decidedly unsettled with heavy rain and possible thunderstorms Thursday to Sunday. It’s almost certain that there will be some delays to the play through the course of the tournament.

Venue: Laguna National G&CC, Tampines, Singapore Date: May 1-4 Course stats: par 72, 7,207 yards Purse: €1,100,000 Winner: €180,531 Defending Champion: Brett Rumford (-11)

Player Watch: Tommy Fleetwood – Second in the Volvo China Open, Fleetwood will look to continue that good form this week.

Andy Sullivan – Second in Morocco then tied 13th in Malaysia and tied 8th in China, the Englishman is closing in on a maiden tour victory.

Anders Hansen – The experienced Dane was tied fifth last week and he closed with a round of 63. He might use that as a confidence boost to kick on this week.

Key hole: 17th. A par 3 of just over 200 yards played to a peninsula green – very close to being an island. When the pressure mounts on Sunday, it will be extremely demanding to find the putting surface.

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Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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