Special Places - Blackstone Resort

This week the European PGA Tour touches down in South Korea for the Ballantine’s Championship, the third leg of a Far East swing before heading back to Europe for the summer season. This event is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean PGA, and the European Tour will return eastwards at the end of the year for five straight events in the run-up to the Dubai World Championship.

South Korea is a growing force in men’s golf in Asia and on the world stage, especially since YE Yang spectacularly took down Tiger Woods in the 2009 PGA Championship – Korean women have already taken the ladies game by storm with eight spots in the top 20 of the Rolex Rankings – and the Ballantine’s is a showcase for the current and future talent the country has to offer. After the first three championships were played at Pinx GC on Jeju Island where the first day’s play was cancelled last year due to bad weather and the event reduced to 54 holes, this year the Ballantine’s moves to a new home at the Blackstone Golf Club in Icheon, just south of the capital, Seoul.

The Blackstone resort golf course opened in 2009 and is ultra-exclusive with just 300 members. Designed by the highly-respected JMP Golf Design Group from California, the facility is laid out in three nine-hole loops, North, East and West, and incorporates stunning ridgeline views, quiet forest glens, creeks and lakes. For the Ballantine’s Championship the West and North courses come together to make a 6700m par 72 perfectly manicured layout that will provide both scenic beauty and a stern golfing examination for the players. The undulating fairways, yawning bunkers and changes of elevation in a woodland setting will require a focused approach to card good scores.

Home fans will be hoping for a winning performance from their Major hero, YE Yang, while world number 2 Lee Westwood returns to the Ballantine’s after a two-year gap, and Ernie Els is looking for his third straight top-ten finish in Korea. Australian Marcus Fraser will try to defend his title against a strong field that includes big-hitting American Dustin Johnson and Korean teenage sensation Noh Seung Yul on a course that will surprise many with its beauty, conditioning and playability.