Vietnam - As Good As It Gets

THE MONTGOMERIE LINKS ****
The 2010 European Ryder Cup skipper teamed up with noted architect Brit Stenson at his first Asian course design outside China and the results, while not as dramatic, are nonetheless very impressive indeed. Far more modern in outlook - despite its
firm fairways and the strong onshore winds that blow through, even Monty wouldn't claim this as a true links - the Montgomerie occupies undulating topography bestrewn with attractive casuarinas and features some of the most distinctive bunkering around. Both cavernous and plentiful, perhaps only Augusta National can compete in terms of gleam with the course's startling white-sand pits. The twelfth, a robust par five with a pushed-up green, is littered with seventeen of them and is best played in sunglasses and a fresh application of sunblock.
In all seriousness, the course, which is carpeted throughout in hardy paspalum, has an excellent rhythm to its routing. Beginning in gentle enough fashion with a straightaway par five, the course extends its talons somewhat at the sixth, where water protects the front and left portions of the green. This is immediately followed by two of the toughest par fours on the course - the exceptionally well-bunkered eighth and the ninth, where only the longest hitters will reach in regulation. As you might expect from a course bearing the Monty name, having a power fade in your arsenal is an advantage on the majority of holes; the exception being thirteenth, arguably the best on the course, where trouble lurks short and right of a green that has been cleverly tucked into the side of a hillside. A stylish clubhouse and superb practice area compliment what is undoubtedly a first-rate venue.