May26 Number12trouble

The 531 yards par 5 12th has caused a right furore at Wentworth this week, so we thought we’d better check it out to see what all the fuss has been about.

Irishman Graeme McDowell referred to the newlook 12th – re-modelled by Ernie Els in his recent revamp of the West Course – as the “worst hole I’ve ever played” while Paul Casey suffered a humiliating nine there in the 2nd round.

Els steadfastly defended his re-working of number 12, saying: “I find the criticism usually comes from players who can’t hit the shot that is required: we want people to shape the ball here and that might make some players uncomfortable because they can’t hit the shot.”

So we ventured onto the 12th tee to see what all the aggro has been about and to be honest we couldn’t really fathom out what all the fuss has been about. First to come through were the dynamic duo of Henrik Stenson and Luke Donald – the former one of the longest hitters in the game and the other one of the straightest.

Both had no problem with the super-tight drive – Donald, as usual, split the fairway while Stenson boomed one 20 yards past but just managed to clear the ditch which now comes into play and find the left edge of the fairway…just a few feet from the fluffy rough.

Stenson had a chip for eagle but eventually had to be content with a disappointing par – as did Donald – after missing a short putt.

The 12th may have been painted a monster in some quarters but in actual fact, if the stats are to be believed, it’s so far proved more of a pussycat than a tiger.

Late into the 3rd round the average score was 4.627, making it the third easiest hole. The only area where it did come out on top was that it registered 0.729 which led the way in the ‘cost of rough’ ranking.

Rest of the no. 12 stats

Eagles: 4

Birdies: 23

Bogeys: 6

Double bogeys: 0

Average drive: 280.4 yards

Fairways hit: 67.4%

Photos: By Getty Images