Vidaor loving Lahinch's myriad options: "We can really play with it here"
The Old Course at Lahinch
Tournament Director Miguel Vidaor has no fear for Lahinch as the game’s best get set to take on the classic Clare links in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
The Spaniard is in charge of setting up the course for 12 of the world’s top 50 and 29 of the world’s top 100, including 2017 champion Jon Rahm (11th), England’s Tommy Fleetwood (20th), South African Louis Oosthuizen (21st) and hope favourite Shane Lowry (35th).
“The course is amazing considering they almost lost the fairways last year with the drought,” he said. “The rough is juicy, just off the fairway it's not too penal but if you start going sideways, you are going to find some nasty spots.
“I don't care about the winning score, and I am not worried about them going crazy because that's not going to happen. We have taken eight shots off par already with the second and fourth becoming par fours.
“It is such a special spot. Yesterday, it was blowing 25 mph and if you get that wind, this place is brutal. With that northwest wind, there are so many crosswind holes that if is that strong, it is tough.
“I think the crowd is going to be great. We are expecting 25,000 to 30,000 a day. We have almost reached sellout at the weekend and it was a clever move from Paul [McGinley] to move as far away from Dublin and the North as possible.
“The village is fantastic. They have painted all the houses and you can see how the community has embraced the tournament. I love it here. It is a special spot and I am really looking forward to it.
Regarded as one of the world’s top Tournament Directors, Vidaor fell in love with Lahinch from the start and while he had doubts about making the par-five second a 523-yard par-four, he took McGinley’s advice.
“Paul's played this course a million times,” he said. "It's a drive and a seven or eight iron. But while the forecast is for a north-north-west wind on days one and two, the wind does a 180 -degree switch and we going to get an east-southeast wind for the last two days.
“So the second will be into the wind from the left at the weekend and we will play it 418, which will be a five-iron. It's a beauty.”
As for the blind Dell hole, where a big screen will show the players on the tee how their shots finish, he said: “It is what it is. It is a hundred and God knows how many years old. There were no bulldozers in those days so play over it and get on with it.
“We will use the right pin on day one and two for sure. The back left pin is a beauty but the green is only nine yards deep so you have to nail it with the tee shot.”
In short, he loves the course and while there are no plans to trick up the course, they have options.
“If conditions are really calm, we can tuck the pins away and we have some cracking hole locations, like back right on six, long on 13. Nine! We have a 50-yard long green. We have cheeky ones on 10, short ones. We can do all sorts of things. We can really play with it here.
“The par-threes are great. Eight is a beauty and we will play it from the green tee. The views are fantastic up there but unfortunately, there is no spectator access up there
“At the 13th we have the new back tee and we may push the tee up on Saturday and Sunday and it is in my plan. Brian McDonagh has done a magnificent job with the course. It is such a magnificent course and a nice place to walk around.”
