[Picture: Getty]
Buoyed by blitzing the field at Open Championship final qualifying last week, Lucas Herbert believes an aggressive test of patience by the notoriously difficult Real Club Valderrama at this week’s LIV Golf Andalucia tournament will serve as fine preparation for the UK major.
The third edition of LIV Golf Andalucia at the famed Valderrrama course – a former Ryder Cup and DP World Tour host venue – is the lead-in event for the league ahead of the 153rd Open Championship.
Given the vastly different styles of golf between Valderrama – a lush, green course carved out of the hills of southern Spain’s Costa del Sol – and Royal Portrush, LIV players won’t face any golf shots they’ll be asked to hit in the rugged dunes of Northern Ireland next week.
But Herbert, who was medalist at the 36-hole final qualifier at West Lancashire in England last Tuesday, said the most useful preparation for the Open Championship will be the stress placed on his mental game.
“It looks like the greens here are going to be pretty firm and you’re going to have to shape some shots out of the trees here but we’re probably not going to see a lot of trees next week,” Herbert told Australian Golf Digest on Wednesday. “There are still some elements that come into play; I think this course will test your patience. It’s a tricky course that requires your full concentration on every single shot and being able to deal with some unlucky breaks on the greens and bounces on the sloped fairways at Valderrama I’m sure will be good practice for next week. Simply playing tournament rounds with a scorecard in your pocket is also very important prepping for a major.”
Herbert’s captain on Ripper GC, 2022 British Open champion Cameron Smith, finished T-6 at Valderrama last year but was among the high profile players to miss cut the following week at Royal Troon. The claret jug winner at St Andrews believes the demands Valderrama places on distance control will be a sharpening exercise ahead of Portrush.
“The golf course here is very tricky and you have to hit a lot of numbers, which is what you have to do on links golf as well,” Smith told Australian Golf Digest on Wednesday after a practice round. “You have to hit your tee shots a certain distance, or approach shots below the hole, and it’s going to be quite windy this week. Obviously, it’s a little bit warmer here than it’s going to be next week. But apart from that, there are a lot of similarities.”
Ripper GC is rounded out by Marc Leishman, who bagged his first career LIV win at Doral in Miami in April, as well as Matt Jones.
Play begins at 9.05pm Friday AEST.
