With all International Final Qualifying events now played, 137 players are now confirmed for the starting field for the 2008 Open Championship.

Amongst the starters will be at least four players from Scotland, six from Japan, 17 from Australia, 19 from England and 41 from the USA. Opengolf.com has the full listing.

Martin Kaymer is qualified via category 7:The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2008, isn’t that a nice company to be with?

To get into the mood for The Open, I bought the DVD’s from the last two tournaments. Last night I watched the 2006 footage and boy was it boring. Not the golf that had been played at Royal Birkdale but the movie that had been made out of the tournament. I had the feeling that out of the 60 minutes total, 45 minutes were interviews with old british chaps and footage of John Daly giving his club concert. Let’s see if the 2007 “official film” is any better.

After over three years I revisited the Märkische Golfclub Potsdam today to play the 18-hole-course that has been renamed Fontane Course, probably after Theodor Fontane.

The first thing that struck me was the greenness of the course. There was hardly a drop of rain in the last six weeks and other courses I played in the meantime really had to struggle to keep the course in good condition. Apparently, the Märkische Golfclub can use the nearby Havel river as a water source and thus was able to keep the course in such good condition. The club pledges to higher standards as a member of the Leading Golf Courses of Germany.

The course has a classic layout (10 par 4’s, 4 par 3’s and 4 par 5’s), measuring up 6.114 meters from yellow with a course rating of 72,9 and a slope of 135. The first three holes make up for a good start. On the par 4 first, water comes into play twice with a pond in the fairway and the green surrounded by the next pons. On the par 3 second you have to shoot over a vast reed area. The fairway of the par 5 third is split in half by a large tree covered mound, giving you various options to play the hole.

In the dry conditions today, the course played shorter than usual, once you put your drive in the fairway, you got a lot of roll from the hard ground. So I had the opportunity to make various greens in regulation or just barely missed them. Hadn’t my putter been cold today, more pars and a couple of birdies would show up on my scorecard.

Personally I think that the front nine are far more attractive than the back nine. Besides the first three holes described above, the par 5 seventh and par 4 eigth are amongs my favourites. The seventh is a double dogleg playing uphill with an undulated fairway, interesting but fair as it is the shortest par five of the course. The eigth hole plays downhill out of a teebox surrounded by a wall of bushes, don’t be too long off the tee here as the fairway is split by bushes and bunkers after 240 meters. I placed my six iron to the right side of the fairway with 140 meters to the pin, almost made the green in two and three-putted for bogey.

On the back nine, the 10th, 17th and 18th hole are the most interesting. The 13th surely is a challenge, the par 5 measures 549 meters from yellow, but there aren’t too many obstacles on your way to the green. I avoided the fairway bunker, made the green in four and two-putted for bogey.

As for my game I found confidence again today. Played conservatively, kept the ball in the fairway and could have played the round with three clubs alone: six iron of the tee and in the fairway, lobwedge for almost all approach shots and the putter.

In case you are in the area, the Märkische Golfclub Potsdam is surely worth a visit, living up to the standards of a Leading Golf Course. The club also features a six hole practice course, a nine hole course, a huge practice area and a nice clubhouse with a very nice view over the 18th hole.
Greenfees are 60 Euro on weekdays and 75 Euros on weekends.

Märkischer Golfclub Potsdam e.V.
Kemnitzer Schmiedeweg 1
14542 Werder / Havel
Tel.: 03327 /6637-0
E-Mail: info@mgc-potsdam.de
www.mgc-potsdam.de