Trophee Hassan II Top 10 Player Power Rankings
By Joe Walton
After five years in Agadir, the Trophee Hassan II returns to Rabat for the tournament’s seventh appearance on the European Tour.
The Trophee Hassan II is not exactly the biggest event on the European Tour but it plays a very important role in the Moroccan sporting calendar. Named after the late King of Morocco, the tournament attracts a number of well known players from European golf. This year is no exception in that regard. The field contains players who have already won on the European Tour this season and previous winners of this event.
The players who regularly include the Tropheé Hassan II in their schedules had gotten used to the Golf du Palais Royal but this year the tournament returns to the scene of the 2010 renewal, the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Agadir.
The tournament will be held around the venue’s Red Course. When Robert Trent Jones was drafted in to design the course he was asked to make it a tough test and the legendary course designer certainly succeeded on that front. The par-72 layout stretches to almost 7,500 yards from the competition tees but it actually plays even longer than that as the kikuyu grass which forms the fairways and rough does not allow much deviation or variation in shot-making.
The early weather forecasts suggests that the rain is set to fall on yet another European Tour event. While the rain is unlikely to cause any scheduling issues, it will have an impact on the outcome. Wet fairways will make carry distance off the tee even more important while the fairly wide fairways will be even easier to hit. The greens around the Red Course may be small and undulating but if they are damp the players will be confident the ball will stick so we should see some aggressive golf.
There could be some good scoring out there this week and what follows are profiles of the 10 players most likely to go low and get the job done in Agadir.
Next: Alexander Levy