The 75th Januarius Fil-Am Invitational is over and done with, but most of the more than 1,400 golfers who teed it up in the three weeks of golf nirvana must be still dreaming of this short but tricky hole at John Hay Golf.
Or, perhaps more appropriately, having nightmares about it.
The 9th hole at John Hay measures no more than 326 yards from the blue tees, reachable for some players in the Fil-Am Men's Championship Division. Yet it bedevilled most of the players during both the Seniors' and Men's tournaments.
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This short, devilish little hole yielded no eagles during the men's tournament, gave up just 22 birdies and 214 pars, and had 349 bogeys and 506 pick-ups, meaning scores of double-bogey or worse under the Stableford scoring system.
It was no different during Seniors' week, where the 9th hole gave up zero eagles, 13 birdies and 186 pars, and produced 344 bogeys and a staggering 560 pick-ups from the 50-years-old and above field.
So what makes it tough?
Well, the hole fills your mind with doubt from the time you select what club to hit from the tee box to, granting you find the fairway with your drive, what shot to hit in your approach to the sleek, elevated green.
All mistakes, of course, are severely punished. Any teeshot to the left will have to be quite lucky to dodge the overhanging branches of trees [see photo] while any drive lost to the right will likely end up bouncing along the road leading to the famous Chocolate de Batirol restaurant at Igorot Park.
Granting you hit fairway, you still have to contend with an approach to an elevated green where anything that's left short risks the danger of rolling back to the fairways - or any of the four sandtraps guarding the green - and anything hit long is jail.
Over at Baguio Country Club, it is no surprise that the hardest hole proved to be No. 11, which requires a blind tee shot to a tight fairway guarded by OB stakes to the right - and an elevated green where there's danger right, left, and long.
No. 11 yielded just eight birdies and 103 pars during the Seniors' tournament, where 313 golfers made bogey and 691 made double bogey or worse. The men's field did no better, making just 8 birdies and 129 pars against 306 bogeys and 667 pick-ups.
Were you part of the group that struggled in both holes?
Well, there's always next year.
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