About the course- Nagoya Golf Club Wago Course

The Nagoya Golf Club's Wago Course is often touted as "one of the most difficult courses in Japan", but that may not necessarily be the case.

After all, this was exactly where 'bashful prince' Ryo Ishikawa carded a mind-blowing 12-under-par 58 in the final round to win The Crowns in 2010. 

Then 18-year-old Ishikawa's card was bogey-free and included 12 birdies, with nine coming in his first 11 holes.

He missed a 15-footer for birdie on the final hole by inches for what would have been a 57.

Still, the splendid effort saw Ishikawa not only overturned a six-shot deficit to win by five strokes for his seventh JGTO title but also set the lowest score ever on a major tour at that time.

Several others eventually matched the feat, most notably Jim Furyk at the 2016 Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour and Seonghyeon Kim in the final round of JGTO's Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament last year.

Designed by Mitsuaki Otani, this week’s venue boasts a long history dating back to September 15, 1929, when it became the first golf course in the Chukyo region.

With an overall distance of 6,557 yards, the Wago Course is considered short and resembles the average length of women's tournament courses. However, it is undoubtedly one course a player cannot afford to take lightly. 

The elevated green makes it possible for the surface of the green to be seen from the fairway, and the bowl shape green prevents the ball from stopping.

To make things trickier, the green is small and fast, while players need to avoid landing a shot in the bunker as it features sand with tiny particles that allow the ball to sink easily.

Also, the wind is not stable from beginning to end, influencing players’ strategy. 

One of the most challenging holes is 175 yards, par three 17, dubbed the Magic 17, where a pond separates the tee and green. 

Due to the course length, the winning score can exceed 20-under over 72 holes, as achieved by the legendary Masashi 'Jumbo' Ozaki in his 1995 The Crowns triumph. It is also a course where players need to produce something extraordinary to shoot a 10-under in one round.

In addition to being the venue for The Crowns since 1966, it has also staged the Japan PGA Championship in 1936 and 1956, the Japan Open Championship in 1989, and the Japan Women's Open Championship in 2011.