By Chia Han Keong

AT LAST year's Barclays Singapore Open golf tournament, Padraig Harrington squandered his chance of winning the title at the 16th hole of his final round.

The three-time Major champion's second shot from the rough ran off the green and into the water, allowing the eventual winner, Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, to break their tie atop the leaderboard and clinch victory.

When the Irishman returns for this year's Open from Oct 29 to Nov 1, he may be in for a shock.

The greens on Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong Course just got faster, according to its general manager and director of golf, Mr Peter Downie.

Indeed, to "toughen up" an already- difficult course, he revealed that the club has also cut the grass around the greens shorter than before, and also packed the roughs thicker.

"If you don't hit the fairways, you'll be in trouble," he said.

"You can't generate backspin in the thick roughs, thus, the ball will keep rolling on the greens into whatever hazards around them."

Still, the challenging course has not deterred Harrington from confirming his sign-up for the US$5-million (S$7.2-million) tournament, together with South Africa's Ernie Els, Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke and South Korea's Choi Kyung Ju.

More marquee names are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks, to make up the final field of 156 golfers for the Open, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

Last year's Open drew about 30,000 spectators, despite bad weather.

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