How Tough Is Trump International Golf Links Playing This Week? The Insane Numbers Behind This Week's Venue

The highest scores recorded for each hole in the second round show how tough it was for players competing at the Nexo Championship

Trump International Golf Links
There was carnage in the second round of the Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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The players who made the cut at the latest event of the DP World Tour season, the Nexo Championship, was certainly made to work for the achievement of reaching the weekend.

The event is taking place at Trump International Golf Links in Scotland, where the conditions played a big part in some extremely high scoring on Friday.

The course opened in 2012 and ranks 15th in Golf Monthly’s top 100 courses in the UK and Ireland.

However, while the players will have been impressed by its breathtaking scenery, that would have been a small consolation for many given the way events played out on Friday.

The action took place beneath overcast skies in cool and windy conditions at the Aberdeenshire links, and a graphic produced by the DP World Tour showed just how tough it was, listing the highest scores recorded on each hole during the second round.

One stands out in particular, the par-4 11th, which was the scene of a 12 at one point. But who was responsible for the octuple bogey? Spare a thought for Joel Moscatel.

He had been going reasonably well at just one over through his first 10 holes, but his day unravelled spectacularly in his 11th hole horror, which saw three penalty strokes.

Joel Moscatel at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final

Joel Moscatel made an octuple bogey at the 11th

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Spaniard eventually carded a 13-over 85, which included a quadruple bogey eight at the 14th, as he missed the cut line of seven-over by 11.

It was far from the only damaging hole experienced in the second round, though.

Nines were also recorded at the par-5 first, par-4 second and par-4 17th, along with five holes that produced an eight and four more that saw sevens.

Even the most respectable number, a five on the 13th, is tempered by the fact that it is a par-3.

Overall, the total for all the highest scores recorded on each hole comes to 135, which would equate to 63 over par.

Grant Forrest during the Nexo Championship

Grant Forrest carded a course record 66 in the second round of the tournament

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Perhaps even more remarkably, the day of carnage included a new course record, a six-under 66 achieved by Grant Forrest to keep him in contention for his second DP World Tour title.

Mike Hall
Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 


He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 


Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 


Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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