Johor Bahru: New challenges await the top stars of the Asian Tour as they descent on Horizon Hills Golf & Country Club for the sixth edition of the Iskandar Johor Open this December 13-16.

The Ross Watson-designed tract opened for play in 2008 and took only two years before it was deemed ready to stage Johor’s premier golfing event, which this year acts as the season-ending championship on the Asian Tour schedule.

From its infancy, the course has been described as one of the best layouts south of the country and Watson felt the site provided a great opportunity to create a layout with infinite variety, particularly the dramatic elevation changes on almost every hole providing a risk-reward balance.

The club’s general manager Mr Tang Meng Loon expects the course to play tougher as he explained some of the preparations being made ahead of the arrival of top stars such as Sergio Garcia and Thongchai Jaidee.

“We have added a lot of mature trees on the course, narrowing some of the fairways, increasing the height of rough and providing slick and tricky greens. This is to enhance the challenging nature of the golf course.

“We feel that swapping the front nine and back nine for the first time will make the game more interesting for 2012, the third consecutive year we are hosting the event here,” shared Tang.

Further work and enhancements to the 62714m course includes sub-soil drainage pipe and sand capping to further improve the condition of the fairways, planting additional shrubs for improved landscaping as well as maintaining the smooth and slick putting surfaces.

Tang also noted that publicity generated by the US$ 2 million tournament, which last year picked up the Fastest Growing Tournament at the Asian Tour Awards, has played an important role in elevating Horizon Hills Golf & Country Club to greater heights.