Extremes
Though Mongolia
enjoys 250 days of
sunshine a year,
temperatures can
plummet to -30
degrees in the
winter.in Mongolia, where they spent seven hours
with a tour company micro-plotting their
route and where their food and equipment
drops were going to be. Upon their return
home, Rutland ordered 150 packets of
dehydrated camp food from Amazon so he
could stick to his vegan diet. Not that Rolston
was too pleased once he found out they were
all the same flavour. “That’s because they
were all on special [offer],” laughs Rutland.
Equipped with clubs and 400 golf balls
from TaylorMade, they arrived at the base of
Khüiten Peak, the highest and most westerly
point of Mongolia, at 1pm on June 29 ready
to tee off in aid of the Laureus Sport for
Good Foundation and the South African Golf
Development Board. “The European Tour
gave us an official endorsement and
recognised our challenge as an official golf
hole,” explains Rutland. “That was
THE JOURNEY
Country facts
Population: 3.1 million
Capital: Ulaanbaatar
Currency: Togrog
Number of golf
courses: ThreeDAY 1
TEE OFF AT
KHUITEN PEAK
BASE CAMP
DAY 80
FINAL SHOT AT MT
BOGD GOLF CLUB,
ULAANBAATARDAY 4
Racked up
29.4km and
340 shots.DAY 2
Suffered their first breakdown
after the cart got stuck in
marshland and the wheels got
sucked off the axle.DAY 40
Passed the halfway
distance having
golfed the length of
Ireland twice.DAY 70
Shared a meal
with two Syrian
falcon poachers.DAY 10
Bog, snow and uneven terrain
stunted their progress, putting
them 100km behind schedule.DAY 79
Set up camp 15 miles
from their destination
where they were joined
by friends and family.THE WORLD’S
LONGEST
FAIRWAY
IN NUMBERS
20,093 6,093
80 days
135
The total number of strokes
The length of time
it took to complete the holeNumber of
sponsored
golf balls
2,011km used and lost
Total distance coveredThe number of shots over par
Mongolia
DAY 3
Joined by a wild
Mongolian dog.
TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK ISSUE 367 67