This year the desert swing was shortened because the Qatar event has moved to late February alongside Oman, which is a new addition to the schedule (it had previously been used as the venue for the Challenge Tour grand final which I played in 2015).
So, as my last blog mentioned, I am on the road for just over three weeks – Abu Dhabi, followed by Dubai and then Malaysia – if my ranking were actually to get me into the event. When I set off to travel I was surprisingly around 10th reserve, so either needed plenty of guys to withdraw or to finish top ten in Dubai!
After some good weeks of practice, I felt I was pretty much ready to start the season in Abu Dhabi. Of course, I expected some rust from not being too competitive for a month but what happened in round two certainly knocked me back, or should I say made me aware of what I still needed to focus on.
In round one I played ok, I made a few poor errors but made enough birdies to end the day one under and not in a bad position. It was a really strong field that HSBC had assembled (with rumours that appearance fees were totalling over $6 million), so the scoring was impressive.
After a relaxed evening with Mark (coach) and Iain (mind coach), I was up for the Friday challenge… and boy was it a challenge!!!
And to cut a long story short I didn’t and, in the end, I was lucky to break 80! So, the first event of the year and I was propping up the field.
That’s never a nice feeling and believe it or not I still gave it 100%! Missing the cut by ten or missing the cut by one in golf is still the same result, you go home with nothing, but it does feel different, it hurts your pride!
But as my coach said, great things can always come from failure…how else are you supposed to learn?
And over Saturday and Sunday we sure talked a lot, discussed managing my game on the course, landing spots, finish spots and the ‘actual yardage’, which is never normally the yardage you start with!
I will leave that topic for another blog one day, but I promise it’s actually a lot simpler than it sounds.
As a team we worked very hard and were excited to head to Dubai Sunday tea time to get set up for the next week! Abu Dhabi was then a thing of the past!
One last thing from Abu Dhabi which was pretty cool and I have to mention, is the F1 track at Yas Island where our hotel was. Every Tuesday night they open up the track to runners and cyclists – it’s 3.4 miles round and it was a heck of an experience/atmosphere running that evening in the floodlights!
So, now back at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, an event I’ve watched for years on TV! Last year I missed the cut by one shot, so it was time to try and make amends!
I do like the course, the layout is great, so nice on the eye as the definition from sand to rough to fairway is amazing – the green keepers must be so proud of their work!
The rough I felt was pretty juicy, the greens firm, and with quite a few doglegs I thought it’s a tricky test…but experience sure plays a huge factor, as trusting some lines off the tees can make some holes so much easier.
13, 14, 17 and 18 all need some serious trust as to where you’re starting those tee shots, and I’m sure next year I will take some much stronger lines on 13 and 18 especially to try and take advantage of those holes.
Anyway, me thinking it was a tricky course was pretty silly when the scoring in round one went crazy! Guys shooting 7, 8, 9 and 10 under just shows how good the standard is on the European Tour!!
The social media world, and especially Twitter, went crazy with people as ever complaining about technology and course set ups etc. For me, Paul Waring summed it up pretty well in this tweet, which was a good explanation of why scoring was better than other years:
Round one I set off with a crowd pleasing three putt bogey! Not ideal for the confidence, but bounced back quickly, holing for birdie from 7 feet and 9 feet on the next two holes!!
I played pretty solid and stress free for the rest of the round and it was nice to shoot 67 (-5). Even Coach Pearson was happy from the side-lines – which takes some doing – it was a good day for #TeamHanson all round.
The scoring in round two was set to be as hot as the weather, and at one point it looked like the cut might go to a crazy -6, that’s madness!!
I started poorly, two over after 3 holes, and my game felt off, my head was spinning a bit, it was elsewhere! I dug in, Steve kept me going, we battled back and it was probably a good thing to get called off for darkness through 10 holes (due to the morning fog delay).
A fresh start was just what I needed, and I came back early the next day and finished the last 8 holes with pars and a birdie!!
Saturday, I spent most of the day hitting my second shot first of the group – Nicolas Colsaerts and Andres Romero don’t hold back and were giving me twenty yards at times!
But I played my own game, continued to hole some nice putts, and in the end just made the one bogey on my last hole, three putting from the fringe, to shoot 70 (-2).
It’s not often you shoot under par and move back 12 spots on the leader board but guys were still ripping it up!
But I had round 4 to look forward to, I was putting points on the OOM and building some confidence with my game…the wind was also forecast to get up, sand was blowing everywhere, a tree actually blew down and it was a little trickier, which certainly showed in the scoring.
I played the front nine nicely, made two good par saves and a pretty straightforward birdie on the 3rd, so 1 under I was cruising along ok.
Back nine charge maybe?
I hadn’t birdied ten all week, and I’m pretty sure it was playing stroke 18. Today I did, from the trap. I then holed from 15ft on the next for birdie, went for the power play on 13 with a bold tee shot line, that paid off and I made an easy birdie…all of a sudden, I was -4!!
Mentally I was in a good place, I like the wind and felt I was moving up the board, I had momentum…
On 16 I got a flyer from the rough, I was through the green in the rough. With Iain (mind coach) we focus a lot on self talk and how you see the shot, it helps a lot!
Steve actually asked me: “what do you see here Chris?”.
Me: “it’s perched up pretty high on the rough so I don’t want to go under it, I’m gonna open the loft, keep my speed up and clip it off the top, if I land it next to Jamie’s marker it’s got a chance”.
Where did I land it…?
Next to his marker and from there we watched it trickle down the hill finding the bottom of the hole. A birdie there, I drove the next green and made another birdie…and then finally hit the 18th fairway over the dog leg!
250 yards to the flag, over the water, I hit three wood back left and made a great up and down from next to the grandstand. And to make it better, as the 7ft putt rolled in, the roar from the #TeamHanson support team was heard all around!
Thanks guys…Ben Johnson, Eddy Brown, Andy Brown, Bob Whiteley, Michael Major and some more friends of theirs!!!
It was a great feeling, and then to walk into the score tent to see that I had moved up to third in the tournament was pretty special.
In the end I finished T6th which, from starting the day where I did, was a great result and hopefully something I can build on going forward.
I’m not sure 12 years ago, when I set out on my journey, I saw myself -16 round the Majlis Golf course finishing T6th in the Desert Classic!
I’ve sure come a long way!
