Czech Republic on The Challenge Tour
I knew a few weeks back that I may have the opportunity to play this event, and during the event at La Gomera last week I got the call to say I was in!
So, it was a great chance to bounce back from the disappointment of playing OK in La Gomera but missing the cut by 3.
I managed to get home Saturday from Tenerife and had a few days at home with the family and also managed to get up to Woodsome Monday morning for a bit of practice, before flying late Tuesday to Prague. Then, after a few hours in the car with Sam Walker from the Belfry, we got to the lovely town of Kralove Hradec.
This place was so cheap, and up there with the best quality of food I’ve eaten! #spoilt
Tuesday morning (7.30) I was all set on the tee to play 9 holes before the pro-am when I found out that 3 Swedish players were still waiting for their clubs to arrive. One of them was first out in the pro-am. Luckily for me, being in the right place at the right time, I got to play the pro-am and play all 18 holes. #bonus
The golf course is fantastic, yet despite the recent flooding it was amazing how well it had stood up to the weather. The pro-am was fun too, it was my first experience of Texas scramble, and I had a decent team scoring pretty well but still ended up way off the prizes.
Not the best size car for two players, clubs and luggage…
I think everyone knew the scoring would be low this week: perfect fairways, perfect greens – which were very soft, so if you had the yardage dialled in you would have plenty of chances. It’s only defence was the semi rough – it must have been 4 inches deep, meaning you had to keep it on the short stuff!
In round one I played solidly, although I didn’t hole much until a nice eagle at 16 which I soon followed with two missed putts on 17 and 18 from 3ft to shoot one under. (71) Disappointing in the end but I knew I played well and could follow it with a good score Friday.
Rd2: I pretty much played the same again and finally holed a decent length putt (35ft) on the final green for birdie to shoot 68 and get to -5 total.
The standard out here on the CT is frightening with the cut nearly going to -4! #wowza!! But I was safely through to the weekend!
#movingday as they call it on Tour!
Saturday, the 3rd round, is the chance to get yourself in the mix for a final day charge and I think that was my most successful Saturday on the CT to date. I posted 64 (-8) with 8 birdies and, dare I be cheeky, and say I left a few out there too.
That shot me up to T8th with the only better score on the day coming from my roommate, Matt Ford, playing behind me, who shot 63!
Check out the press release here…
So I got myself into a great position for the final round and it was great to go out in the third from last group. I played pretty average throughout and only hit 6 fairways which round there is not good enough. But when I had a chance I seemed to take it and got to -4 through 14 holes, which was up there in the pack.
I then slipped back down with three poor bogeys in a row, losing my momentum on 15 after a slightly bad break. But that happens in golf and I was still over the moon with my performance for the week, finishing T10th!
#addedbonus
Let me try and explain this now … The top 6 players in the top 10 that are not already exempt into the next event receive an invite to play… Sound interesting…?
Well, that’s me! 🙂
Next week is a co-sanctioned event with the European Tour, so half the field are CT and half are from the ET, this really is the CT major event of the year and will be my biggest event to date!
So after landing Sunday night in Manchester, I will then take the drive down to Folkstone in Kent on Monday afternoon and get the tunnel crossing to Calais, where I will head to St Omer for what I guess you could class as my first main Tour start…
I really can’t wait!
If you were watching my scoring this week, I hope you enjoyed it! I know it’s pretty tough for my family waiting for scores to come in, but hopefully this week they enjoyed!
Thanks again for all the kind messages, tweets and emails! It means a lot!
For anyone not on Twitter, get signed up and follow my life and many other pro golfers’ lives on tour, it’s pretty good fun and you get to see a lot of behind the scenes stuff from the elite in the game too…
Twitter name: @hansonprogolf
I will try get some fun and interesting photos from next week’s event, as some of it will be new to me too.
Thanks again
CH