If you’ve been there you will know…but if not, the best way to describe the temperature is “it’s like sticking your head in an oven!”
You can feel your skin cooking, sun cream just sweats off you, it floods off the tip of your nose, dripping onto your ball…
It runs down your arms onto the grips, ruins your glove and if you’re getting the picture well enough, you can tell it’s pretty uncomfortable and I personally don’t like it!
This is not complaining by the way, I’m just telling you how it feels to me!!
So, it was my first time to Malaysia; my third year on Tour and the previous two years my category hadn’t got me into the event.
It actually didn’t this year either, but a top 10 in Dubai made sure I got my place on the start sheet and getting on the flight felt a lot better than travelling as a reserve which I had planned to do!
I hadn’t heard much about the course, although I’d seen from previous years that the scoring can get as hot as the weather! But on arriving and seeing the condition of the greens you would expect it would have a negative effect on the scores.
It’s always tough playing the Asian players in their own back yard; I’ve mentioned plenty of times how the grass plays so differently!
To be honest, the course layout, condition and greens couldn’t have been more different to the event in Dubai last week!!
It was time to adjust!!!!
I checked into my hotel Monday lunch time and had the day off from golf; I had a decent gym session but other than that I just chilled out and tried to stay awake.
There were three official hotels to choose from…having not been to Malaysia before I thought I would take the easy choice as I didn’t know the area well.
I soon found out I was the only player in the hotel, which was also 30 minutes away from the course and downtown too.
It was going to be a lonely week, I had dinner for one every night…sometimes it’s not quite the lifestyle and social scene some people think it is!
The golf course wasn’t long and with the heat the ball was flying a little further too…
When you walked some fairways and looked around you would think you were in a rain forest and you were trekking through the jungle!
Monkeys surround the course, big lizards swim in the ponds and you have to keep your eyes peeled for King Cobras!!
Steve…. “help!”
In round one I played solid, I went bogey free and started the round with three birdies…that was also off the back of three birdies to finish in Dubai and back to back bogey free rounds which always feels nice!
I think that’s already 4 bogey free rounds for this season, maybe more than all last year combined!!!
Round two was equally as steady, one bogey from a poor second shot after just missing the fairway by inches.
But other than that, some good birdies and I posted 70 (-2) to make the cut which fell at -4.
That’s -9 minimum you needed to make the weekend these last two weeks, and this week it nearly went to -5 again!
The standard is good, in fact it’s better than good, you can’t not be on your game!!
With fears of more thunder delays they sent us out in 3 balls and a U draw early Saturday, so with me being middle of the pack that meant an early start as I was second group out!
Playing with Beef and Manassero should always be fun, nice guys and both have good caddies on the bag.
For me though it wasn’t fun (the company was fun). I was on the back foot from the start, clawed it back, let it go again, clawed it back, then blew out in the end to miss the third round cut!
I bet Steve wanted to hang me playing the last two holes!!!!
To quickly explain, there’s a new rule when 80+ make the cut; they chop it back down to 72nd and ties after round three…there are many reasons they do it, but you still get paid even if you don’t make day 4.
So, to sum up round four, I was utter crap, the good news…I get to start the mammoth journey home 24hrs earlier and now have a full week off before heading back out to the Middle East for Oman and Qatar!
After today I feel I need a re group, give my head a shake, brush it off and be ready and excited to get going again next weekend!!
And more importantly, rest up and enjoy some time with my girls!!!
Blog again soon!
