So, the season has really kicked off now and, as I said in my last blog, the reality of possibly being away from home six days a week for the next three months is starting to sink in.
I promise you I’m not crying wolf about my job, as I really do appreciate how lucky I am to play golf for a living, and I’m so fortunate to have the support I get from so many people to make it even slightly possible.
But for the up and coming golfers who fancy a go at the Tour… It’s not all plain sailing… And it’s not as glamorous as you might think at times…
Golf is a job for me, now … Gone are the leisurely fun weekend games with the lads for a few quid, and the relaxed nine holes on a summer’s night.
It’s always about getting better, improving my game and getting ready for ANOTHER week on tour. It can be relentless but it’s my chosen profession and it’s what helps put food on the table at home – so that’s my choice – but to be fair, I have no idea what I would do if I did not play on Tour!
And without an amazing family back home supporting me, and sacrificing many things themselves, it would not be remotely possible.
So last week it was a 7am flight to Antalya (Turkey) from Manchester; a 3.45am alarm, up and out the door, down to Fixby to pick up my caddy (Adam Walker), and across to Manchester.
This week it’s back to a normal working week (the Kenya and Madrid tournaments necessitated being out there a day earlier due to flight times). So after that early start, we hoped to get to the course around 3pm and it was straight out onto the course for a practice round.
From there, it was: hotel, unpack, and bed!!!!
Talking about unglamorous hotels; last week it cost £200 for 5 nights for two of us, ALL inclusive! It can’t be great, can it…? But to be fair it was pretty good for the amazing price!!
But that’s part of life on the Challenge Tour for 90% of players, making it as cheap as possible!!
Wednesday was practice day; the course was shut for the pro-am, so it was a day of fine tuning and prepping my game for how we feel the course will play this week.
And what a course Gloria is!! Very similar to the course last year in Turkey (the National), and again I was very impressed with the attention to detail and the definition of the fairways, the rough and how each hole is cut through the trees!
If you’re mad about your golf, and want to guarantee some sunshine which Spain/Portugal can’t always promise, then head to Belek and you’re spoilt for choice!
So how was my game this week?
Overall it was not good enough; the course was so much more visually demanding and at times I found it hard to commit to some drives. Once out of position on this course, you’re going to struggle to score.
But in position there are loads of chances, especially with the greens, and with the greens’ surrounds being perfect that’s why you will have seen some good scores at the top!
I signed for scores of 70, 72, 72, 75 – for a total of +1 to finish T50th.
Like I said, my game was not on the money, but there were some serious glimpses of magic! My short game at times was world class and I really got myself out of some sticky situations!
The other two big highlights of the week were to follow a double on 16 with a quality eagle; I hit a 3 wood from 270 yards to 6ft … And then the following day I eagled it again but this time going in with a 5 iron!
Last round, I had no momentum from the start, and again found it hard to drive the ball into the correct positions! To fall down the leader board is disappointing as always and then to get the text from the Tour saying you’ve won approximately your bus fare home is frustrating!
But it’s in my control to do better, so next week is a chance to bounce back in Denmark as I really want to make every week count!
But the positive is, it’s another 4 rounds under my belt, a 100% cut record this year, and every penny counts on the Order of Merit come the end of the year, and that bus fare home could make all the difference.
Let’s sure hope so; top 15 is the goal, and it’s not about the OOM position now, it’s about pushing past the €80,000 mark!