So, after a long miserable week on the island of Madeira earlier in the year, it was back up the mountain last week for the re-scheduled event.
And here’s a photo I saw from one of the player’s Facebook pages before I flew out on the Monday afternoon … Surely it can’t be as bad as March?
Or can it…?
The flights out to Madeira are also pretty limited anyway (Monday to Monday), so it always feels like a long week even if the weather is good.
But it’s one of the biggest events on the CT schedule as it’s co-sanctioned with the European Tour, so your preparation needs to be spot on, and getting there early is ok, I guess.
I feel I’ve got good knowledge of the course now after two trips to the island but flying back over gave me plenty time to do some homework on my old book.
– where you can’t miss greens
– areas to play into on fairways
– shots you can take on
– and what shots I need to think about in practice
Again, going back to places you get more knowledge of the travel too, you know the decent places to stay, how to get about the island, where the golf course is. You really can see why guys do well over the years at the same venues as they get comfortable… Even down to knowing how the greens roll out in certain places…
All of a sudden practice rounds don’t become quite as vital or important.
It’s just a fairway and a green as always, I know, but sometimes you really just need a few hours to get the pace of the greens and how the ball will bounce.
That’s exactly my plan in Ireland next week!
Like I said, knowing where and where not to stay also helps; so myself and two other players (Wallace Booth and Will Harrold) rented a house for the week up by the course.
That sure saved some travel time and meant that if there were any delays we wouldn’t have to hang around at the club all day!
So how did my preparation go??
Pretty good! Here is my checklist of things I wanted to complete before the first round Thursday!
– green reading games
– putting pace drills
– shot shaping practice
– plenty short game off the funky grass
Putting pace work and green reading practice is essential and something that I have highlighted recently, so upping the intensity on that should hopefully lead to some better results these next few weeks!
THE GOLF….
I played pretty solid on Thursday and gave myself plenty of chances; I converted 7 of them for birdie which was great… But to throw a ‘snowman’ at it didn’t help!
An 8 on one of the easiest holes, the 14th, meant I really had to fight to shoot 69 (-3).
But that was a solid opening round but with the weather perfect the scoring was hot…
Antonio Hortal leading on -9!
Day two was tricky though and it certainly wasn’t plain sailing to make the cut…
A twenty minute torrential downpour did not help, and my mum will vouch for that as she was out to watch (with no waterproofs or brolly).
6 birdies and 6 bogeys for level par meant I made the weekend and hopefully could press on and win enough Euros to keep me inside the top 37 on the OOM and exempt for the Rolex Trophy.
Well, an average weekend I guess, 74 (+2) and 69 (-3), to finish T46th which seems to be my favourite position to finish… About mid pack!
That’s something I’m desperate to change, you need to be ‘challenging’ on The Challenge Tour to make any impact on the OOM and to even think about making any money against your expenses!
So hopefully the next few weeks will prove fruitful and the hard work I’m putting in on my game will soon pay off!
Let’s hope so!
But first it was a flight back to Lisbon Sunday evening, and a stopover before flying to Manchester Monday morning for a few days at home before heading to Northern Ireland on my 30th birthday!
I did not hang onto the top 37 I mentioned, but hopefully 38th will gain entry to The Rolex Trophy as the winner Roope Kakko will now play full time on the European Tour.
Fingers crossed, as it’s an event I’ve never had the chance to play, I’ve heard it’s fun and it’s guaranteed money for everyone on the OOM!