Second stage Tour School

Tour Diary

Here we go again… it’s the time of year where dreams come true for 25 people and you get to skip a few golfing leagues and head straight to the big time!!!

Once again I was fortunate enough to bypass first stage and because of my OOM position on the CT and my 2014 European Tour membership, I joined the party at stage 2.

I think it’s about 20% of the field that qualify and progress onto final stage from approximately 90 players at each of the four second stage venues.

And some of you may remember that this time last year I actually won 2nd stage by 3 shots over a strong field in Spain … and then went on to improve my ranking by making the cut at final stage and came pretty close to bringing home a full European Tour card!

So, this year I was drawn to play at Panoramica, 1.5hrs from Valencia, so after a day and a half at home I headed back to the airport to start the final chapter of the 2014 season.

The event started on a Friday so my practice day was Thursday last week, but Tom Speyer my caddy for the week (John Parry’s caddy) headed out Tuesday evening to map the course and see what was in store for me when I got there.

ABOUT THE COURSE …

The course was nothing like we have played all year on the CT, it was short, had a few trees scattered around, but it had no rough and if you were off line there was more chance you would not be under a tree than under one!

This really is the sort of golf I hate; you should get punished for bad shots and round this golf course it was sometimes easier to aim away from the fairways to get better lines to the flags.

I know the course is the same for everyone but what I’m trying to say is … if you play a tough course then anyone playing bad has no chance and the cream really rises to the top – I like a battle!

But with no trouble and great greens it was going to be paradise for the long hitters and good putters!

IMG_2911 IMG_2910

ABOUT THE GOLF …

My above comments on the course were correct, and if I had been playing any other course I would have shot 80, 80 in the first two rounds … from eight weeks of driving the ball great I really had a shocker off the tee week.

But like I said, I got away with a lot of bad shots and holed a lot of putts for 36 holes to be in a favourable position on -7 (69, 68).

I have spoken to a lot of people back home and they find it so hard to listen to a pro saying that he’s playing bad and shooting good scores, but the above is so true!!

I actually felt lucky, but as my caddy said, this game is about scoring and it does not have to look good!

But another poor performance and this time a very below average 72 (level par) in round 3, left me a mountain to climb in the final round (74).

And it happened to be a mountain that this time I could not climb! I gave it my all, hunted a few flags, but a few errors early on led to a back nine where I had simply run out of gas!

This year Tour School was slightly different for me, it’s the first time I have been where I already had a GOOD category on the CT secure. For most people that could work either of two ways I guess; you either play care free and go all the way, or you go nowhere near and don’t feel too bad as your have job security next year!

I guess there was probably a bit of the latter but don’t get me wrong, I gave it 110% when out there as that’s the only way I know!

But it was amazing to know I would be back home for the birth of my second child, as it really was looking like I would not be there – which deep down would have been tough to take!

I can’t wait to welcome him/her to the world!!!!

This season may have only just finished but the way my CT campaign closed it has only given be more burning desire to achieve what I want to in this game, and my winter planning is already in place!!

I will soon be sitting down with my coach and manager to plot next year, decide what aspects of my game we are going to tackle, and try to get some sponsorship in place to help take the pressure off the ever growing cost of playing golf full time.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog, hope you’ve enjoyed the journey!

I will of course be sending a ‘season round up’ blog at some point but it would be great to stay in touch with you all over the winter months!!

Have a great run up to Christmas!!

Chris

chrishansongolf.thefreshlab.co.uk

@hansonprogolf

Last modified: June 3, 2019