The week in China felt a bit different from all previous visits; we were in the countryside and it was actually quite nice.
Before, it’s always been pretty mental, very busy, main roads and high-rise buildings etc!
But at Topwin we were 20 minutes from The Great Wall of China, surrounded by hills, mountains and it was pretty green!
A lot of guys went to see the wall and that was my plan too, but after round 1/2 of hitting my irons so bad my priorities soon changed and I needed to practise.
So, the closest I got was the view from the course and that was impressive anyway!
Apart from the food, the first challenge you have is sleeping, and getting on the correct time zone, as it’s an 8-hour difference from Morocco.
We landed at 4am Tuesday and got to the hotel around 7.
I decided to get three hours sleep, shower, change then head up for my practice round!
Whichever way you do it, you’re going to be tired come 9pm! It’s just whether you can get to sleep or not!
I did pretty well for the week, the only night I had a problem was Thursday night. I had a 4am alarm and didn’t get to sleep till around 12, after three hours of counting sheep!!
The course for the week was pretty decent; we played preferred lies all week as it had lacked a bit of growth, but in general it was very good!
There were some reachable par fives and three reachable par 4s which still asked you the question…. “what’s the best way to play this hole?”
Not really risk and reward as playing it either way could be very tricky!
Over the first two rounds I really struggled with my irons and the approach shots; I battled and battled and couldn’t solve the problem on the course – very frustrating!!
I somehow shot 71, 71 to make the cut, and if it wasn’t for some good putting down the back nine I wouldn’t have been around for the weekend!
Saturday, or “moving day” as it’s known, was a good one for me, and would have been even better if it wasn’t for a three putt off the fringe on 18 for par!
But 67 (-5) moved me up the leaderboard 25 spots and earned us a lie in Sunday!!
I guess the overnight WhatsApp lesson with coach Pearson helped!!
So, it was one last round and then I could get out of China and back to see my girls for a couple of weeks before the Belgium knockout (missing Sicily).
I shot 70 (-2) in round four, so it was pleasing to have four rounds under par, but even though I played ok it always feels worse when your playing partner shoots 64 and again I three putted 18 for par!!!!!!!!!
Believe it or not, though, I’m pretty happy; I played decent in Morocco and built on it again in China, maybe another week of golf would have been good for my game??
But as I was writing this on the way to the airport Sunday night for a 2am flight, I knew I’d much rather be going home than onto another event!
It’s been a long three weeks on and off the course with quite a few distractions off the course which we didn’t need and have been tough for the family.
So, some time together then my run of events looks like:
Belgium
England – PGA Wentworth (Rolex event)
Italy – (Rolex Event)
Bring it on!!!!!
On another note – thanks for all the entries into my little competition last week, everyone who entered got it right (Spider-Man) and the winner from Twitter was: Neal Gladwin
