It was a whirlwind 48 hours after getting back from tour school late Friday afternoon!
But it was great to see so many people that evening at Woodsome and I can’t thank you all enough for coming to show your support!
It probably took till Sunday night for me and Laura to actually have chance to sit down and have a normal chat together, which was nice!
But it didn’t last long as I had a 5.25am train to catch to Manchester the following morning!
As I said in one of my interviews, I now have a European Tour card but I’m at the bottom of the ladder! It’s a tough and long road to the top, but a challenge that me and my team are up for!!
I’ve played around 7 events on the main tour already and that includes the biggest of them all (The Open Championship) but this is different, it feels right!
I earned my place at Leopard Creek for the first event of the year and couldn’t wait to get going!
I’d only heard amazing things about this part of South Africa, and on arriving it did not disappoint! 
It took a good day to get there, flying via Dubai and then onto Jo’burg, followed by a 4 hour drive, but Steve and I finally arrived at the club before lunch Tuesday and it was worth the journey!
But on arrival we knew straight away that we were no longer at a Challenge Tour event…
First, I was ushered to an accreditation office to collect my player’s badge, car park pass, meal/lunch tickets and then from there was directed towards the players’ lounge and practice area. 
J. Rupert is the main man, he is Mr Alfred Dunhill. Out in SA he has business with everyone from the local sugar cane trade to property.
When he does something he does it right, with no expense spared!
The story goes that Leopard Creek dropped to the number 2 resort behind Fancourt; when he asked why, they said it lacked quality practice facilities…
4 months’ ago he had a £4 million driving range and short game area developed!
Leopard Creek is a pretty amazing place; I don’t know if you managed to watch much of the coverage but I think they actually show more of the wildlife than the golf!
It’s located just on the edge of the Kruger National Park, and everyone goes on safari!
So on Friday afternoon me, Steve and Tom Murray hopped in our VW Polo hire car and in we went!
They’ve not had rain for three months and the whole place is barren; the park is the size of Wales so you actually have to be pretty lucky to spot anything as you’re going round…
Our trip was a big letdown: a hippo having a bath and a pack of wild dogs was about it, really! Oh, and a three legged turtle!
But we went round and were not too upset as the accommodation sure made up for it with the wildlife it had to offer…
We were 20 yards from Crocodile River, in the newly opened KAMBUKO LODGE.
It was beautiful! The owner Leanne had done an amazing job building 5 lodges along the river! And she was the most amazing host – cooking for us every evening and nothing was ever too much trouble!
We sat for hours and hours on the patio and had the most unbelievable views of the animals… 
From 150 buffaloes passing by, to rhinos, giraffes, and on the last afternoon before leaving we had 40 elephants bathing in the river!
Nature at its finest! We were so lucky!
We missed the lions and the rare spotting of the leopard which some players did see, but I will certainly go back into the park again, and for anyone visiting SA, Kambuko Lodge, Leopard Creek and the Kruger Park are a must visit!
The golf was a pretty mixed bag; when I was good I was very good! And when I was bad I was very bad!!
I shot 70, 71 to comfortably make the weekend and that meant two more rounds on the best course in SA!
You actually get a lot of wildlife on the course, and we bumped into baboons, deer, and a cheeky baby crocodile gave me a scare down 13 when I least expected it! 
From going into the weekend T14th I fell down the pack with rounds of 75, 73 and ended the week T44th.
Looking back at those two rounds, I played pretty solidly, but a few big numbers on the card combined with a cold putter and it’s pretty easy to let it slip around a course of this standard!
Steve’s comment that “if I’d have hit it in the water again we would have needed to purchase a snorkel” summed up my scoring after losing 6 balls in water this week!
But overall, a great start to life on the European Tour!
And then we headed back down the road to Jo’burg to fly 7 hours back to Dubai, and then 14 hours to Brisbane for the Australian OPEN! But then to get off the plane at 5.30am Tuesday and head to the course for a practice round – madness!
The main thing on the 4 hour drive to Jo’burg was to somehow avoid the police when leaving town, and then the police who were camped up all the way to Jo’burg, who will quite happily top up their Christmas tips jar with whatever money you’re willing to give them!!
We made it Scot free, but I know of one car load of players who got done twice in one day for £60!!!!!! Shocking!!