You kind of forget what life ‘on Tour’ is like when you’ve been out of it for 4/5 years. I’ve still travelled a bit with coaching trips, the odd event here and there, and with family, but this week was a bit of a flashback to the good, the bad and the reality of ‘Tour life’.
4.15am alarm for a taxi to Manchester airport, thankfully the smoothest of smooth check-ins ever, and I was through baggage checks and security checks in 15 mins!
The food court was absolute carnage though, so it was a coffee/croissant and a hunt to find a chair or even a space somewhere on the floor to park myself with my laptop for a couple of hours and work through some off course admin!
Two hours passed pretty quickly and I was boarding. I didn’t pre-book a seat, I never do, just get what I’m given! Maybe the Yorkshireman in me just refuses to pay to choose a seat when I’ve already paid for a seat on the plane. But this time I landed lucky, a window seat with extra leg room! Already winning this week!
As much as I say it’s like being back on Tour, it’s a little different this week. I’ve been lucky enough to get invited to play in this event where the flight/hotel and most of your food is paid for…also last place still gets a pay cheque, too! Now you’ll understand why I had to rearrange a few lessons this week, sorry, but not sorry!
It was too good an opportunity to miss, especially to keep myself competitive in the lead up to the second stage of the DP World Q School in early November.
So, landing in Istanbul I bumped into a fellow competitor, Mark Foster, a former DP World winner from Worksop. We had a car waiting for us and off we went, an hour’s drive into the city centre. By the time we’d got to the hotel and checked in, I headed out for a wander in the city centre to explore and grab some dinner. Dinner for one, watching the world go by!
The following day the players who had arrived headed up together to the course, approximately an hour’s drive out of the city.
The Beko Classic has been running for 26 years and it’s hosted by their owners, the Koch family.
The event has moved around over the years from all the courses in Belek to even Bodrum, but this year we’re at a new 9-hole course which the family built in memory of their son.
So it’s brand new, fairways and greens are great, it just needs a bit more time to bed in and see the rough and trees grow up!
The format for the week was three Ams and 1 Pro, you also changed your team each day, and it also runs a Pro individual score alongside the team event with a great prize fund!
It’s a really well known pro am so I was lucky to get a spot, as it’s attracted some great players over the years such as Bjorn, Daly, Howell and this year still has a strong field with some past tour winners as it’s only a 15-man field. (Roger Chapman, David Lynn, Steve Webster, Mark Foster, Maarten Lafeber).
So, practice day completed, and after the gala dinner it was lights out ready for round 1.
Round 1
Great weather, warm with a tricky swirling wind – it was going to be a fun test!
I played really solid, hit plenty of good shots but just didn’t capitalise on the par 5’s and actually bogied two of them which is frustrating!
But overall I was pretty happy, I rolled it great on the greens and for quite possibly the first time in my career I can say it feels like a strength in my game!
72 (level) T2nd.
Round 2
Oh man, it could have been a good one! I hit it really good, the driver was back to its best and feeling good but I just couldn’t buy a putt…
Again, I truly believe I’m rolling the line soooo well, just under borrowed a handful of putts which, when you’re adjusting to faster putts with more break than you’re used to, it’s a
challenge – I’m pretty good at staying patient but it was testing me!
Again, level par (72) and I maintained my position of T2nd.
So, back to the hotel which was an hour’s drive and maybe more in the city traffic. A quick shower and I headed out to meet Foster, Lynn and Simon Hurd for dinner and to watch the football.
It’s been an eye opener this week. I’ve had some amazing experiences playing golf, been to some incredible places, met some interesting people but when you sit down for dinner with these guys who have won on tour and mixed with the top golfers/celebs in the world, the stories from on and off the course are unbelievable, hilarious and at times just make you go ‘wow!’ – I’m afraid many of them I won’t be repeating, too!
Round 3, Final round
Could I push Billy Spooner (past champion) for the win…?
I sure wanted to, but my main goals with my own mental game are to stay present and I have a few drills I do on course to help with this.
It’s also been quite possibly the three slowest rounds of golf ever, averaging 6 hours each day, simply because there were 15 teams on a nine hole course and after every three holes there was a food, coffee or drink station to fuel up on – it dragged and you spent a lot of time sat around waiting!
This also gave you plenty of time waiting around to think ahead or dwell on those past bad shots – everything but staying present lol!
In round three I played great, kept up my good driver feelings and stayed patient on the greens – in the end I shot -2 and, bar a couple of silly errors, I was pretty pleased with my last round and to finish the tournament 3rd on my own.
It certainly made the trip worthwhile!!!
Again, I played with a great team and on asking one of them down the 10th if he’d ever played Crans Montana (Swiss) he replied no, “but I paid £150,000 to play Augusta with Woosnam and Sandy Lyle and also £150,000 to play with Tiger in the Turkish Airlines pro/am”. Wow!
So, some food at the club and then after the presentation we made the slow taxi ride back to the hotel with the clock ticking, as a few of us were rushing back to take advantage of the corporate box we’d been invited to at the Betikas match at 8pm.
We arrived 10 mins after kick off to sit down, as they then scored a screamer to go 1-0 up! I’ve never heard noise like it and for 90 mins, 40,000 people in a sell out stadium sang their hearts out!
It was an incredible experience, especially with a last minute penalty to take the win 2-1, the noise was deafening!
THANKS
So, a massive thanks to Beko, the Koch family and Simon Hurd for the invite, it’s been a pleasure to be involved in such an established event on the pro/am circuit and would love the opportunity to return next year!
Next up:
2020protour at Fixby and Slaley Hall – followed by the DP World Q School stage 2 in November.
+ My coaching diary is also back open from Wednesday as I look forward to helping many of you get the most out of your game, just as I’m trying to do with my coach Dan Konyk at Woodlands!
“Team work makes the dream work”
Good luck!
