Another late call, but one I was half expecting after watching my name on the entry list slowly creep down.
And it really was a week I wanted to play, back out to Galgorm Castle near Belfast where in 2011 I won on the Europro Tour shooting -7 in the last round to get into a playoff. Over all the years of playing Europro, that event was the best of them all: loads of spectators, marquees, hospitality and a guest appearance from GMac!
Tuesday 27th…
Now I have just got out to Galgorm for the second time and they have pulled out all the stops again, they are expecting thousands of spectators and have even put up grandstands on 7, and the 18th alongside the hospitality tent.
The Irish really do love their golf!!
– here I hit my best approach shot ever, in the Europro playoff (2011)
I’ve had a few weeks to practise since Norway and they have been very productive weeks, after seeing Mark my coach I knew where my swing was slightly off and what feeling in my swing I had to create to get the results. I then just had to take it to the course. So following my lesson with Mark I met up with Duncan from Ignite Sports to put it to the test on the back 9 at Moortown.
We did some good work and it was great to play on Tuesday on the 1836 Tour to test it in competition. I shot -2 to finish 2nd which was nice and then, with Steve my caddy, set off on the drive to Stranraer to get the crossing to Belfast.
Geoff Newton from Crosland Heath caddied for me, thanks Geoff, great job!!
Back to Galgorm…
After a good day’s practice on the Wednesday before the tournament, I managed to sneak in some games from my #effectivepracticebetterscores book and set some personal bests!
This really is a great book for anyone wanting to improve their practice…
Check it out at www.craigleagolf.com
Over the two rounds I played it really was an up and down roller coaster! AGAIN!
I played some good stuff but I really think the semi rough was as thick as I have seen it all year and with my driving still slightly off I got punished for it! Any other golf course this year and I feel I would have made that cut comfortably and competed too.
So after a battling 2nd round and finishing birdie, eagle! I missed the cuts by only 2 shots.
So an early bath and the sad drive back home after missing the cut. But I can see light at the end of the tunnel and I’m looking forward to getting straight back out there after some more practice.
Bring on Kazakhstan!!!!
A big thank you must go to David Murray who put Steve up for the week in Ireland! David took the photo at the top of the blog page when I actually won at Galgorm in 2011!
Whilst back home from Ireland I was lucky enough to get an invite from former European Tour winner Andrew Murray to play his charity pro-am at Lymm! And what a great day that was, a very well run event that raised a lot for the chosen charities!
Thanks to Martin and his team for making me feel so welcome, it was great to see the team win too! By SIX shots!! Wow!
Speak to you all again after The Challenge Tour major in Kazakhstan.
Regards
Chris