After a long week in Scotland with the rain delays and then a 6 hour drive home that evening straight after play, it meant a pretty quick turnaround before Open Qualifying on Tuesday.
36 holes at Hillside in the heat was always going to be tough, so firstly thanks to Michael Appleyard for taking the time to come and caddy, and to all the friends and family who made the effort to come and watch – it really is appreciated.
“Veggie”, as he’s known, did a great job keeping me upbeat and he much improved on his last caddying job for me! He came to the European Tour event in Austria last year and once walked to totally the wrong tee and waited there for me – to the crowd’s amusement – as myself and the other players walked 70 yards past him to the correct tee! Ha ha! 
I played pretty solid in the morning and got it round in level par, that kept me in with a chance for the afternoon and I felt -5 may sneak a trip to St Andrews!
A three putt start got me on the back foot straight away and I soon fell out of contention… It’s a strange event in the sense that you’re not playing for money, and at some point you know/feel you can’t qualify.
So you’re playing for pride and perhaps get to try a few shots you normally wouldn’t.
. . . like smash driver down the last trying to carry the traps! Which I did! LOOONNNGG!
I carded 77 (+5) to finish and got straight home to pack for an early flight to Germany the following morning.
It was here where last year I posted my career best CT finish in Germany with a tied 3rd so I was going with happy memories but also starting to feel very tired.
I think the number of weeks on the road was starting to catch up with me more mentally than psychically, as the ups and downs in the crazy game can be so extreme.
And in round 1 I played shocking really… A handful of good shots but many compounded errors through poor focus led to a bogey train down the stretch and a very disappointing 77 (+6)
It seems most weeks I’m putting myself out of position in round 1 and leaving myself a lot of work to do, but I always try to fight back.
Maybe this week I had given myself too big a task…
I still did not play great in round 2, but managed my game better and my focus sure improved… “Aim small, miss small” and committing better to shots even when swinging bad makes your misses better…
I only made one bogey after a bobbly putt on 18 and then played the front nine (my back nine) in four under to finish the day with a 67 (-4) and some pride restored!
So a drive through the night back to Munich and an early flight home before a week off and finally time to recharge my batteries!
I can’t wait!!!!
My next blog will come from La Gomera in Tenerife where hopefully I can get back in the mix!