Trophée Hassan II – career best finish!!

Well, it was back on the European Tour last week in Morocco for the Trophée Hassan 2 … Sure you will agree it has quite a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?!

Flashing back 6 months I’m not sure when I thought I would be saying the above, if ever… So to finally get the opportunity to play a season on the European Tour is amazing!

It’s a feeling that only fuels the fire greater to want to stay on there and say one day I am a European Tour winner.

After a fun week in Madrid (T4th) the week before, where I felt my preparation was really good, it was time to do it all over again, with some slight changes as the course would certainly play different in Morocco.

When playing on the European Tour you soon notice the difference in the hospitality and the corporate side of things … and last week the bar was raised yet again, especially with security!

With it being the King’s event, there were guards and police everywhere, the shuttle buses were escorted through traffic back and forth from the course … And on arrival a group of us stood at the entrance with golf clubs and cases (looking very ‘golfey’) and were told we could not enter without the correct credentials!

You’d think Gary Shuttleworth of Kings Security was running the show!! It was safe!!!

The Ladies’ European Tour were also hosting their event at the same resort, it’s a 36 hole complex, and both events took place over Thursday to Sunday! So hopefully some good crowds would turn up to support both events.

Luckily for me and Steve there was a 1pm flight Monday from Madrid to Rabat in Morocco, so that gave us the opportunity to get in some afternoon practice on Monday.

On landing, we headed straight to the course, got showered and changed and did a few hours of short game practice … As I mentioned, there would be some difference in prep, and straight away the difference in the grass was very noticeable and for me personally made a big difference when chipping!!

Some photos from the week below – click to enlarge

Tuesday was my chance to play the course and what a brute it was!

Driver, driver, driver… There are not too many choices off the tee unless you want to be hitting 3 irons into small greens!

It’s long (7,700 yards), the rough is thick in places, so there really was a big reward for finding fairways!!

Again Wednesday was practice only for me due to a large pro-am, but to have my coach Mark Pearson fly out for a few days meant it was more productive than ever.

As Mark always says, your development time at events is limited as a lot of it is just fine tuning and maintenance work, so to have his watchful and honest eye there really does help my preparation!

Round 1:

9.20am, last out of the morning groups and the forecast was looking wet! Thankfully we got lucky and just a strong breeze picked up to make it even more challenging!

After a slow start on the greens I really tried to stay patient and from then on I had my best round on the greens for quite some time!

Anyone who understands ‘strokes gained’ would know that me recording +2.8 in putting today is a pretty high tariff of putting! I was delighted, it kept me in the game.

Round 2, I was last out at 2.10pm, again a pretty tricky wind so a good chance the cut was going to go nearer +3 (it fell at +4 in the end).

I missed a great chance on the 1st, so to then chip in on the 2nd soon made up for it! I played solid, did not hit it too close but never really in trouble!

We then had an interesting one down 3 though … After deliberating over a 7 or 8 iron for some time, the decision fell on the 7 … So to reach in the bag and not find it was surprising to say the least!

So I hit hard 8, made par and off we went … Luckily I didn’t need it over the next few holes, and down the 5th I asked a ref if anyone had handed one in …

He replied “yes a Taylormade one was left on the range last night”.

Oops, that will be mine then, and I thankfully got the club back off the referee on the 7th fairway!!

I’ve not pulled Steve’s leg about that one much … But I’m not sure who doesn’t know about our little error!! The world of Twitter sure found out … Ha ha!!

I finally got my reward for being patient again by birdieing 12, the par 5.

I then made my only bogey down the next after a massive flyer from the rough and just hung in for the rest of the round making a great par save on 16 and 17!!

So 71 (-1) and I moved up the board to T17th which was a great position for the weekend!!!!

Round 3, “moving day” as they call it! And for me it was moving day!

I shot the joint round of the day (67 -5) and equalled the course record to move to the top of the pile on -6!

It was again a very tricky wind, but I managed my game well, stayed very patient and really enjoyed the whole day!

Playing with Clément Berardo helped too, he shot 68 and we just seemed to bounce off each other shot for shot!

That sure helps, as the guys I played with in round 1 and 2 finished last on +20 and +18! There was definitely no ‘bouncing’ between us in those rounds!

I did some light practice afterwards just to cool down, some smooth 80 yard pitches, keeping the good swing feelings going and just relaxing!

Then it was back to the accommodation with fellow professional and Huddersfield golfer Nick Marsh.

Thanks to everyone for sending me the photos below after completing round 3 – amazing support!!

Round 4: 

So a new experience for me and one I really felt ready for; I slept pretty good which I did not expect … Normally play bad I sleep bad … Play good I sleep worse!

But my phone was going mad, and I embraced it this time! In the past it’s been overwhelming but this felt different.

All day Sunday I felt relaxed, I enjoy the challenge of wind, but rain normally sets me back! But some good chats with Mark Baber, and all I said was I was going to smile all day in the face of adversity!

Focus on each shot in front of me, one at a time and then accept the result!

Hopefully that’s what came across all day apart from the foul language down 6 which someone managed to lip read! Sorry about that one!

I played pretty solid all day, made a great chip in birdie on 6 and felt very comfortable!

A decent drive down 8 even though it found the right rough, then a nice little squeezed cut 6 iron under the tree was perfect, a great swing rehearsal but the execution climbed an extra yard and hit the only branch to hurt me … In the end I compounded the error and made double!

But some decent golf from then on, a bogey down the hardest hole (11th) but after a great drive down 12 I capitalised and made birdie!

I stayed aggressive down 15, found the fairway trap and a poor approach down there and 16 led to two bogeys! A real shame as I was still in with a shout at that point, but I smiled it off!

On 17 I hit a great 5 iron to about 12 feet, just missing another chance, overall it was a very quiet day on the greens!

But the 18th was always a chance, but it needed two good hits … I smoked driver up the right side, the only way you could attack the green, but it still needed a 20 yard draw from 260 yards to find the green.

Me and Steve, as we did all week, talked through the shot and both came to the same decision, rescue, ripped, turn it off the trap and try find the front edge of the green…

For those watching, that’s the exact shot I played, and a two putt birdie from there set me up for a T5th finish and a career high finish on the main tour by 34 places!!

Overall an amazing week, sleeping on the lead after 54 holes, the media attention, the Twitter and Facebook madness, a tied course record (67) and to go out and play what felt like decent golf and really feel at home was something I’ve worked very hard for.

So far, a really good two weeks for me finishing T4th and T5th and now we move onto Mauritius for the next event.

With the added bonus that the players finishing top 10 got upgraded to business class on the European Tour charter flight to Gatwick at 3.35am, I was hopeful I would get some sleep!!!

It only now leaves me again to thank everyone for making this possible! You all know who you are, and to everyone for the kind messages and well wishes, it really does mean a lot!

I really have the belief I can win some of these events!!!

Please keep following and reading as the journey is going to be fun!!

Chris

And the last bit of interesting/fun but pretty pointless news is…. I’ve now past Tiger Woods in the golf world rankings haha!! (click to enlarge)