Weekend Golf at The French Open!

Tour Diary

I knew my game was slowly getting better, but it can be a fine line between playing well and scoring well!

Maybe a bit of confidence is the only difference…

But finding that can be tough; it would be nice if you could just buy it by the bucket load! I’ve worked hard over this period of missed cuts so the frustrations have been high when it’s been feeling closer and closer, but I’ve stuck to my plan!

Again, last week my preparation was first class, I feel it always is, that’s something my team and I pride ourselves on, we give it 100%.

I had Mark’s (Coach) watchful eye there too, which always helps.

 

This run of three events on the Tour is huge, the prize funds The Rolex Series offer are staggering, so it’s an amazing opportunity to boost your OOM standings!

The course at Le Golf National is out of this world, could well be the toughest all year, but it’s 100% the fairest!

It’s also hosting the Ryder Cup in 2018 and for every possible reason it will be an incredible venue!!!!

Every hole has its own amphitheatre feel to it, and there are so many risk and reward holes which for matchplay will be very entertaining!

I really do love this place, and enjoy the challenge it presents, even if you do want to pull your hair out coming down the last few holes when the wind is up!!! It’s tough!!

I played nicely for the first two rounds, but a few slips of concentration cost me!!

In round one I shot 72 (+1) but, as I’ve said, I knew my game was in a good place…day two we were nearly last out off the 10th, and I got off to a lovely start – birdies on 11 and 12.

I then made a nice birdie down 15!

Again, a few mistakes coming home, but a good couple of up and downs on 7 and 8 kept me inside the cut line!

I had one hole to go to get the ‘cut monkey’ off my back…a decent drive, a crap lay up, I then hacked it towards the green to see it plug in the face of the trap…

Once I saw where the ball actually was I didn’t think I could get it out… it was ‘hit and hope’ and thankfully with some brute force it came out, went forwards and left me a two putt from 18ft to make the cut safely in the end!!!!

I’m not going to lie, there was a sense of relief!!!

So, weekend golf, and a pay day of some sort to look forward to…and maybe a little less piss taking from a few mates who claim they play more weekend golf than I do!! Ha-ha, Ben!!

With the depth of the prize fund it meant that a weekend move up the leaderboard would be very fruitful…so Saturday’s plan was to climb as much as possible!

 

The weather was shocking – it wasn’t the worst weather I have played in but combined with the strength of the course it could well have been one of the toughest days on a golf course in a long time.

So to start the way I did and then finish the way I did was a sickener!

Four under through 8 holes I hadn’t missed a shot, I was flying and already extremely wet through!

The rain was in and out and at times unplayable, I then stood on the 15th tee and really didn’t know what to do…

It was coming down sideways, and it had got cold with the wind too!

The round got away from me there with a visit to the water, double bogey, bogey, par, triple bogey to fall back to plus four for the round, and then even a warm lunch didn’t make me feel any better!

Round 4 was a fresh start and another chance to try climb up the board…’points mean prizes’ and every penny could make the difference come the end of the year.

I played lovely, couldn’t buy a putt, and in the end shot 73 (+2) but there was so much to take from this round and it left me extremely excited with what’s around the corner, whichever corner that may be!!

 

On to Ireland we go!

A huge thank you this last week has to go to Steve (Caddy) for his efforts. I think he magically creates an extra two arms when it rains, as the demand I put on him when it’s wet is massive and he deals with it fantastically well!

Also for the support I had this week from Cathy and Jim Baxter and Steve and Sheila Selbie (Selbie Opticians) for cheering us along from the sidelines and entertaining us on an evening!

Amazing support and great to have them with us for the week!

Massive thanks!!

Last modified: June 3, 2019