This last month has once again boasted lots of golf and I have a lot to report back on! End of August I competed in what is often considered as the highlight of Swiss professional golf – the Omega European Masters on the DP World Tour. I was fortunate enough to play a practice round with current Ryder Cup player Robert MacIntyre, from whom I could learn some valuable insights on tournament preparation and approach to the game. I did unfortunately battle a cold for the duration of the tournament but still enjoyed waking up early to tee off in front of the Swiss crowds in the beautiful setting of Crans-Montana. As mentioned in my previous post, I had been working on my driving and looked to show my progress. I did indeed hit my Driver well on the big stage and was happy with the developments. Unfortunately, over the first two days my approach play wasn’t quite as stellar as usual but especially my putting was off. I struggled with speed and reading the greens which led to a change for the next tournament. With rounds of 74, 71 I had to end the tournament early, but once again cherished the opportunity to compete on the DP World Tour.
In between tournaments I took a short trip to the PING headquarters in Gainsborough, England to sort out some new equipment. PING has been very good to me and I thank them for their support. I am proud to announce that I will be sporting PING clothing as well next season.
Next up was the DP World Tour Qualifying School first stage at Golfclub Schloss Ebreichsdorf in Austria. The unique format saw 118 players tee it up with 22 and advancing to the Second Stage. I started out with a splendid 66, during which I made few mistakes. The second round was slightly less ideal with a 73, however it taught me a lot about my putting to which I made a few changes and followed it up with a 65! The final day presented more wind, and my ball striking wasn’t quite as good but my mindset and putting was really very good which kept me under par with a 71. This allowed me to finish in 10th position and qualify for the second stage! The job for the week was done. The biggest differentiator to previous tournaments was something I found in mindset and in my putting. To summarize, I included a lot more intuition in my outing routine and took pride in walking over the golf course with shoulders back and head up regardless of outcome. I keep a collection of these good thoughts and feelings in a journal in order for me to be able to look back at them anytime I need to.
I only had one day at home before heading to Golf St Apollinaire for the Swiss Challenge. High rough and a long course awaited us for the week. I played the ProAm on the Wednesday with the SwissGolf Chairman Performance Sport Committee, Thomas Busin, Marcel Meier and Gilbert Vollmer. We had a fun day before the tournament got underway on Thursday morning. I shot a solid 71 in the first round with an unfortunate triple bogey on the 17th. I didn’t let this bother me though and I avoided that mistake in the next two rounds where I shot back-to-back 68s! This placed me in 12th position after three rounds and well in the hunt. I finished with a 74 and in 25th spot which was my best finish to date on the Challenge Tour and my first paycheck! I was also honoured as the best Swiss player of the championship, along with Beni Rusch. I am very happy with how my game has progressed over the last month and look forward to the upcoming events and “Sport-RS”.
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