It’s nice to be back! The fact I am writing this column once again means that you are all able to get on the golf course, which is great news. I find it baffling that golf has been shut down for so long, but that discussion is for another time. I hope you are all enjoying finally being out there again.
This is the first column I have done for a while, so I thought I would catch you all up on how my season has gone so far. I suppose ‘mixed bag’ would be a good phrase. I have made three cuts from six events. This isn’t a great ratio, but the good news is that I started the season with a tied-7th finish in Abu Dhabi, which is a Rolex Series event and carries huge points! My performances in the bigger events haven’t been as good as I would have liked over the last few years so it was brilliant to start the season so well in such an important tournament. The Rolex Series events are even more crucial this season since there are fewer of them.
Following Abu Dhabi, I missed the cut in Dubai but then followed that with a decent T-21st in Saudi Arabia. A huge part of professional golf is playing well at the right time. Having my strongest week out of those three events in Abu Dhabi made an enormous difference in the amount of points I earned overall. After a short break, I played three more events. The first in Qatar then two in a row in Kenya. I played some excellent golf in Qatar, having an outside chance to win at one point and finishing T-7th. The following weeks in Kenya were poor. I just couldn’t get to grips with the course and altitude, although I did have my 8th hole in 1 on day two!
Since then, I have been at home with my girls in Orlando. As I am writing this I am supposed to be playing in Gran Canaria, but we all contracted COVID recently and I am completing my final day of isolation. We all had very mild symptoms and fully recovered after a few days. I am now vaccinated and also have the antibodies, so I should be good to go for the remainder of the season. I did decide to give myself an extra week of practice to prepare for the upcoming tournaments; therefore I am also missing Tenerife next week. The plan is to play the second event in Tenerife followed by the British Masters, the Made in Denmark, and finally the European Open in Germany.
My life and golf feel in a good place at the moment. The girls are doing great, and I have had a lot of time off to spend with them this year. I haven’t been able to see any of my team for a long time now. We are all in contact, but I have been forced to take ownership of things more than ever before. I have found that it has led to me keeping things more simple, and making sure I do those things really well. There is a lot to be said for this. Depth of knowledge, understanding, and confidence is better than breadth when it comes to golf. If you can do certain things extremely well, rather than a lot of things average, you’ll shoot better scores.
