Italian Adventures

Back to action again this week after a short rest in Brussels following the Alfred Dunhill event! As a matter of fact I actually flew to the South of France this weekend in order to get some good pre-tournament practice in with my coach Jerome over at Vidauban GC. After those few days solid work and having finished up in Scotland with a Top 25, my game and confidence are feeling strong at the moment and I am actually really looking forward to getting out there and playing again!

We are in Italy this week at Olgiata GC which is just North of the Centre of Rome. It’s a beautiful place here which is getting compared quite a lot to Wentworth given that it is a Parkland Course that is also quite intensely tree lined. There is probably less risk of being caught in a nasty situation in these trees here but the fairways are still pretty narrow so it’s definitely preferable to avoid the rough where possible! The greens are also quite small and undulating which means that this week will be a true test from tee to green, making both length and accuracy therefore very important!

Think we are unlikely to see any extremely low scores out here though since there are some testy long par 3’s & 4’s with only a few par 5’s to take advantage of.

Couldn’t really ask for better weather here in Rome either! I know it has been pretty horrible rain back in Brussels for a while now so the light winds, warm temperatures and sunshine will be very welcomed here this week!!

It's the last Rolex Series event before the Final stretch now so definitely hoping for a good result here in Rome to secure another good push up the rankings! Practice is all complete and looking forward to getting going early at 7.40am tomorrow!

Dunhill Days

Very happy to have arrived back for the European Tour’s annual visit to the Home of Golf this week! The Old Course at St Andrews needs no introduction given that it’s drenched in golf tradition…this place is truly like no other! As a matter of fact, I took an earlier flight to arrive in Edinburgh this week after a frustrating weekend spent wishing I was playing two more rounds at Wentworth. Unfortunately it wasn’t my week in Surrey last week even though I was playing some really great golf. I’m working hard to improve my patience on the course at the moment though since its so easy to throw away shots in frustration when things don’t go your way.

That actually leads us nicely into this week since temperament is always a significant factor when we play this event. This is because each round will take close to 6 hours! For those of you who don’t already know, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship takes on a slightly different format to the other regular events. To start with, each professional is paired up with an amateur golfer and we play as partners across three courses for the first three days (St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns). The final round is hosted at the Old Course at St Andrews again and is reduced back to a field of just professionals which means that the pin positions tend to get a little tricker again too!

Although its not a Rolex Series event, there is still a significant prize fund this week and 13 of the World’s Top 50 are in action which means there are significant ranking points to be won at this crucial time as we start approaching the season end.

The weather forecast is looking pretty bleak for the entire week over here unfortunately! Intermittent rain is expected every day and winds of up to 10 - 15 mph will be setting in too! As you can imagine, a lot of the scoring is going to depend on the strength of the breeze. Traditionally Carnoustie plays a little tougher than the other two courses since it doesn’t have such wide fairways and open greens which means it’s always great to get allocated there on the day with the calmest weather conditions!

Three full days of solid preparation complete and now officially ready to get started! I will play the Old Course at St Andrews tomorrow, Carnoustie on Friday and finally Kingsbarns on Saturday morning. Ready to get out there and start making some birdies now!

Return of the Rolex Series!

As you will have seen, it was not the best result over in Amsterdam at the KLM Open last week but nonetheless, some really positive things to take away since I was driving the ball exceptionally well throughout the entire tournament!
Onto this week though and the test becomes slightly more challenging with the BMW PGA Championship being a Rolex Series event! Not only that, but due to its position slightly later on the schedule this year, it is definitely the strongest European Tour field there has been in a while! As a matter of fact, 20 of the Top 50 players in the World will be teeing it up at Wentworth Golf Course this week!

There is always something slightly more magical about turning up at a tournament when the venue is a permanent fixture and Wentworth Golf Club is a truly spectacular place. As you may already know, this famous Surrey Golf Club is a Parkland course which means a heavily tree lined track. Accuracy is more integral than power when you play here which means it will always be the most challenging in adverse weather conditions.

Fortunately for us this week there is a pretty favourable forecast on the cards which should allow some solid scoring opportunities! Moreover, there has been quite a bit of warm weather around these parts recently which means the course should be playing pretty firm. We only have light winds forecast across the four days and Sunday is the only day that looks like it might bring in a bit of rain…but otherwise - only sunshine in Surrey this week!

Furthermore it has been a great week over here in England already since I had the chance to spend some time with Rolex as well as Hugo Boss over the past two days who are heavily involved in this tournament. Also really great to have both my coaches Jerome & Michel on site with me as well as Fabien to keep the fitness side of things in check too!

Last but not least, it is interesting to note that this tournament this week represents the start of the 2020 Ryder Cup Qualification process now! Definitely adds an extra level of excitement to play well too!
Really looking forward to getting this week start now. Tee off at 2pm today alongside Lee Slattery and David Lipsky. Let’s get some good vibes going!

A Change in Climate!

This week the European Tour returns to the Alps in Switzerland for one of my favourite events of the season! The Omega European Masters.
I find everything about this place truly incredible to be honest. Pretty much all the players stay locally this week, so every morning we are waking up to the most amazing views of the mountains. The scenery is equally as enjoyable when you’re walking each hole of the golf course too! 
You might also remember that this is the week when everybody starts talking about altitude again. As a matter of fact, this course is one of the shortest we play all year...but, since the ball flight up here carries approximately 5% longer than normal...it makes the course play even shorter! 
In addition to that challenge, we are working with tree lined and dynamically designed fairways as well as exceptionally small greens which can be pretty tough to find.  This will obviously put a little extra pressure on our iron shots and short game in general.
The weather forecast is looking quite mixed this week. Fortunately it seems like there is not a lot of wind around but there will definitely be some rain clouds and potential thunderstorms over the next few days. However, it does look like there might be some sunshine waiting for us at the weekend though! 
Really looking forward to getting this week started now! I'm very lucky to have a lot of family and friends who have made the long journey up to come and show their support. It's also pretty cool to have the FedEx Champion Rory Mcilory in town too! 
Off at 2pm this afternoon alongside my good friend Alex Levy and Benjamin Hebert! Time to start making some birdies!

Making World Records!

As you will have noticed, it's been quite quiet on the European Tour over the past few weeks since the schedule naturally encouraged us all to take a bit of time off. It was pretty cool to break up the summer silence by winning a Guinness World Record though!

A couple of weeks ago, during the most recent tournament in Spain, myself, Paul Dunne, Guido Migliozzi and Sean Crocker all took on the individual challenge of completing the 'Fastest Hole in Golf' at Real Club de Golf Guadalmina (where the previous record of 93.37 seconds was already set!). We made some great memories and had a lot of fun out there battling against each other...but I've got to admit I was very happy to be crowned the eventual Champion and set the new World Record of 89.62 seconds!

You can watch the video in full on the European Tour website here! 

Furthermore - to give you a quick update... I just returned from a great training trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I spent some quality time practicing at Corales Golf Club as well as doing some solid fitness and strength work. 

I decided not to play the Czech Masters this week in order to balance my schedule well over the next few months since there are so many good tournaments ahead. Instead I will spend a few days in Southern France with my coach Jérôme, doing some fine tuning before we get back into action at the Scandinavian Invitation in a week's time! 

...further updates to follow!

Halfway Update!

Have to admit that I am running a little low on energy since this is my fourth event in a row...but, as you can imagine, still really happy to make another cut and also with how I have played these past two days here in Scotland!

We have actually managed to completely avoid most of the horrible weather that was predicted for the tournament so far and its great to see so many fans out there - Renaissance GC has definitely done a great job getting the whole course set up for a Rolex Series event!

Almost unbelievable that the leaders are sitting on -14 after only two days! But we have 36 more holes to go and I feel like my putting is in great shape right now so hopefully still a lot of birdie opportunities to come! Looking forward to one final push to climb up that leaderboard this weekend! 

Summer Showers in Scotland

Really happy to have finished inside the Top 25 last week in Ireland and especially to have closed things up on Sunday with a 66!...my lowest round of the week. Moreover, Lahinch GC definitely did not fail to disappoint and it was really enjoyable to mark another solid week in the books in such a brilliant environment with some of my team as well as family & friends.

As a matter of fact, I flew directly to London following last week's tournament since I was very lucky to have been invited to play in this year's Queenwood Cup. The event itself is just a small Pro-Am, however it's difficult to put into words how spectacular that little spot in Surrey is and the hospitality and guests were truly fantastic...so it was a real honour to be invited to participate!

Moving onto Scotland and it's almost unbelievable how many great courses are surrounding us in this area. Our home this week is Renaissance GC - bordered directly by Archerfield Links and Muirfield on either side. Both Gullane and North Berwick Golf Courses are only a few kilometers away too.

It's a fantastic set up this week with spectacular views form the Clubhouse/Players Lounge. Furthermore, I actually stayed in one of the beautifully designed hotel rooms here at Renaissance during last year's Scottish Open held at Gullane GC.

Since this is my fourth week in a row and I was not down to play in the Pro Am, I decided to play only 9 holes yesterday in order to conserve energy. I walked the remainder of the course this afternoon though to get a good look. The course here was actually only opened in 2008 and is based within an old pine forest rather than your traditional Links track. It definitely has a similar Links feel though with intense bunkering and thick rough throughout. The greens are large and quite undulating which should a little extra pressure on the approach shots. There are three holes along the coast line that have recently been re-designed and offer some very enjoyable views too!

Weather update this week and it's hard to remember the last time we saw as much rain as we did yesterday! The forecast remains damp for the first two days with some thunderstorms threatening too...but fortunately set to improve for the weekend and hardly any wind either! (Although, as you know with coastal golf...this can often change!).

It's the last Rolex event until September now...but also the final chance to qualify for the Open Championship at Portrush next week! It's a strong field here in Scotland ahead of the Major Championship but still going to try and give it my best shot!

Finished up some great practice and preparations and now balancing it with some chilled time with the rest of Team Belgium! Last but not least, Lance from Excel Sports has travelled all the way over from NY for this event so great to catch up with him too!

Off at 13.20pm tomorrow and fully ready to get going now!

Luck of the Irish

Pretty happy to walk away with an 8th place finish last week in Spain! Felt great being back in contention again and to be honest, the whole Valderrama surroundings, hospitality and course were organised so well that it was genuinely a really enjoyable event to play in...also always grateful to have my friends and family out there with me to keep the positive energy going as well!

I actually decided to spend an extra day relaxing in Sotogrande after the tournament finished since I will be playing four events in a row and thought it would be a good idea to factor in some down time between the two. With that in mind, I arrived very early Tuesday AM into Shannon airport for this weeks DDF Irish Open. The event marks the start of the Links Season for us out on Tour...but it's also the return of the Rolex Series events - the last one being all the way back in January!

On arrival at the Golf Course, I was quickly told that Lahinch is actually referred to as the 'St Andrews of Ireland'. Having walked a few times around the course already, it's not hard to see those similarities. To give you some insight, the wide fairways here are lined with thick rough (knee high in some parts) and the entire course is scattered with sneaky blind spots and solid bunkering. It's a relatively short course by Tour standards though and the greens will be playing fast too. As usual with Links Courses, the biggest influence for us is going to be the wind since the layout is very exposed along the coast. The scenery around this area is definitely an extra bonus and its always entertaining to see goats roaming the fairways too!

Furthermore and most significantly, the forecast is looking good for us this week! Obviously a lot cooler temperatures than in Spain but we have four days of projected sunshine with only light-to-moderate winds being predicted.

Always a great spectator turn out here in Ireland so looking forward to seeing all the fans out there this week! As a matter of fact, even a couple of Bank Delen supporters have found their way up to come and watch me and TP play too! Off at 11.20am tomorrow and officially ready for my next Links Challenge!

Spanish Summer

Obviously a little disappointed to have marked the season with my first missed cut last week in Germany! You might have seen that I took a bit of a beating out on the 17^th hole on Thursday afternoon...however it's difficult to feel too negative or disappointed since I actually played some really great golf out there in Munich too. Unfortunately posting a four under par second round was still one shot short of what I needed so I spent the weekend back home in Brussels recharging the batteries and prepping for the next set of big events that face us!

Moving onto Spain this week and if you are a golf fan then you will already know that Valderrama is definitely one of the toughest tracks on the European circuit! Usually this tournament features a little later on the schedule so there are some significant difference to the course - most noticeably, the rough around the greens which has become a little trickier to navigate. The greens out here are definitely some of the smallest we play on tour and to be honest, even though there are a couple of par 5's out there offering birdie chances, the rest of the course is truly a survival challenge!

Small equipment update since I have decided to add an extra 1/2 inch to my irons this week. It's been almost 6 years since I made any changes to these clubs but physically I have grown quite a lot over the past year so felt like it was a good time to make a small adaptation.

Frustrating start to the tournament yesterday since I was actually playing great from tee to green...just really struggled to hole any putts. Followed that up with a really solid round of -3 this morning though which is enough secure my spot playing this weekend in the Spanish sunshine!

NB - In case you didn't know, there is a small extra incentive to play well over these next three weeks as there are 3 spots available at each of the tournaments to qualify into the Open Championship at Portrush GC. As some of you might remember, I needed to finish 30th on the Race to Dubai last season to automatically earn a spot in the event but unfortunately narrowly came 31^st! Needless to say I am very eager to play in my first Major tournament now so definitely a good target to aim for!