The Desert Days Continue...

After finishing up a slightly frustrating weekend in Dubai, it’s now time to play in the final tournament of the Desert Swing which comes to a close in Saudi Arabia this week! It’s the inaugural edition of this Saudi International event and although it’s addition to the schedule has been accompanied with a fair amount of political discussion, we are nonetheless all very grateful to the European Tour for providing us with yet another new playing opportunity.

The Royal Greens Golf Club is a coastal track with multiple water hazards lining the fairways. As a matter of fact, the layout is quite similar to the event we play next month in Oman since there are stunningly beautiful views from some of the holes along the coast but also, if the wind blows, we will be faced with some truly testing conditions! Also worth noting that it’s a relatively short par 70 course out here, however, the significantly large greens means that if I can get the putter hot, there are a lot of birdies to be made!

In stark comparison to back home (and Chicago!) right now...the weather forecast over here in Jeddah is looking nice and warm for the whole week! Temperatures are set to reach 30 degrees over the weekend with only a little wind projected to pick up each afternoon.

Furthermore, should be some tough competition with 4 of the World’s Top 5 players in the field this week! Great to catch up with my agent Mark Steinberg from Excel Sports as well who has travelled all the way from New York for this event!

Look forward to having one more chance to climb up the rankings over here in the desert before heading home for a much needed rest next week. Updates to follow!

Time to deliver in the Desert!

The Middle East Swing continues in Dubai after a successful event in Abu Dhabi last week. Starting the year off with a Rolex Series event is not the easiest, but nonetheless, am really happy with a cut made and a lot of positives to take out of my play. As a matter of fact, my overall game felt better day after day and I couldn't be happier to be back in that tournament mode again. I have truly missed the thrill of competition since the World Cup and that little bit of adrenaline that it always generates!

Took advantage of an early Saturday finish last week in Abu Dhabi and scheduled some fun filming/photoshoots with Callaway, Hugo Boss, Bank Delen and the Belgian Knockout over these past few days. Always enjoyable to catch up with the guys early in the season and look forward to you all seeing the new content we created over the course of 2019!

On that note, the Dubai Desert Classic is starting today and what an event it is! The course condition right now is pure perfection. The organisation, as usual, has been brilliant and the vibe around the course is constantly positive! Moreover, it is quite majestic to spend time at the Emirates Golf Course with the beautiful Majilis clubhouse and incredible infrastructures surrounded by the scenic Dubai skyline in the background. 

As always, I am expecting some low scoring out here this week. The course isn't overly long which makes pretty much every par 5 reachable combined with greens in optimal conditions. No excuse not to make a lot of birdies today!

Off at 12.40pm alongside recent Ryder Cup Vice Captain Robert Karlsson and winner of the 2018 Hong Kong Open, Aaron Rai!

New Year, New Start. Let The Adventures Begin!

Well, what can I say, it feels pretty great to be back writing the first post of 2019 and the new European Tour season!

To be honest, it’s almost a bit sad to go back to the drawing board and start with a completely clean slate after the buzz of such a brilliant finish to last year...but, nonetheless, I couldn’t be more excited to get back to business and just take some confidence from the experience of that World Cup victory!

To bring you up to date, it has been an intense start to the year already. Myself, Nico and the full team headed over to Dubai early last week to get some solid pre-season training in. Pieters joined the crew a little later and over the course of the week we were shown some amazing hospitality by the local courses including Els Club, Trump and Jumeriah. We couldn't have asked for better practice facilities or conditions and it's been a brilliant way for us to get refocussed after the Winter break and prepare for the first stretch of this Desert Swing. Furthermore, it was also a lot of fun to have my strength and swing coaches (Richard and Michel Vanmeerbeek) out here to do some great little post-training workouts together at The Warehouse gym!

Moving onto this week and we are all getting ready to play in the 14th edition of the Abu Dhabi Championship! Not only is the tournament a Wednesday start this time round but the event is now part of the Rolex Series which means a considerable amount of Race to Dubai points are on offer early doors!

You might already remember but I recorded a Top 10 finish at the last edition of this event including a nice little round of 64 on 'Moving Day'! It's a low scoring course with tight fairways and strategically placed bunkers to make things tricky so the usual combination of accuracy off the tee as well as some solid putting will definitely be key to posting a good score.

We are set to enjoy some traditional warm and sunny conditions over here on Wednesday/Thursday but the wind is predicted to pick up over the weekend. Going to try hard to avoid that having any consequences on my scorecard though!

Great vibes all round this week! Always enjoy having my coach Jerome and trainer Fabien on site during a tournament and as a matter of fact, I was lucky enough to receive a fresh delivery of Hugo Boss clothing to my hotel room on Monday AM! Can officially start the season looking as fresh as we all feel! 

Off at 1.25pm local time tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a fast start!!

Another Chapter Closes!

To be truthful, it is pretty hard to put into words quite how incredible last week was...and to experience the entire thing representing your Country with one of your best friends by your side...you can't beat it! What an unbelievable tournament the World Cup was and a perfect way to close out a fantastic 2018 season. Moreover, I am really happy to have finally put my first European Tour victory down in the books as well as making some unforgettable life memories in Australia!

It was very special to land back into Brussels airport yesterday evening to a group of dedicated Belgian fans and family too! Golf still isn't considered a huge sport in this country but it was an amazing feeling to be reminded of how much support we do have back here as well as the opportunity to inspire people too.

Before I sign off for Christmas, I just wanted to take a quick bit of time to say thank you to everyone involved in making the 2018 Team Detry so strong!

Firstly to all my sponsors who go above and beyond the required level of effort to support me on and off the golf course.

To both Bank Delen and Rolex, I am acutely aware of how lucky I am to have such good personal connections with each of you. Thank you for making the occasions that we meet so enjoyable. I am very grateful for your continual support!

To Patrick and the team at Hugo Boss, thank you for producing and delivering more first class golf clothing than it's possible to imagine actually exists...or to fit in my wardrobe!

Thanks to GFore for creating products that result in me receiving more compliments on the course about my gloves and shoes than I have had on my actual swing this season!

Also, a special mention to Alexis Mannès, a dear friend of the family and Mercedes Official dealer. Not sure if I could get a smoother ride driving one of his amazing cars. 

To Callaway, thanks for being so knowledgable, available and reliable every week of the year. I am very proud to be a part of the best team in the business!

Thanks to Mark, Lance and Macca from Excel Sports as well as Vincent Borremans for the constant guidance and management that has helped guide me so quickly from where I started to the point I have reached today.

To Fabien and Richard (my strength coaches) - thank you guys for working so seamlessly together to help me get after all my inappropriately demanding targets! Also to my coaches Michel and Jerome Theunis for the consistent instruction and confidence you are always on hand to give me, at all those crucial times.

To Ryan, my caddy, thank you for weathering every week by my side. Bring on next season and let's make it even bigger than this one!

Special thanks to Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Pieters too. Who knows what will happen in the next few years but I am 100% convinced these European Tour adventures wouldn't be the same without them!

Last but not least, thanks to my Mom, Dad and all my friends and family in Brussels. For all your unspoken support and for giving me a home that makes me feel so happy to come back to each time there is a break in my schedule! Also to Sarah, who’s working hard in the shadow to always make my life a little bit easier. And furthermore, my Illini family and Coach Small who I owe pretty much everything!

Now for some much needed rest and time off! I am not sure yet what the next month will consist of but I do know that it will involve celebrating an incredible year. Thanks to all my blog readers and fans out there for experiencing everything alongside me! Happy Christmas to all of you too!....Can't wait to get next season started already!

Belgian Battle!

Well, fair to say that the weather conditions out here yesterday were unbelievably brutal! As a matter of fact, both myself and TP have a couple of family and friends out here this week and, despite playing in a solid five hours of rain and winds all afternoon - they stayed strong and supported us out there all day! That’s some true Belgian spirit!

Moreover, Pieters and I are loving every second of the tournament so far. It was a great to follow up a fast first day with some defensive golf in testing conditions yesterday afternoon and keep our place up at the top of the leaderboard.

Thanks to everyone back home for all your messages and support. Halfway through the battle now so fingers crossed we can keep it going this weekend and make Belgium proud! 

World Cup Week!

Final tournament of 2018 and we are now in Melbourne for the ISPS Handa World Cup!

Fun to mix things up and play a slightly different format of golf over here! Today we played fourball (best ball), and after a bit of a slow start this morning, we were very happy to have turned things around and post a first round -9 (63)! Tomorrow and Sunday will change to foursomes though and unfortunately there are going to be some pretty testing weather conditions lined up for us over the next few days with heavy rain and wind forecasted right through to the weekend.

The event is being hosted at the Metropolitan Golf Club this week and it is truly in incredible condition right now! It’s a traditional Sandbelt Golf Course here which means that there are superbly manicured fairways as well as a lot of beautifully executed bunkers that cut into the edges of the firm and fast greens.

It has been an action packed week since we arrived already but it’s truly very exciting to be here alongside Pieters in my first team event as a Pro and officially representing our country! It definitely feels like a huge honour to play in an event with such a rich history...and as a matter of fact, it was only 7 years ago that Belgium was represented in this event by Nico and my coach Jerome Theunis!

Hope it’s not too tough for the Belgian fans to support us this week with the 10 hour time difference! Happy to have got off to a fast start though to give everyone a low first round score to wake up to!

It all ends here...

A frustrating Sunday sign off last weekend but nonetheless, extremely happy to have secured another Top 10 result in South Africa! In all honesty, it is tough to imagine a more perfectly organised tournament. It was an honour to spend time with Gary Player as well as to stroll the fairways in the final group with Sergio and Louis on Sunday. On top of that, we were surrounded by incredible hospitality, weather conditions & wildlife all week! Huge thanks therefore to the promoters and everyone who was involved in making it so memorable!

Onto the next installment of the Final Series and its officially time for the last event of 2018! Its been 51 long weeks since I teed up at the first tournament of the season - the UBS Hong Kong Open back in November…and considering last year I was a spectator at this event (having finished 86th on the 2017 rankings), I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to actually play here and make one more final push up those Race to Dubai Rankings!

The venue for this week’s Grand Final is the Earth Course at Jumeriah Golf Estates which is a par 72 Greg Norman designed course. It features wide open fairways, large greens and just short of 100 immaculate presented white bunkers! All four of the last holes will be quite testing too since water is a feature on them all, including a creek which works its way up the entire length of the 18th hole! 

Furthermore, there is no better way to enjoy the last week of the European Tour calendar than with my full team here in Dubai! My coaches Mich and Jerome flew in on Monday as well as Vinnie and Fabien who are here this week also. As a matter of fact, even a few of my close family and friends have made the long journey to come over and show their support too!

Last but not least, predictably dry, warm and sunny conditions have been forecasted here all week long with temperatures reaching up to 34 degrees. I actually heard that it is expected to snow back in Brussels this week which will make playing here in the heat all that much more enjoyable!

Off at 10.15am tomorrow with Andy Sullivan. Already can’t wait to get out there. Let's hope for a fast start and a lot of birdies!