Blog
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!
Sun’s Up in Sun City
What a way to close up an unbelievable week in Turkey! As you can imagine, it felt great to be right there in the mix with the leaders on Sunday. After a slow front nine and an unfortunate bogey on the tenth, I started to hit some great shots off the tee and set myself up with a lot of opportunities for birdies on the greens. Luckily I was able to convert a few of those putts and climb a decent number of spots up the leaderboard to secure my first ever Top 3 finish at a Rolex Series event!
Huge thanks to the promoters for organising such a fantastic tournament. We couldn’t have asked for a better set up or facilities during the week and I am already looking forward to going back next season!
Now onto the second stage of this Final Series and we are back in South Africa for the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The event is being hosted at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City and what a place this is!! Honestly, it’s pretty hard not to get distracted during your round when there are so many wild animals roaming the fairways as well as some spectacular views of the elephants roaming across the Pilanesberg mountains!
As for the course itself, it’s a long par 72 stretching over 7800 yards but with altitude as a significant factor this week, a longer ball flight will considerably affect those numbers.
In terms of weather, the forecast is looking like it will be pretty kind to us again! As a matter of fact we arrived into stormy conditions on Monday but that seems to have all passed now since only light winds and consistent 30 degree temperatures have been projected for the rest of the week!
Practice, Pro Am and preparation now all complete. First round tee off scheduled for 09.34am tomorrow morning and officially ready to get this thing started!
Halfway Stage
Not the fast Friday I was looking for after a strong start out on the course yesterday! There was some poor ball striking to begin today's round and a few silly mistakes which ended up costing me some crucial shots, but very glad to have re-set shortly after and fought back to bring the round safely back into the red! Furthermore, both the course and weather conditions couldn't be better right now so it's genuinely just enjoyable getting out there and playing!
The pressure remains strong this week though with some very low scores out there these past few days. If you're not making those all important birdies, you're moving backwards...so now it's time to make the weekend count! Round 3 kicks off at 10.50am tomorrow. Let's go low!
Turkish Delight
Arrived in Turkey for the first of the three Final Series events - and what a place this is! Golf's popularity has been successfully growing in this country in recent years and its amazing to see how Belek has evolved from a quiet unoccupied area to an incredible golf community with so many great courses and fantastic hotels. Moreover, the course we play this week is one of the most popular since the installation of floodlights allows guests to enjoy the challenges of night time golf!
Back to the tournament and everything is on site for us this week which means we save time travelling around and instead can make the most the luxurious facilities the Regnum Resort has to offer! It's a generous course set up here which, as per previous years, will allow for some seriously low scoring. Water is a feature on nearly half the holes but a few short par 4's, reachable par 5's and large greens means there are plenty of birdies out there to be made. The weather forecast also looks pretty perfect over these next few days with consistently warm temperatures, sunny skies and almost 0% chance of rain all week long!
Last but not least, we have all three Belgians playing in the field this week. Crazy to think it was a full year ago that we were all on the edge of our seats watching Nico in battle for the trophy down the final stretch. Finger's crossed that one...or all three of us can produce the same fight this time around!
Off at 10.30am for the first round tomorrow and feeling the great vibes already. Let's get this Final Series started right!
Bye for now Brussels!
Time to enjoy my last weekend at home before leaving early Monday AM for the Final Series! Turkey, South Africa, Dubai and Melbourne are all up next on the schedule and I honestly can't wait to get out there.
Just spent an incredible week in Southern France with my strength coach Fabien Lefaucheux and Mich - my swing coach who you all know by now! We were able to do some great work on the amazing facilities that Golf of Saint Donat has to offer. As a matter of fact, it was the perfect few days hitting great practice balls on immaculate turf, working on wedges on the little compact course as well as having some fun golf games with the pro French players also practicing in the area. All of this was done in 25 degree weather with pretty much no wind - it simply doesn't get any better!
Now it's time for a few days relaxation to catch up with family and friends before hitting the road! Look out for more updates in the next few weeks...first stop - Turkey!
Dynamic Dunhill!
Well, what can I say...what a weekend for Europe! Spent an unforgettable few days in Paris with some close friends which meant we were in prime position to watch the Ryder Cup drama unfold. Honestly, it was hard to imagine back in July when we played Le Golf National for the French Open how things were going to shape up for the Big Event...but the course could not have proved to be a bigger or better stage! The atmosphere was incredible and it was some serious inspiration to watch the guys battle it out out there!
Moving forward, arrived in St Andrews, the Home of Golf on Sunday evening with a few friends who have come to support myself and TP out here this week. As I am sure most of you know, this event follows a slightly different format since we all pair up and play with amateurs the first three days, as well as visiting 3 different courses, including this year's Open Championship venue, Carnoustie Golf Links. There is then a final outing at the Old Course on Sunday for all Pro's making the cut.
This week I will be paired with Irish musician Ronan Keating but also playing alongside surfing legend Kelly Slater one day too! As a matter of fact, I was fortunate enough to play with him last year and it was an awesome experience!
Weather conditions are looking pretty testing these next few days. Up to 34 km/h winds have been forecasted for tomorrow with consistently low temperatures throughout the week too. Will definitely make things more challenging but since we have been very lucky with lots of European sunshine this summer it will give me a good chance to finally sample the Hugo Boss Winter Gear collection I have had packed away too!
Experience on these courses is definitely advantageous and having managed a quick practice trip to Scotland earlier in the year with my caddy Ryan, as well as doing some solid work with my coach Jerome here yesterday, the game is feeling comfortable, confident and we are ready to go!
Touchdown...Portugal Town!
Very happy indeed with a Top 3 finish last week in the Netherlands! Honestly, it felt great to follow up a Career Record round on Saturday with another low one on Sunday and secure a very solid final result...especially after going home briefly on Friday, genuinely thinking I was going to miss the cut!
Moving forwards, I will be teeing it up again this week in Portugal for my fourth consecutive event before taking a much needed week's break. It is always an easy decision for me to factor this event into my schedule since I have spent a lot of enjoyable times in Portugal growing up. Furthermore, I am staying nearby in a villa with my family which always makes the week slightly more special! Brilliant to also have my coach Michel Vanmeerbeek out here for a few days in order to make a few small tweaks to my swing and get everything feeling slightly more comfortable again too.
In relation to the tournament here in Vilamoura, we are playing at the Dom Pedro Golf Victoria Golf Course which is an incredible place and has been the event venue for the past 11 years! The course features wide, open fairways which obviously suits long hitters...but the putter will certainly need to get hot as well to have a chance of getting in contention! The winning scores around here are usually close to 20 under par - lots of birdies needed!
In addition, we will be receiving our usual quota of sunshine and warm temperatures in the Algarve this week with very little humidity and just a light breeze. There are still a couple of tricky water hazards and sneaky bunkers out there though that will remain a constant threat regardless!
Tee off at 9am tomorrow morning. Lets keep the momentum going and push some more positive vibes from Portugal!
Saturday Satisfaction!
Pretty happy with my third round performance here at the KLM Open! As you may have heard from some of my post round interviews, I actually drove home on Friday afternoon since I was convinced I needed to make the birdie putt on 18 to be in with a slight chance of making the weekend! Luckily though, the wind conditions seemed to pick up in the afternoon and after a quick dinner with family at home, I drove myself straight back up to Spijk!
As for yesterday, I honestly had a lot of fun out there. Got off to a pretty slow start but built up some confidence after making a long putt on the 4th par 3 and things went upwards from there! As a matter of fact I actually got unlucky on my 8th tee shot when we really felt the wind pick up and I went long past the green. Managed a little magic here though and chipped in to make another birdie and truly keep the momentum going! Unfortunate missed bogey putt on 17 but very happy I took advantage of all the par 5s including 18 and henceforth managed to record my lowest career round on European Tour!
Furthermore, was really great to see so many fans out there yesterday morning. Hope that I can produce a similar performance for anyone returning this afternoon! Thanks also to Daan and the KLM Open promoters for hosting another fantastic edition of the event!
Dutch Courage
After an un-welcome (yet pretty enjoyable!) weekend off, spent mainly cycling and eating in the Swiss mountains, it was straight back to the grind this week. I started by getting some good work done with my coaches back in Brussels on Monday before travelling over to the Netherlands early Tuesday morning so that Pieters and I could spend the day with Bank Delen at The Duke Golf Club. It was a fun event with the team and great way to start the week!
Furthermore, I am now in Spijk preparing for this week's tournament, the KLM Open, which heads back to The Dutch Golf Course for it's third consecutive year. As a matter of fact, I played both of those editions at this venue...and the tournament in 2016 was one of my first ever Tour events as a professional!
In terms of layout, the Dutch is a relatively short but wide open links-style course. It is also quite exposed to the elements which means that wind can play a pretty big factor & a high level of accuracy will be required throughout. The forecast has projected sunny conditions for us though with only light winds for the first two days before getting slightly more gusty over the weekend. The fairways and greens are in pretty good condition right now but the rough is definitely still going to be challenging. There is also water in play on more than half of the holes!
Both Nico and myself are playing this week so hope to see a lot of red support out there tomorrow! Stay tuned for more updates!
Scenic Switzerland
This week we have arrived in one of the favourites stops on the European Tour! In all honesty, the magic of the mountains means that once you land in Crans sur Sierre, you never want to leave! As a matter of fact, the previous two events on my schedule have been at new venues for the 2018 season, so it really feels great to come back to the familiar snowy scenes of the golf course here in the Swiss Alps.
Obviously I was a little disappointed not to finish up as well as I had hoped last week in Silkeborg but it's hard to be negative for too long when my game is feeling really sharp right now and there are still so many good tournaments left to play on the calendar!
Furthermore, am looking forward to getting out and playing the course this week. You may not know it but this is actually one of the shortest courses we play during the season. It's a par 70 and only 6848 yards, but since altitude is also a significant factor, it will play even shorter than that. Small greens with large run off areas are key features on the course which means that first class approach play is required on nearly every hole. There is also a considerable amount of water to navigate clear of on the back 9!
In terms of weather forecast, its definitely cooler up here than the high temperatures we have been experiencing most of this summer! Winds are predicted to be around 8 - 12 mph but only a little bit of rain has been projected for the first couple of days with a clear weekend to look forward to too!
Last but not least, obviously a little disappointed not to see our friend Pieters make a wild card pick for the Ryder Cup team today but Thomas Bjorn had a tough job and I think the European side is looking like it will be some pretty strong competition!
