ALPS Tour Winter Series Egypt
Ain Sokhna, Egypt
Ein Bay Open 19-21st February
Sokhna GC B&C
71, 73 (E) (MC)
This was the first full professional tournament of my career and I set off full of confidence within myself and my game, I had been playing great beforehand and had been hitting the ball really well. Due to conditions back at home I was a little rusty with my short game due to not enough practice which couldn’t really be helped. Coming into the tournament I was struggling with my alignment which as silly as it sounds does happen from time to time and it can totally throw you off your game. I wasn’t very comfortable stood over the ball and with all honesty I was fighting a left miss which you could not do on this golf course. Regarding the conditions, they were perfect with temperatures around 20 degrees and little wind. I battled hard and really grinded away but unfortunately couldn’t do enough to make the cut which I probably deserved considering how hard I worked for it with my C game all week. I had a chance of making the cut, I had to birdie the last in order to make the cut at -3. Unfortunately I took the chance of hitting driver and had one of my left misses which was very unlucky to take some very firm bounces and finish out of bounds costing me a double bogey. I gained plenty of experience from this and it was also good to know that I could compete with my game being nowhere near its best. I was proud with the way I hung in there all week and to even give myself a chance of making the cut was great considering the way I played. I was really proud of how good I was mentally throughout the tournament, not letting anything get to me even after some very poor shots and rusty decisions. Too many mistakes cost me which I was able to draw a line under and move forwards.
Red Sea Little Venice Open 25-27th February
Sokhna GC A&B
70,70,71 (-5) (T4th)
In between tournaments I was able to put in a lot of work regarding my alignment and feeling more comfortable over the ball. I put in some very good work and quite a number of hours of practice between the two tournaments, focusing a lot on short game too. In fact I only played 18 holes of golf in the 5 days I had between my second round of the first tournament and first round of the second tournament. This setup for this course was a little more demanding off the tee and allowed you to hit driver more which is a huge strength of mine. The weather conditions for the week were windy which also suited me playing where I do at home. I played great all week and played a great second round which set me up to play in the last group on the last day but still 3 shots behind the leader. I was excited to play in the last group although I did feel some nerves but these were mostly adrenaline to get going. The final round was another windy day and I played some unbelievably solid golf as my scorecard shows. I had two birdies and one bogey for the round and finished with 8 straight pars showing that I really was in contention and had a good chance of winning. Unfortunately I came up one shot short of the playoff which I was gutted about. I played well enough to get the job done and on another day where the putts didn’t lip out I could have definitely got over the line. I felt comfortable playing in the final group and was extremely pleased with this because it is not easy to go out and win a golf event no matter what level you are playing at. Having such a great week has only made me want to work harder and harder and to get myself into these positions in the future. I now know what it takes to win at this level and with the experience I have gained from the two tournaments, I believe that I will win this season and will keep progressing up the ranks to reach my full potential. A very pleasing start to my professional career!
To follow my scoring for tournaments there is an ALPS Tour App and also you can find the scoring at www.alpstourgolf.com
