Posted on: 29 October
Legends European Tour continued
After another two week break (the tour is a bit disjointed this year) I headed back over to England to play in the Farmfoods European Masters presented by Peter Baker. The Forest of Arden Golf Course is situated near Birmingham and is a course I last played in 1999 when I was playing the European Tour. I was warned that at this time of the year the weather in England can be fickle (code word for wet and cold) and it was true to form. The only day I didn’t wear my weather gear and two layers of clothes was the Tuesday practice round. At the end of the tournament only 6 players broke par.
1st round – Heavy overnight rain meant play was delayed by an hour. A strong cold wind blew all day and being one of the last groups I just made it in before dark.
Score – 74
Shot of the day – 5 iron over water on the par 5 17th to find the green and set up an easy two putt birdie.
2nd round – Managed to complete 11 holes before bad weather halted play. The greens were under water and eventually we abandoned play for the day. It was a cold, wet and windy day and I didn’t make any birdies. Overall not an enjoyable day to be on the course. Anyway I am hoping that the final 6 holes (to be completed tomorrow morning) are a lot better and I can gain some momentum for the third round.
Score – still to be determined
Shot of the day – I pulled a shot into the water on the par 3 8th. After the penalty drop, I chipped the ball to 50 feet – not great. But I holed the 50 foot putt to make a bogey. Great save, sort of!
2nd and 3rd rounds – At 8:30am it was a chilly 6 degrees with a light breeze making the wind chill factor around 4 degrees. With the cold air the ball wasn’t flying far but I still managed to make one birdie and one bogey over the final 6 holes. I managed to pick up some shots on the field which was nice.
Score- 77
3rd round – After finishing there was a 2 & 1/2 hour wait for the rest of the field to finish and a new draw to be completed for the third round. My tee off time is 12:40pm and by now the light breeze is now a 3 club wind. It is dry and slightly warmer but I still have on two layers of clothing. I hit a lot of good shots intertwined with a couple of bad shots and managed to make 2 birdies and 4 bogeys. I have made up a few more spots. Image
Score – 74
Shot of the day – Three wood from 220m over water with a strong cross breeze on the par 5 12th to find the putting surface.
Finish – 35=
The day isn’t quite finished as I get straight into the car and drive to Heathrow so I can catch my 8am flight the next day to Austria.
Austria
After a two hour bus from Austria airport I arrive in Graz and the Murhof Golf Course. This parkland golf course is framed by steep forested hills and mountains and with it being unseasonably warm (23 degrees C) it is a lovely place to be. Even though the weather got cooler during the week the warm hospitality at Murhof made this a week to remember and in my opinion the best tournament on the Legends Tour. Nothing was a problem and with as much food and drink we could possibly manage, life is good.
1st round – There was no wind to speak of and with the course and greens a little softer after a couple days of rain, birdies were abundant. I took full advantage of the par 5’s by birding all of them but the round was offset by a couple of late bogeys on the par 3’s. 5 birdies and 3 bogeys left a sour taste in the mouth. It left me tied 17th 5 shots off the pace.
Score – 70
Shot of the day – A high 4 iron second shot over the bunkers into the par 5 7th hole to 15 feet setting up an easy two putt birdie.
2nd round – After a poor start I managed to get a few shots back… only to lose them again late in the round – ouch!!! The end result was I slipped down the leaderboard to tied 39th.
Score – 74
Shot of the day – A 9 iron on the 18th to 6 feet for a closing birdie. It was nice to finish the round on a high.
3rd round- The temperature at the start of the day was 3 degrees C and the high for the day was 7 degrees C. Hitting balls on the practice range before the round I soon realised it was much, much colder than I’d thought it would be. I dashed back to the hotel room to layer up with more. Despite the cold I birdied the first two holes and finished the round off with three birdies to sign for a 5 under round. I actually had 7 birdies for the round with just two bogeys. A round like that will always pick up spots on the field.
Score – 67
Shot of the day – A delicate little chip on the first hole over a hump and swale off a tight muddy lie setting up an opening birdie on the par 5 10th.
Finish – 21st.
Back to Carcassonne in France for three weeks. The tournament is in Italy before I head back to Perth… for two weeks of hotel quarantine!! I’m looking forward to getting back and catching up with you all, seeing how your games have progressed and getting back into the coaching. I will open up my lesson schedule in the next couple of weeks.