A mad fortnight in Dubai and India

NOT for the first time in the last 12 months, I sit down to write my diary entry with lots of adventures to cram onto the page. It really does seem like no matter what I’m doing these days, there has to be a tale attached. Quite useful, I suppose, when I’m writing 700 words in Lady Golfer every month!

My adventures started in India, which the Ladies’ European Tour visited at the start of December. It was a real eye-opener.
India was not like anywhere I have ever visited before. Straight away we were among some of the most chaotic scenes I’ve ever experienced!

We were picked up at the airport and the journey to the hotel was simply scary. The traffic was utter chaos – at one point we were driving down the road the wrong way! It seemed to me the rules were that there were no rules! We dropped our luggage at our hotel and headed into Bangalore – risking the roads once more. It seemed almost inevitable when we had a crash. Not a serious one but it still wasn’t exactly ideal preparation for a tournament.

Bangalore itself was interesting to say the least. On one hand, we saw people who were clearly on the bread line and on the other there were mansions the like of which would not look out of place in LA. That was just the start of the adventure, though. I was then struck down with food poisoning to further hinder my tournament preparations.

Worse than that, though, it meant I couldn’t take part in Welsh Sports Personality of the Year. The guy who normally does the camerawork for the LET was going to film me out in India and it be relayed back to Wales via satellite but I was simply too unwell to take part.

It was really, really disappointing. To later find out I had come second was a bittersweet moment. I was so proud to have that honour bestowed on me by the Welsh public but so disappointed that I couldn’t accept it in person or even appear on the show.

Looking back now I am as happy with that award as anything else I achieved in 2007. I was second only to Joe Calzaghe who is a legend – an absolute mega-star in Wales. I was delighted to hear that he had won the BBC’s nationwide award and so to be second to him is certainly nothing to be disappointed about.

To have my achievements recognised by the wider welsh public, rather than just golf fans, is special and I thank anyone reading this who took the trouble to vote for me. Perhaps understandably I didn’t contend in the tournament in India
but played all four rounds so I left this incredible country with memories aplenty. Everyone connected with the tournament made us feel unbelievably welcome – probably more so than at any other event I have played in.

The next stop was Dubai, which has become possibly the players’ favourite destination of the year. It was a massive difference to what we had experienced in India. This is luxury on a grand scale and it was nice to be pampered for a week.
Of course, the men play here every year and often attract Tiger so it’s a big tournament for us.

The TV coverage, the field, the fans and the atmosphere are all brilliant. Again I played all four rounds without being very threatening but it was a decent end to my breakthrough season. I also sat down with Helen Alfredsson for a couple of drinks, which was great. We played together in the event at the end of 2006 and her encouraging words were an inspiration for me to try to make her Solheim Cup side.

It was terrific to spend an hour with Helen discussing the past year as well as the future. It was a relaxing, serene end to a mad fortnight in Asia and the Middle East. Interesting to say the least!