America here I come!
IT’S so nice to have some good news to reflect on when I sit down to write my column for Lady Golfer every month. Last year I was lucky enough to be recalling my maiden win on the European Tour as well as making my debut in the Solheim Cup.
Now as I prepare for the new 2008 season I have the prospect of competing in my first Major championship in America to look forward to. As a result of my appearance in the the Solheim Cup last September I have been invited to the Kraft Nabisco at Mission Hills. This development demonstrates just how success in golf has a snowball effect.
Winning my first tournament on tour put me in a great position to make my Solheim debut and playing for Europe has subsequently led to my first American Major. It really is tremendously exciting. It’s going to be a great experience and an excellent taste of what life is like on the LPGA Tour.
As many of you will have read, playing on the LPGA Tour is something I’m eager to do, possibly as soon as next season. While competing in Kraft Nabisco will definitely be a step into the unknown, I will travel to the States in the knowledge that I have already had some success on the course.
The first stage of LPGA Q School was at Mission Hills a couple of years ago and I passed through that quite nicely before running into difficulties – in particular a big hook – at Daytona. I remember it as being a gorgeous course with plenty of water – not least on the 18th! – and featuring greens that were beautiful to putt on. Of course, it’s likely to be set up much tougher than it was for Q School. It is a Major championship after all.
Rubbing shoulders with the elite of the women’s game is going to be terrific. Obviously I had a bit of experience of that at the Solheim Cup by playing against Paula Creamer and Juli Inkster but this is going to be at another level. The likes of Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb and, of course, world No 1 Lorena Ochoa will be there and it will be fascinating to test myself against
these world-class players.
In preparation for this examination I took the decision not to go to Australia for the two events down there. They are tournaments I really enjoy so it was a big decision not to travel. But I felt that I needed to take a break from the game
otherwise it would seem as if the seasons were merging into one.
So, instead of a 24-hour flight to the other side of the world, I have been relaxing in Spain at the Desert Springs resort.
There are superb facilities there and I have been practising efficiently and regularly. I feel very happy with where my game is ahead of the new season proper.
I have already played one tournament this year, the Women’s World Cup. Becky Morgan and I represented Wales once again and it is a week I always look forward to. We played pretty well again this year but didn’t hole enough putts, hence why we didn’t finish higher than sixth.
In the fourballs in particular we didn’t score well enough and it was strange that it was our two-under foursomes round which was the highlight of the week. The weather made the course play very long and certainly Becky found it a long way round. It felt a long way to me too!
Still, we battled well and put in another good showing. The Phillipines played really well and for the second year running an unfancied nation won – although they have two super players in Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin. We so hope to bring it back for Wales one day. Hopefully 2009 will be that year.
For now, the Kraft Nabisco awaits...