Why I have one eye on the US Open...

SOMEONE remarked to me the other day that I haven’t played all that much golf recently. I knew what they meant, but ithe suggestion wasn’t strictly true.

It’s true that I haven’t been involved in much competitive golf in terms of tournament play of late but in fact I’ve been hitting plenty of shots.

It’s just that those shots have come either on the range or in a leisurely round over the West course at Wentworth or in Dubai, where I headed off to for a week of sun, practice... and a bit more practice.

It had always been my plan to take those three weeks off at that point in the season, getting myself ready for the huge run of events which began with the Irish Open, continued into the BMW Championship and concluded with the Celtic Manor Wales Open.

I had hoped that I would be on a good run of form at that point and that a few weeks off would be a chance to recharge my batteries ahead of those tournaments. The reality turned out to be a little different because, having hit the heights in Dubai by competing alongside Ernie and Tiger, I haven’t secured the results I had been looking for since then.

I suppose some might say I should have tried to play my way back into form in a tournament but, although obviously I wasn’t intending or expecting to miss a couple of cuts, the planned break gave me an excellent opportunity to seriously work on my game.

A good portion of that time was spent with my coach Kristian at Wentworth and he spotted a couple of things which were hindering my progress. One was that my hips were a touch too open and we’ve worked on shifting them to be a bit more square. Secondly, we made a tweak to my downswing to get the swing plane just right.

I was developing a tendency to come over the top slightly which was creating a left-to-right tail at the end of my ball flight. We’ve smoothed those out now and, writing this on the eve of resuming tournament play, I’m raring to get back into the action.

At tour level, the gap between success and failure is absolutely minute and it just needs a spark to get back to where you want to be. We’re coming up to the meat of the season and I’m determined to be in the best possible shape. Indeed, after the Celtic Manor event comes the possibility to qualify for my first Major championship!

I’ve entered US Open qualifying at Walton Heath and it’s something I’m looking forward to tremendously, so much so that I went up there a few weeks ago to have a look at the New course. The Old I’ve played many times in county action and with friends but I couldn’t piece together every hole on the New.

I walked round with a wedge to chip with round the greens and a putter to roll a few balls up to the hole. Nothing more energetic than that but it was nice to get a feel for what to expect in a few Mondays time. I was visualising a little bit where my drives would be ending up and what sort of approach I would be looking to play from there.

The nice thing to report is, the courses suit my eye and my game. They’re lengthy tracks and not overly tight so hopefully I can play well. The competition will be fierce and there aren’t many spots available but it’s definitely worth a try and I’m going there in a positive frame of mind.

After all, a few days after Michael Campbell (pictured below) qualified at Walton Heath he was holding the trophy above his head having seen off Tiger. Of course, there’s a lot of work to do before something like that happens – not least 36 holes in one day! – but it’s certainly an exciting prospect.

I can remember Ernie winning at Oakmont in 1994 the last time the US Open was held there and anyone teeing it up in the middle of June will know they will face a stiff challenge. Word has already got around about the par three which will measure 288 yards. Just a high-floating five iron, of course!

Seriously, that’s a long way even for the pros and is indicative of the exacting nature of the course. Fast, hard greens, penal rough, tight fairways and ominous-looking bunkers – that’s what will await those who make it to Oakmont.

I would love to be taking on each and every one of those challenges. Only time will tell if I can make it to Pennsylvannia.