Highs and lows at glorious Wentworth

IT’S been a strange month since I last put pen to paper. Anyone reading my column in the June issue of NCG will have known how eager I was to perform well in the BMW Championship at Wentworth. That’s where I learnt the game thanks to a golf scholarship and I remain very much attached to the club. Recently, I even became one of the two touring pros attached to Wentworth, the other being Ernie Els.

It’s where I do much of my practice and where my coach Kristian is based. So to play a tour event there will always be special. Last year I performed ok and it was very enjoyable. This year I wanted to really contend and after 54 holes I was pretty pleased with my work. When you’re leading the flagship event on the European Tour, I think you’ve got to be happy!

I had a little blip in the middle of my third round but it was pleasing the way I bounced back to finish the day strongly. I had a good eagle chance to take the outright lead overnight from Paul Broadhurst but it never really saw the hole.

Nevertheless, a birdie meant I started the final day sharing the top of the leaderboard. It was a nice feeling but what I’ll remember most from the day was the reception I received as I walked up 18.

I had hit a good fairway wood which ended up almost pin high and so I was able to soak up the applause as I walked up to my ball. It was really something special and capped a brilliant day for me. To have the crowds pulling for you in such a manner is something to cherish and hopefully I’ve got a lot more of those kind of experiences to come.

Sadly, it was as good as I got to feel as day four was undoubtedly a disappointment. I started indifferently and just couldn’t get going. To not make a birdie before the 16th round the West Course, which I obviously know very well, is really unusual.

Nevertheless, even though I had dropped a few shots prior to boarding the 12th tee, I still felt I was in with a chance of victory. It is a par five which I know I can get up comfortably in two. Unfortunately I pulled it slightly left and it scuttled into the water hazard which juts into the fairway.

From there I found a greenside bunker and caught my sand shot a bit thin, resulting in it shooting out of bounds. An eight put me out of contention. That was it for me. I knew then my dream of winning my first European Tour title ‘at home’ was over. It was pretty gut-wrenching.

I didn’t hit the ball well enough, I know that. It was a learning experience and hopefully the next time I find myself in that situation I will play better over the final 18 holes. It certainly wasn’t easy out there though. It probably looked a bit scrappy for viewers watching on television but I can tell you, scoring was difficult.

When you’ve got the likes of Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Paul Casey all struggling to score well, you know it’s tough. Vijay Singh’s round, in the circumstances, was therefore simply sensational. I suppose it shows the difference between the many world-class players who were in the field and a serial Major winner such as the Fijian.

It was wet for much of the day – and was sometimes heavy – it was cold for the end of May and the greens were difficult to judge, both in terms of line and length. Judging how much borrow the rain on the putting surfaces would negate was really tricky while deciding how hard to strike the ball was equally exacting.

You probably saw that with the low number of putts of any length which were holed – and the difficulty in two-putting. In addition to the support from the crowd and my golf over the first three days, the bright spot of the week was the fact my club Wentworth were able once again to host such a superb championship.

To have the likes of Vijay and Ernie Els in the field and to get Luke, Justin and co to come back from America for it shows how highly it is regarded by the players and its very satisfying for all concerned.