My road to Carnoustie, via Sunningdale

QUALIFYING for the Open Championship is a dream for any professional golfer and one that I realised on a memorable day at Sunningdale.

I arrived at the famous venue without a set target, the aim was to just go out there and play. I knew I would have to shoot a reasonable score and made a solid start in the morning with a level-par 70 over the New Course, which included three birdies.

At lunch I didn’t really look that hard at the scores. I had a quick glance and saw a few numbers in the 60s but thought that I wasn’t that far away – if I could shoot a decent under-par effort then I would have a good chance of getting in.
Going out I played quite nicely over the Old Course and got it to two-under after nine.

I wouldn’t say I was cruising but I was in control of things but then slipped up at the 10th where I dropped my only shot of the afternoon. That made me pick myself up and I birdied the next two which got me right back into it. One, or maybe two birdies, coming home and I would be in great shape.

The par-five 14th, at 503 yards, is a hole I can reach comfortably in two, but after a solid drive, I hit a terrible second. However an up-and-down there put me at four-under and another birdie, I figured, would be enough. Fortunately, due to my efforts in Dubai and at my home course, I have put myself in some pretty nerve-wracking situations this season.

At the Emirates I played in the final group with Ernie Els and eventual winner Henrik Stenson on the Saturday and then teed it up alongside world number one Tiger Woods and Niclas Fasth on the final day. Then in the PGA I was out last with Paul Broadhurst in front of my home crowd and these experiences definitely helped in staying confident and relaxed.

Also, because I know the Sunningdale courses so well, it made things a lot easier over the closing stretch of holes. Pars at 15 and 16 followed and, after two really good shots at 17, I capitalised with a tricky birdie putt and then at the last hit it pretty close and knocked in that putt as well.

Before I knew it I had shot 64 and was at six-under for the two rounds which would definitely be good enough to make it as one of 16 qualifiers to Carnoustie. One thing that I hadn’t realised at the time were the headlines that the fourth-hole pin placement on the Old Course made early in the morning.

I didn’t really twig until I got home and read about it on teletext that it had caused so many problems. We got to the tee in the afternoon and the official asked if we had the revised placements as it had had to be changed – it was only later that night that I understood the drama of it all.

Print deadlines meant I couldn’t write about actually playing in the championship in this column – the three Open review pages were held back from the printers and completed literally as the last putt dropped at Carnoustie. What I can talk about are my preparations –?and by now you’ll be able to decide whether they were effective or not!

Firstly, I decided to take the European Open off so I wouldn’t arrive at Carnoustie playing my fifth straight week. Loch Lomond remained on my schedule though and it was great to play well there – although very different to what lay in wait at Carnoustie.

I played a lot of links golf as an amateur in events such as the Lytham and St Andrews trophies while I know a little bit what it’s like from playing in the Dunhill Links. Being set up by the R and A is a different proposition though but hopefully it won’t be as brutal as it looked the last time the championship was there in 1999.

I didn’t watch much of that one, or last year for that matter as it was a bit depressing not being there, and remember heading out for nine holes that Sunday afternoon with Jean Van de Velde seemingly in control. I couldn’t believe what had happened when I got back in.

Otherwise my memories of the course are positive ones. In the first round of the Dunhill I shot a one-under 70, dropping just one shot all day but, as I said, it will be playing totally different as a Major venue. In the week leading up to the start of the championship I hope to gain as much knowledge and information about the course. Again I won’t be setting myself any goals but come Thursday I will be raring to go.