…..so I promised to update you on Leeds. Well, it was a bit of a shambles from my scoring point of view. I wasn’t ready, ended up allowing myself to rush on to the tee and subsequently started very poorly, which then became irrecoverable. My playing partners were great, including Clayton Blackmore who played for Manchester United and Wales. Also my mate from Doncaster came across to walk round with us on the Friday, which I really appreciated. As Forrest once said: “That’s all I gotta say about that”.
Then it was on to the British Senior Open Qualifying at Ladybank – my home course. You’ll understand I was feeling good and felt well prepared, apart from having to swing at full tilt in order to keep my strike going. I ended up just the wrong side of a few tee shots by a couple of yards each time and found myself seven over at the turn – not what you want in an 18 hole qualifying round. It turned out that the one overs played sudden death for the last places at Gleneagles.
I don’t know if it was the frustration, the disappointment or the fact that this had been my big target for the year to get through the Senior Open cut and get some ranking points for the Legends’ Tour, but I was really tired and down after it and stayed away from golf until yesterday, Saturday.
Then, as it goes, I had a great session with Coach Pete where he listened to me, we worked on a later hit and got my strike and finesse back. So now I’m back on the horse and looking forward to the next tournament, Paul Lawrie’s Tartan Tour Scottish Par 3 Championship at his course in Aberdeen on 4th and 5th August.
As always, I’ll let you know how it goes.
All the best
Calum
Month: July 2022
The Italian Job…
We had a great week across in Italy with the Senior Golf Tour Europe, playing the Padova Open. It was played across two courses, the Golf Club Frassanelle among the vineyards outside Venice and the Albarella Golf Links south of Venice.
The field was made up of golfers from eleven different countries. My golf was good and I managed to get myself into joint second after day one at 2 over. I played in the last group on day 2 which was a new experience for me. I thought it was great and remember thinking the night before: “Should I just try to score as low as I can or should I try to beat my playing partners?” It ended up a mix to be honest and back nine I decided to try to beat my playing partners, which I managed but dropped a few shots in the process – mainly pushing a bit too hard.
However the result was second place for me behind Jorgen, who was already in the clubhouse.
The experience was great though and combined with the 32 degree heat and Italian cuisine created a great week.
I played back in Leeds the following week which is a another story – the next blog will explain that.
Meanwhile enjoy Open week. I’ll be getting ready for the Senior Open Qualifying at Ladybank next Monday – my home course – so watch this space.
All the best
Calum