What a bizarre week that was. In the end the tournament was reduced to 54 holes due to constant storms however it felt like the week went for much longer than that.
The whole week felt like we were forever waiting, apart from Saturday, the last day we were unable to complete 18 holes uninterupted . The first day I teed off at 12:45pm and I only managed to play 11 holes before the afternoon storm kicked in. We had a 2.5hour delay then and we resumed play at 5:40pm but were only able to play 5 holes, with this leaving me 2 holes to complete the next morning. Up until this stage I felt extremely comfortable on course, I would almost say it was the best I had felt on course all year. Sure I had made some mistakes but I was just really relaxed and confident with what was happening…..unfortunately these feelings did not last the rest of the week.
Day 2 we resumed play early and I had 20 holes to complete, it was going to be tight as the storms were forcast to arrive earlier. After feeling great on the course yesterday it was the complete opposite this day, everything felt uncomfortable and I was really nervous about everything. I started the day with 3 straight bogeys, not exactly what I was hoping for. I was able to steady a little bit as the day went on but it was very much a battle. As expected with 3 holes to go the storm arrived and it was a beauty! It was 12:30pm when we got called off the course and as the afternoon went on it wasnt improving much. Finally after 5hours we were back out there, i was just hoping i could finish my 3 holes so i would not have to come back early. Was able to do this but only just, the siren to suspend play due to darkness came as I was hitting my approach to the last hole.
I was relieved that I managed to complete my round that day, with the way that it was heading it was unlikely that I would play at all on the Friday. The afternoon field had to come back early to start and finish their second rounds which would then take them up until the allotted prayer time, 12:45pm-2:45pm on Fridays. After this is usually when the storm arrived, it seems to be a daily occurrence. My suspicions were right, 2:45pm right when we were supposed to begin the storm showed up. After waiting for a couple of hours to see if it would pass it was decided to cancel the days play and come back tomorrow to start and finish the 3rd and final round.
I entered the round full of hope as the scores were very bunched and I thought if I played well I could move up the leaderboard into a top 10 finish. This certainly didn’t happen, after a steady start my round seemed to go from bad to worse with nothing I tried seeming to work, finishing with a lost ball triple bogey up my last hole only 10yards off the fairway It ended up being my worst round of the year, not the move I was looking to make. Ended up shooting 72, 73 & 80 to finish 54th.
It is a funny game golf, I certainly felt a wide range of emotions over the course of the week. The beauty is whilst I am bitterly disappointed with the result I can move on and refocus for the upcoming 2 Thailand events and it will have no bearing at all. Back home this week and will get stuck into some good practice and be ready to go next week in Thailand.
MARTIN DIVE GOLF 