After five weeks off it was good to get back into the swing of competitive golf again and especially enjoying an unbelievable week at the Home of Golf.
The weather was perfect, by far the best we’ve ever experienced in the 15-year history of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. It’s funny, Mother Nature didn’t let us get The Open done in four days in the middle of summer, then we come back to Scotland in October and it was warm enough to go to the beach and have a swim. This place is so special and when the weather is as good as it was last week…honestly, it doesn’t get much better. It was a lot of fun, catching up with friends and enjoying the wonderful vibe that this event generates. And the fans were amazing, as they always are in Scotland. There was some friendly banter about the South Africa v Scotland World Cup rugby match out there on Saturday, which was some fun.
On the whole, there was much to enjoy about my play on those three iconic links courses. Obviously there was that missed short putt on Thursday, which only goes to show if you play this game long enough you’re going to do some silly things. But seriously, it was very satisfying to bounce back strongly and shoot 15-under par for my next 45 holes, holing a bunch of putts and getting myself in the mix. It was nice to feel that buzz again. Pushing hard for birdies coming home I just made a couple of mistakes that cost me, but my spirits remain high. As I said, there was a lot of good in my game and it feels like the hard work we put in back in Florida this past month is paying dividends. My partner in this year’s Dunhill was Marvin Shanken – ‘The Shotmaker’ – and whenever we play together in a Pro Am I usually go on and win the following week, so hopefully that’s a little bit of history that will repeat itself in my next tournament, the Venetian Macao Open. We’ll see.
Regular visitors to this website will know that Christiaan Bezuidenhout, a former member of the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation, secured his 2016 Sunshine Tour card a couple of weeks ago in the Big Easy Tour Championship at The Els Club Copperleaf, a fine effort in his rookie year. The organisers from Dunhill were then generous enough to give him an invite to St Andrews last week and he embraced the opportunity by playing four nice rounds to finish tied-33rd and secure the biggest cheque of his life. Trust me, playing in front of big crowds for the first time at the Home of Golf is a big step up for any young player and he handled it well and wasn’t overawed by the experience. Well done to him.
It will be great to see another two former Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation members Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen proudly taking there places on the International Team in this week’s Presidents Cup in Korea. The Americans will be favourites on paper – that’s pretty normal – but as we all know anything can happen in matchplay and it seems like a lot of our team are in good form, too. They’ll be up for the fight, that’s for sure. I wish Nick Price (Captain) and the International team all the best. I’ll be watching with interest, as will golf fans from all around the world. There’s a lot to like about this competition.
That’s about it for now. For those of you residing in and around Durban (South Africa), or maybe visiting this great city in the near future, don’t forget our third Big Easy Winebar & Grill opened its doors in the Hilton hotel there over the weekend. The menu and decor look amazing and I personally can’t wait to go there on my next visit back home. Please click here to find out more and book a table soon.
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