We’ve arrived here in the UK for our family vacation, which will then lead into my next two tournaments – the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald Links and The Open at Royal Birkdale.
For all sorts of reasons this is absolutely one of my favourite 3-4 weeks of the year. We get to spend time together as a family at our house at Wentworth. We visit Wimbledon usually at least a few times to watch some world-class tennis. We catch-up with friends that we don’t get to see all that often and I always play plenty of golf, either at Wentworth or at nearby Queenwood where I’m also a member. Then of course we get to play back-to-back tournaments on links turf! It’s all good.
For now, I just want to briefly reflect on the recent BMW International Open. First of all, congrats to Andres Romero. He had no status on either the European Tour or the PGA TOUR, but got a special invite from BMW and went on to win the tournament shooting 65 in the final round. It’s a great story. A life-changing week, literally. Good for him.
For me, it was nice to be back in Munich for the first time since winning that tournament in 2013. It’s a wonderful city and, as always, BMW did a tremendous job with all aspects of this event, on and off the golf course. As players, it’s true to say that we really appreciate their commitment to professional golf around the world and it’s a pleasure to play in any BMW-sponsored tournament. Clearly the fans love the events also and that makes for a great atmosphere all around the property.
Obviously I would have loved to have been in the mix over the weekend. My game was certainly in good enough shape. I hit lot of good shots, and a high percentage of greens, but I just didn’t make the putts that you need to in order to turn an ordinary week into a really good one. Still, as I’ve said in recent reports, there are reasons to feel positive about my game. Not least, I played the whole tournament relatively pain-free, as I did in the previous week’s US Open, so that alone makes me optimistic. I’ll now continue to work hard on my fitness and general conditioning while we’re here in the UK.
Anyway we’ll talk some more in my next report about my preparations for the Open, which incidentally will be my 99th career major. That means we’ll hit the century mark at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a significant milestone that I’m obviously proud of.
In the meantime, though, a quick heads-up that our Els for Autism Golf Challenge and Drive to SA Open series are both now in full swing. There are still plenty of golf days to come on both schedules, at some beautiful and historic venues. If you’d like to jump on board, have a great day’s golf and raise funds for charity, please visit the websites:
Golf Challenge: http://www.e4agolf.com/Locations
Drive to SA Open: http://www.ernieelscentre4autism.co.za/events.asp
We look forward to maybe seeing you soon!
Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
