:: May 10
::26 MAY 2010
I really enjoyed my trip home to the UK. Not only because I got the chance to catch up with friends and family but because The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth is one of my favourite tournaments. I must say it was a rare treat to experience some brilliant weather in the UK. It always feels like I come home for a week or two and manage to catch some pretty average weather.
The new golf course at Wentworth was a real challenge, we had amazing conditions to play golf in and still the winning score was only -6, that really shows how tough the new layout is. The bunkers were certainly a challenge, all of them being really really deep. The first day I definitely caught my fair share of them and that’s why I only managed to shoot 74. The remainder of the week I had a great game plan to avoid the bunkers and drove the ball really well, hitting lots of fairways. That gave me every opportunity to score low around the course, but unfortunately I did not end up making that many bogeys over the final 3 days. I played very well but could not quite hole enough puts to really challenge for the title. I finished the week a respectable 10th and it really made the trip worth while. It was fantastic to play once again in front of a home crowd. I was paired with Rory McIlroy on the Saturday and we did have a big crowd following us even though we were in the middle of the pack. That was one of the most enjoyable days I have had on the golf course in a long time. Rory is a great guy to play with and the support we received out there was fantastic and makes me miss playing at home. Playing at home gave my family the opportunity to walk around and watch me play. My mum hasn’t had a chance to watch me play since the Open Championship at Turnberry so she really enjoyed the week as much as I did.
All in all the week was definitely a success. I know there were some negative comments about the golf course. I don’t think they get these things right the first time round anyway, there will certainly be some refinements for next year but overall the brief was to change the putting surfaces so we get a truer roll on the ball and I think they definitely achieved that. I just think that some of the slopes on the greens were a little too severe. I think that everyone at Wentworth is dedicated to the cause of creating a fantastic championship golf course and it certainly is a great test.
I look forward to getting my head down over these next few weeks, playing hard and trying to gain entry into the US Open and The Open Championship later in the summer. That is my immediate goal over the next few weeks. I feel like my game is in great shape and I just have to have to keep persevering as I know some really good stuff is just round the corner. I know I have being saying this for quite some time but it is truly what I believe and patience is more relevant than ever.
Wish me Luck!
Justin
:: 11 MAY 2010
I was really looking forward to The Players Championship at Sawgrass and was going into it after a week off where I had done some really good practise. To be honest The Players Champs is an event where I have never really done that well at. For some reason this year I felt pretty confident and upbeat and thought I was going to have a good week. That didn’t really pan out unfortunately. It was a strange week for me really, I hit the ball fantastically on the range and before teeing it up I had beautiful range sessions but for whatever reason was not able to take that form onto the golf course. That seems to be where I am at the moment, my game feels as good as it has ever been but it is not quite translating into competition. I think that may come with a little bit of confidence. Also, my putting was a touch frustrating. The greens there I find very difficult to read, they are quite grainy and fairly flat. The borrows are very subtle. I think maybe I was tending to over read the putts. I didn’t really end up making enough birdies and ended up shooting a pair of 72's which sometimes isn’t that bad around that golf course. But the course did play quite easy this year, the greens were fairly soft and there wasn’t much wind the first 2 days. The cut was -2 par which I think is a pretty low cut round that golf course.
I came back home for the week end and had a nice time with the family and we spoiled Kate for mothers day. We went for a nice brunch and made the most of the time at home. I then had to drive back up to Jacksonville Sunday evening for a UBS golf day where a bunch of us pros played with all their clients and had a fantastic day. I actually played pretty nicely that day and my team came in 2nd.
Today we fly back to England; I am really excited about coming home as I have not been home for along time. Looking forward to seeing some friends for the rest of this week and then I am excited about playing Wentworth. Looking forward to seeing the changes to the golf course and hopefully I can bring my A game. It would be fantastic to play well in front of a home crowd.
Justin
