well my next event was the ABN AMRO Dutch open held in purmerend in northern holland. This was my first international event last year and as such has some great memories for me as the place my journey to turn pro actually started.
The course was exactly as I remembered it and I was really looking forward to getting out there and hopefully shooting some low numbers.
Practice day.
I was in a great 4 ball for the practice day, playing with Roger Hurcombe , Steve Haxton and Marco Lund. We had a good laugh on the course and the banter started from before the first tee until we were sat at the 19th hole !!
I was pleased with the practice round and felt that I was striking the ball well and was quietly confident of stringing some good runs together on what is a challenging course. I shot 77 on the practice round and at that point would have taken 2 rounds of 77 in the comp.
I learned during the evening that I would be in the first group to tee of for the first round, playing alongside Matheau ( France ), and Manuel de la santos as we were the 3 lowest handicap players.
I was looking forward to the challenge of playing with mat and Manuel as they are a couple of the best disabled golfers Europe has to offer so it would be a great test of every part of my game.
Bring it on !!!
Round one.
I felt nice and relaxed on the first tee and played pretty solid golf all the way round but unfortunately the golfing gods didn't seem to be smiling on anyone as the scores all seemed to be a good 5-6 shots more than what was expected.
We all seemed to have some kind of misfire during the round which was proven when Manuel drove 2 balls into the lake on the tough par 5 14th hole and he walked off with a 10 !! Unbelievable for a player of manuels skill level but it showed the conditions that we all had to contend with.
The back nine seemed to cause everyone problems and after the first round the standings were as follows:
1st- andy Gardiner / Mathieau 82
3rd - Reinhard friske 85
4th - Manuel / Hans / willem 86
so all in all, not a great day scoring wise but I took heart in the fact I was tied for the lead and had a nice 4 shot cushion on Manuel who is an incredibly dangerous player. I would be playing in the last group in the morning with Mathieau and Reinhard friske. It was going to be a fun battle but I felt more than up for it and I was confident that I had the game to hold off any possible attacks on the lead.
So a good nights sleep was the order of the day and wake up refreshed and ready for a fight !!
Round 2
golfing conditions were perfect for round two, very light wind and the course was looking ripe for the taking.
Monk was going to spank this course today !!
It was time for my first tee shot, just a nice smooth 6 iron into the fairway to leave myself a 52deg wedge into a relatively easy green. Things did NOT go to plan !!!! I hooked my first tee shot and only failed to enter the lake because my ball clipped the top of a tree on the lake edge and knocked it down into the semi rough on the edge. I played a nice recovery, two good putts and a solid par, whew, panic over and onto the second. An easy par 5 that should hold no danger at all. WRONG. !! Another hooked tee shot and two slashes in the heavy rough followed by three putts all added up to a stupid stupid double bogey 7 compared to mathieaus birdie 4 and all of a sudden I've gone from tied for the lead to 3 shots off it!!! Not a happy camper !!
Time to immerse myself in the game and start to play some blooming golf !!!!
I dropped one more shot on the front 9 and ended up with a 39 (+3). By this time Mathieau had come back to me and things were looking better. I knew I must shoot no worse than level par on the back 9 !!
The 10th tee shot was horrendous and yet again it hooked into the trees. I was left with no shot and just had to punch out onto the fairway but the club got caught up and I left myself blocked out from going for the pin behind a tree and in some quite nasty, shaggy rough. I composed myself and just concentrated on hitting the green although I left myself a good 20 ft par putt which I duly knocked in !!! What an escape that was !! On we go !
I played a good solid back 9 in level par till the 15th where I holed a beautiful birdie putt and there I was, now leading by one stroke with 3 holes left including 2 tough par threes. Game on !!
16 was a 220yrd par 3 and a long tough hole. I hit a great 4 iron and followed that with 2 putts for a solid par.
2 holes left. 1 shot lead over Manuel de la santos who has shot a brilliant 71 (-1) second round.
Onto 17 I go. A great tee shot is followed by what I can only describe as the worst possible shank in the history of golf !! This left me in the trees with no back swing and no possible way to attack the flag to try to get up and down for par, now it was damage limitation time.
I played a decent shot with my 60deg wedge and rolled just through the green on the opposite side to the flag. Ok, now I need to hole my chip and run for the par. Of course it didn't go in and I left myself a tricky 8 footer for bogey, I dropped the putt and walked to the 18th tee feeling devastated that I have thrown the lead away. I am now tied for the lead with Manuel but he is sat in the clubhouse and it is all down to me.
The 18th is a tough 185yrd par three over water and bunkers to a well protected flag on an undulating green. I played a solid 6 iron but pulled it slightly to leave myself a monster 2 putt to save par. I rolled my first putt upto around 5 foot and then holed a very very nervy par putt to finish the round on 75 (+3) and tie with Manuel de la santos.
One thing came into my head after the round.
PLAYOFF !!!!!!!!!!
Me and Manuel , in a sudden death playoff for the ABN AMRO Dutch open title.
How exciting !!
Playoff details to come !!!!
The course was exactly as I remembered it and I was really looking forward to getting out there and hopefully shooting some low numbers.
Practice day.
I was in a great 4 ball for the practice day, playing with Roger Hurcombe , Steve Haxton and Marco Lund. We had a good laugh on the course and the banter started from before the first tee until we were sat at the 19th hole !!
I was pleased with the practice round and felt that I was striking the ball well and was quietly confident of stringing some good runs together on what is a challenging course. I shot 77 on the practice round and at that point would have taken 2 rounds of 77 in the comp.
I learned during the evening that I would be in the first group to tee of for the first round, playing alongside Matheau ( France ), and Manuel de la santos as we were the 3 lowest handicap players.
I was looking forward to the challenge of playing with mat and Manuel as they are a couple of the best disabled golfers Europe has to offer so it would be a great test of every part of my game.
Bring it on !!!
Round one.
I felt nice and relaxed on the first tee and played pretty solid golf all the way round but unfortunately the golfing gods didn't seem to be smiling on anyone as the scores all seemed to be a good 5-6 shots more than what was expected.
We all seemed to have some kind of misfire during the round which was proven when Manuel drove 2 balls into the lake on the tough par 5 14th hole and he walked off with a 10 !! Unbelievable for a player of manuels skill level but it showed the conditions that we all had to contend with.
The back nine seemed to cause everyone problems and after the first round the standings were as follows:
1st- andy Gardiner / Mathieau 82
3rd - Reinhard friske 85
4th - Manuel / Hans / willem 86
so all in all, not a great day scoring wise but I took heart in the fact I was tied for the lead and had a nice 4 shot cushion on Manuel who is an incredibly dangerous player. I would be playing in the last group in the morning with Mathieau and Reinhard friske. It was going to be a fun battle but I felt more than up for it and I was confident that I had the game to hold off any possible attacks on the lead.
So a good nights sleep was the order of the day and wake up refreshed and ready for a fight !!
Round 2
golfing conditions were perfect for round two, very light wind and the course was looking ripe for the taking.
Monk was going to spank this course today !!
It was time for my first tee shot, just a nice smooth 6 iron into the fairway to leave myself a 52deg wedge into a relatively easy green. Things did NOT go to plan !!!! I hooked my first tee shot and only failed to enter the lake because my ball clipped the top of a tree on the lake edge and knocked it down into the semi rough on the edge. I played a nice recovery, two good putts and a solid par, whew, panic over and onto the second. An easy par 5 that should hold no danger at all. WRONG. !! Another hooked tee shot and two slashes in the heavy rough followed by three putts all added up to a stupid stupid double bogey 7 compared to mathieaus birdie 4 and all of a sudden I've gone from tied for the lead to 3 shots off it!!! Not a happy camper !!
Time to immerse myself in the game and start to play some blooming golf !!!!
I dropped one more shot on the front 9 and ended up with a 39 (+3). By this time Mathieau had come back to me and things were looking better. I knew I must shoot no worse than level par on the back 9 !!
The 10th tee shot was horrendous and yet again it hooked into the trees. I was left with no shot and just had to punch out onto the fairway but the club got caught up and I left myself blocked out from going for the pin behind a tree and in some quite nasty, shaggy rough. I composed myself and just concentrated on hitting the green although I left myself a good 20 ft par putt which I duly knocked in !!! What an escape that was !! On we go !
I played a good solid back 9 in level par till the 15th where I holed a beautiful birdie putt and there I was, now leading by one stroke with 3 holes left including 2 tough par threes. Game on !!
16 was a 220yrd par 3 and a long tough hole. I hit a great 4 iron and followed that with 2 putts for a solid par.
2 holes left. 1 shot lead over Manuel de la santos who has shot a brilliant 71 (-1) second round.
Onto 17 I go. A great tee shot is followed by what I can only describe as the worst possible shank in the history of golf !! This left me in the trees with no back swing and no possible way to attack the flag to try to get up and down for par, now it was damage limitation time.
I played a decent shot with my 60deg wedge and rolled just through the green on the opposite side to the flag. Ok, now I need to hole my chip and run for the par. Of course it didn't go in and I left myself a tricky 8 footer for bogey, I dropped the putt and walked to the 18th tee feeling devastated that I have thrown the lead away. I am now tied for the lead with Manuel but he is sat in the clubhouse and it is all down to me.
The 18th is a tough 185yrd par three over water and bunkers to a well protected flag on an undulating green. I played a solid 6 iron but pulled it slightly to leave myself a monster 2 putt to save par. I rolled my first putt upto around 5 foot and then holed a very very nervy par putt to finish the round on 75 (+3) and tie with Manuel de la santos.
One thing came into my head after the round.
PLAYOFF !!!!!!!!!!
Me and Manuel , in a sudden death playoff for the ABN AMRO Dutch open title.
How exciting !!
Playoff details to come !!!!