So it was off to a scorchingly hot northern Holland for the ABN AMRO Dutch open. It was being held at the BurgGolf hotel and golf club in Purmerend which is about 15km away from Amsterdam.
During the practice day pro am I was liking the look of the course and striking the ball nicely. I was looking forward to the start of the tournament and one I knew I was playing with my good friend Mathieu Cauneau and the awesomely talented Swedish lady golfer Caroline Larsson.
Round 1.
The first hole is a tricky little par for requiring nothing more than a 7 iron off the tee and a controlled wedge in. After two nice shots I was left with a straight 8 foot putt for birdie. I prompltly 3 putted and dropped a silly silly shot ! I made solid par on 2 and 3 and came onto the 4th tee slightly less angry and a lot more positive. I then promptly duck hooked my tee shot into the water.
I dropped at the point of entry and after getting my head out my backside played a gorgeous 8 iron from 155yrd and left it stiff for a tap in par. What a recovery !! That set the tone of the front 9 and after a couple of solid back to back birdies I was back under par at the turn.
A reasonably solid back 9 and I had knocked it round in 76 and had a nice 5 shot lead in the clubhouse.
I felt really comfortable on the course and was able to deal with any trouble I put myself in and escape with a par or at worse only a single bogey.
What was really good was the adoption of vpar technology in the tournament , this meant that you could keep up to date in a live leaderboard at all times.
With a solid 5 shot lead, I was quietly confident that if I just kept my head and played a nice solid round tomorrow I could indeed go one better than last year and I could get my hands on the ABN AMRO Dutch Open Title.
Only time would tell. 18 holes of golf is a lifetime
Day 2.
So day two and I'm in the final group with a 5 shot lead over the field.
I know that a nice solid round and that puts all the pressure on my opponents and means that someone would have to shoot super low to overtake me and take the title.
I tried to just keep things simple and play fairways and greens. And I pretty much did just that. I didn't play or strike the ball as well as the day before but I was again getting away with getting up and down or if I was missing my shots, I was not getting myself into too much trouble.
After I got onto the 18th tee I finally allowed myself to ask the scorer what the leaderboard looked like, and I glanced a look at the vpar screen. I was gobsmacked, I knew I had played steady golf but I had 1 hole to play, final group and I had an 8 shot lead.
The 18th hole is a medium length par 3 with water cutting across the hole and 2 very unforgiving bunkers guarding the green front right and left.
185yrds and I play a solid 6 iron that lands just left of target but just slides off the green by 6ft.
A little chip see the ball finish 18" away from the hole and another glance at vpar confirms I have 8 putts for victory.
I then went and missed my 18" tap in, leaving it seemingly suspended in mid air on the lip of the hole. No harm, no foul and I tap in to take the victory and the much wanted win after last years defeat against Manuel in a play off.
that meant I had now had Back to back wins on the EDGA European tour now this season, coupled with my 3rd place at the first event of the year meant that I now had a really good lead at the top of the order of merit and I now had the chance to win it at the next event in Sweden for the world invitational event.
So, until Sweden and the world invitational
Monk out