My first tee shot at the Finnish open 2012. It wasn't a great tee shot ! But I will never forget its significance in my ultimate journey to become a full pro. The Finnish PGA were kind enough and forward thinking enough to organise a great tournament in conjunction with masters golf club and the Finnish golf federation to highlight the growing golfing talent emerging from Finland. Let me assure you they will very soon be a golfing nation to be feared on the disabled golf tour !! This was also my first tee shot after entering as a non amateur. An all round amazing experience even though the golf on my side wasn't great and I finished with second place :-(. Thanks Finland. See you next year, and as for the winner, a great golfer from Denmark ( Mads Likke Nielson ) next year I'm taking the title from you :-). Even I you do tackle me on the knee ;-)
ABN AMRO DUTCH OPEN 2012 SUDDEN DEATH PLAYOFF !!!
Ok, so here we were. 36 holes of regulation stroke play completed and both myself and Manuel de la santos were tied on 157 strokes and as per the rules of EDGA it had to be settled by a sudden death playoff to find this years champion. We were to start on the par 5 9th hole and from there, on to the first hole if still tied. It was my honour, and after being introduced and taking care of the obligatory handshake and photos, it was time to play !! I took some calming breaths and cleared my mind in preparation for the battle to come. I tried to keep my nerves in check and just concentrated on what tee shot I wanted to hit and making sure that the execution was perfect. I picked my spot and visualised the ball following the path I wanted it to take, coming to rest in the middle of the fairway. I placed the ball onto the tee and took my stance, closed my eyes, deep breath, open eyes, get fully committed and then.......... I took my shot and hit a great solid 4 iron down the centre on the fairway and left myself in the perfect position for a good attacking second shot towards the green. Manuel also hit the perfect tee shot, also with an iron and we were beside each other in the fairway. Manuel was slightly further back than my tee shot and as such had to play his second shot first , Manuel hit a big running draw but left himself on the left hand side of the hole in the rough and just short of the bunker around 170yrd short of the green, not an easy shot left for him, advantage me. I played my second shot and favoured the left hand side of the fairway leaving myself around 157 yrd to the pin. Manuels ball was sat down in the rough and with the pin in the position it was I thought he has no chance of getting close. He struck a beautiful shot from the clingy rough and the ball flew in a lovely controlled running draw, landed at the very front of the green and rolled perfectly onto the correct level of the green but around 35ft away from the pin. I looked At the distance I had left and it was perfect for a solid 9 iron coming in off the right with a nice high draw. I struck the ball beautifully, the only problem was it flew the green and unfortunately hit a spectator on the shoulder before coming to rest in the green side rough, pin high but not sitting nicely. When I reached the green and realised that someone had been hit by the ball I did feel very guilty and a bit upset, but I had to get my head in gear and concentrate on the next shot. I had short sided myself and had very little green to work with for my chip shot. I played a little too conservatively and unfortunately left the ball on the fringe. Manuel was further from the hole and played his fourth shot, a gorgeous putt finishing around 6" from the hole and guaranteeing his tap in par. So this was it, I had one putt to tie the hole and take the playoff to the next hole. I looked at the line from every angle and kept telling myself not to leave it short. I had to go for it !! I took up my stance and filtered everything else out of my mind. All I could see was the ball and the line I wanted to hit it on, it went silent. I took the putter back and made my stroke. Off it went, On line, looking good, the crowd took a sharp intake of breath as one ! It's going in !!! Go on, Go on, NOOOOOOOOO. !!!!!! It just rolls past the right edge of the cup , the gallery let out an audible groan I had missed. I rolled in my bogey putt from 3ft and stood back to let the deserved winner, Manuel de la santos take his tap in par putt. The ball dropped and the crowd cheered. A winner had been found. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be me this time but what a battle i had been involved in. Next time Manuel , next time ! ;-) I take heart in the fact that I have had 2 seconds and 1win on tour so far this year in the main overall catagory and as such I am leading the order of merit by a considerable margin. With 3 Order of Merit events left this year I am in a great position to push on and go for the overall European order of merit title. I felt completely drained both physically and emotionally and wanted nothing more than a coffee and a good sit down. I would like to say a massive thanks to everyone who has supported me to this point and those who continue to support me in my quest to become professional. As usual I looked the absolute mutts nuts as I was dressed again in Ian Poulter Design clothing courtesy of my wonderful clothing sponsors function18.com. Thanks guys so my next event is the Finnish open from 16/18 July near Helsinki. The big question is, do I keep my amateur status or do I enter Finland as a professional ? Hmmmmm decisions decisions I suppose you will have to keep coming back and checking out my blogs just to see wont you ;-) Until next time my blog reading friends Monk out x 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 !!!! |
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November 2014
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