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November 2004
3 November, European Tour Qualifying School Stage 2, 1st Round
70 (-2)
After a couple of week's off and only practicing it was good to get back
to competitive golf. Shot two under-par 70 today which is a satisfactory
start. Had it 3 under after the first 5 holes but then had a three putt
bogey and a double. Made a dreadful decision and equally bad execution
for the double. I was a bit scrappy on the back nine. Started it well
with a birdie at the long par four 10th and ended it with a birdie on
18 but in-between it was a bit hit or miss. Didn't have good rhythm today
but a decent grind got me round. Putting routine felt more secure but
I need to cut out the elementary mistakes for tomorrow. David
4 November, European Tour Qualifying School Stage 2, 2nd Round
69 (-3)
Played pretty solid today and ended up shooting 3 under-par 69. Hit a
couple of loose three woods but they didn't get me into any trouble. Started
the round well again and was 3 under-par after 6 holes but I couldn't
convert any more birdie chances especially on the back nine including
three great chances on the final three holes which is a bit disappointing.
Still no bogeys today which is always pleasing I have been surprisingly
calm for both rounds so hopefully that will continue over the next two
rounds as well. David.
5 November, European Tour Qualifying School Stage 2, 3rd Round
70 (-2)
Shot two under-par 70 today which puts me in a great position to get through
to final qualifying in a couple of week's time. I'm sitting tied 14th
at the moment and with top 31 going through a decent round tomorrow should
be good enough. It was pleasing today as I never felt comfortable all
day. Got off to a poor start with some bad putting but my putting improved
on the back nine at it saved me a few shots. Made a good par at the last
after hitting my sand iron approach fat. I drove the ball well all day
but iron shots were poor. Not sure why but I will try to sort it out on
the practice area later. Relatively calm again. David
6 November, European Tour Qualifying School Stage 2, 4th Round
69 (-3)
Was comfortably safe in the end after shooting 69 today to finish in a
tie for 11th place and qualify for the Final Stage of Qualifying School.
I played pretty solid most of the day but I'm still missing a lot of good
chances. Still, I'm playing well and scoring well so it's good to know
I'm giving myself a lot of chances to go even lower. My round got a bit
scrappy towards the end but I was able to stay with it and finish off
a good round which is pleasing. So it's off to the final qualifying stage
where I have nothing to lose and so much more to gain. Was pretty calm
again today, should try that more often! David.
11-17 European Tour School, Final Qualifying 1st Round 78 (+6); 2nd Round
76 (+4) T142; 3rd Round 73 (+1); 4th Round 72 (Ev) T86.
My quest for one of the 35 European Tour cards on offer at Final Qualifying
ended when I missed a 3 foot putt on the final green off my 4th round.
That dropped me down to 11 over-par for 4 rounds and when the cut was
announced at 10 over, I had missed out by a single shot. I had got himself
back into contention and looked like making the cut before a double bogey
on the 15th was followed by the dropped shot at the last. I never thought
the cut would go up to ten-over and I just switched off on the last green.
It was only when I got into the recorder’s tent that I discovered
I would’ve been okay at ten over. Things had not started well for
me when I recorded an opening round of 6 over-par 78. After a bogey on
the opening hole I got the shot back with a birdie at the second before
a sequence of bad holes up to the 7th dropped me to 6 over-par. Got a
couple of those dropped shots back with birdies on the 8th and 9th holes
but those shots were given back on the back nine with bogeys on 13, 14
and 15. A birdie on the final hole was off little consolation. It was
a tough way to start and when I was six-over through seven I wasn’t
quite sure what to do. I battled well today and that was at least some
comfort. To finish with two birdies was encouraging and looking at the
rest of the scores today a 78 is not too disastrous. Things sadly did
not improve in the second round with a 4 over-par round of 76. That put
me near the bottom of the field at 10 over-par for the 36 holes played.
My second round was truly awful. It’s the worst I’ve played
in many a year. I wasn’t hitting the fairways and it was very hard
work. There was still a long way to go but I was not making things easy
for myself. The third round was a lot better and with only two bogeys
off set by one birdie I was round in one over-par 73. With everyone else
struggling in the tough conditions this moved me back up the leaderboard
but still with a lot of work to do to make the 4 round cut. A great start
was needed in the 4th round and I got it. Starting on the 10th I birdied
my opening 2 holes but I made a bad bogey on the 13th, my 4th before another
pair of birdies at the 15th and 16th holes, the 6th and 7th holes got
me to 3 under par for the round and 8 over in total. Despite some great
play I could not make any more birdies but with 4 holes left I was inside
the cut mark. A disastrous double bogey at the 6th, my 15th hole dropped
me back to 10 over and on the cut mark before the short missed putt on
his 18th hole proved so very costly. My opening two rounds just left me
with to much to do and in the difficult conditions it was always going
to be hard to make those shots up but to miss out by a single shot and
in the manner that it happened is very disappointing. David
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