We are facing a quandary about my schedule in the near future. I’m playing Irish Open this week and then after a week off I had planned four weeks in America – International, US PGA, NEC and Deutsche Bank in Boston. But I’d promised my wife and family last year that I wouldn’t spend four weeks in succession on the road. We sat trying to work our way around this involving the family coming over for the last two weeks. We’ll see.
After breakfast at the ISM house, our driver Eddie took me down to the course and as soon as I got on to the range, everything felt a lot better with my swing. Why, I don’t know, maybe I had got a little bogged down in the mechanics.
I have to admit that for some unknown reason Royal St. George’s never fitted my eye and I did not feel comfortable having to hit some of the shots that I had to. To be honest, I’m not sure that I’ve attacked the course in the right way. There again Sergio went at it a different way to Tiger and Thomas went at it different to Davis.
But before I went out I took time out to have a few minutes with Billy Foster, my old caddie who is now on The Great Dane’s bag. I wished him well and nobody would have been happier if they could have pulled it off.
My own round started well, but drifted in the middle and a 76 was not my idea of a decent finish to what turned out to be a disappointing week for me.
I couldn’t help but feel for Thomas and Billy when things did not go according to plan, but you have to take your hat off to Ben Curtis the 2003 champion. He stuck in there and eventually got the job done at his first Open. It just shows that in any week, it can be yours. I live in the hope that one day mine will come.