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| Photo - Asian Tour Golf |
A: I’ll take it. I know the course is scoreable because there’s not a lot of rough, but the wind picks up and the last few holes were tricky today. We probably had ten or 11 holes with no much wind, which was the advantage of teeing off early. But the last few holes were tricky. I putted well and it suits me that if you have a bit of length off the tee, you can cut a few corners and reach the par fives in two. So the course suits me, and I saw that in the pro-am yesterday.
Q: So with the wind up it must be even more satisfying to have a flawless card?
A: Yes it has been a long time since I had a bogey-free card. I was talking to my coaches recently about throwing in double bogeys too often, so to be bogey-free and have no fives on the card and a course record is a nice start. I’m swinging the club well so hopefully I can put three more good rounds together and see what happens.
Q: What was the approach to get rid of the double bogeys?
A: I sent a video of my swing from the range to the guys yesterday and I was hitting it well. I was hitting a little draw shot and they said to go with that rather than trying to play perfect golf. It’s just about keeping your rhythm, simple stuff. It’s not as demanding as the Middle East courses or last week. There’s less water in play but the greens are tough, and I managed to leave myself on the right side of the pin a lot. It was sensible golf.
Q: You’ve been out here long enough to know not to chase for perfection, don’t you?
A: Yes. I left myself some easier uphill putts today and converted them. Whereas if you’re past the pin it’s about 15 on the stimp and you could easily three-putt, so you’ve got to concentrate on what you’re doing. Even though the course is fairly straightforward, the greens aren’t. With the wind coming up, it’s not as easy as you think.
Q: Has it been frustrating, the run you’ve been on?
A: Yes. I started to hit the ball well in the Middle East but I was coming 50th or thereabouts each week. At least I was making cuts and making money, but throwing in a few double bogeys was ruining my scorecards. Hopefully this is the start of some more bogey-free stuff.
Q: But you’re not going to get carried away?
A: Oh no. This is a marathon. I’m just pleased to get something out of it, because I’ve been working hard for a long time and not getting the scores. This is really satisfying to get a good score. Hopefully I can follow it up tomorrow, Friday 13th is going to be lucky for me.
