Summary of Royal Trophy

 

First of all, it was a great week and that kind of week that will stick to my memory for a long time. Memories of shots we played, certain key holes on the course and the opponents we played against.

 

– I was really nervous going into the tournament. I’ve had 5 weeks off from tournament golf. I had practiced every day though but hitting balls inside a tent, practicing at a range and playing casual ”bet golf” is not the same as playing for keeps. Even though I had one of the best practice weeks last week at Black Mountain it felt totally different stepping out onto the first tee at Amata Springs Country Club. Black Mountain was in great condition and fairly long but with no rough and the pins in accessible spots. Amata Springs was long, very very tight, had the deepest rough I’ve seen in a long time, pins tucked away into corners and opponents super hungry to beat us. A little different to say the least.

 

– Our team, including Colin Montgomerie, Robert Karlsson, Soren Kjeldsen, Peter Hanson, Pablo Martin, Simon Dyson, Henrik Stenson and myself all earned points helping us to win. That felt good. Certain memories of the matches comes to me straight away. Stenson off course holing out from 7 feet on the last to win the Trophy. Martin making birdie on the tough 17th to end his match with a 2/1 win. Dyson and Montgomerie winning the fourball big. Kjeldsen playing super steady beating Bullah on the 17th. Hanson totally crushed the amazingly talented player Ryo Ishikawa 5/4. Hanson was 7 under through 14. Me and Robert had two great days in both foursomes and fourball. I learnt a lot from Robert and we both hit some great shots and we only lost 2 holes in the two days, loosing no holes in the fourball. Colin Montgomerie finished with holing out from long distances on each of the last three holes to tie his singles match and I got to see it all. It was awesome. He looked so relaxed and knew exactly what he was doing.

 

– Being around top players and sharing thoughts was fun. Colin shared a lot of his experiences. I remember watching him on the last hole in the second day of foursomes in the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club. He hit the green with a 3 wood on the par-5 18th but left his partner Lee Westwood with a long tricky downhill putt from the back of the green. Lee putted it about 8 feet past the hole and a two putt would give them the victory in that match. Colin walked by the other European players that were sat next to the green cheering the couple on as a he saw Westwood’s putt going far by and just smiled and blinked with his eye and said ”I’ll hole that one”. I was standing close enough to see this and I doubt that any player or fan that heard this doubted him. He off course holed the left to right sliding putt to win the match. It felt like he was as confident yesterday when holing those crucial putts. When I discussed just this with my caddie Colin Byrne in the car on the way to the hotel, he just said, ”Monty is a competitor, he can’t help it”.

 

– Technically speaking, I improved a lot this week. When I came on tuesday my draw was a little too aggressive. When watching Robert, Pablo and Colin in the practice round, there straight shots worked better around this track than my bigger draws. I had to change up a little and found out that if I coil better in the backswing it’ll be easier for me to hit it straighter. Robert plays very nice. He has total control over his ball and can curve it either way in the air. He is remarkably good at the low soft shots with his irons. He tought me a lot of good strategies for match play as well and it was a blast to play with him. The best advice was to never let your opponent know how you feel.

 

– Overall, it was a fantastic week and it felt like it couldn’t have ended better. Close but we all knew Stenson was gonna make that!

 

See you soon! Take care!