Language

Advertising by Adpathway

DAN BRADBURY’S TOUR DIARY

1 week ago 3

PROTECT YOUR DNA WITH QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY

Advertising by Adpathway

Dan Bradbury in action at the KLM Open (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Continuing his exclusive column for Golf News, DP World Tour player Dan Bradbury finds that a few costly errors at the wrong time are continuing to frustrate him, but a top-10 finish at the KLM Open will hopefully kickstart a change in fortunes as the busy summer schedule gets into full swing

I’s funny how golf gives you the highest highs and the lowest lows, sometimes within the same hole. That’s just the nature of it – small margins make big differences. And that was never clearer to me than it was at the Turkish Airlines Open, my first tournament back after five weeks away from competitive action. .

Turkey was a lovely place, and we had a great week. The golf course was in immaculate condition – really well set up. There was a good mix of tough, strong par-fours and some risk- reward par-fives, which I loved. But my game? It didn’t quite show up the way I wanted.

NEAR MISS

I shot one-under the first round, which wasn’t bad. The second round, though, I had morning conditions – easier than the first day’s afternoon slot – and I just didn’t take advantage of it early. I played solid on the back nine, gave myself a lot of chances, but just couldn’t convert. And then came the final hole, which I’ll remember for a while.

We finished on the 10th hole that week due to the two-tee start. Normally a par five, it was playing as a 500-yard par four. Water all down the left, trees on the right, and water short of the green. The pin was tucked left, so missing it left was dead, and long was no good either. I hit a perfect drive and left myself 200 yards in over water into that tucked pin. I knew a par would likely make the cut. Bogey maybe still had a chance. Double, and I was definitely out.

So, I played safe — aimed for the middle of the green with a 6-iron, hit a decent shot that just caught the wrong ridge, and ended up with a 45-foot putt. I rolled it too hard, left myself seven or eight feet coming back, and missed. Bogey. Missed the cut by one.

It’s always tough when you’re watching the cutline shift all afternoon. You’ve just got to sit and wait. But that’s the game. The two-tee starts we get every week on the DP World Tour mean that depending on your start, you might finish on a brutal hole or a gettable one. In Turkey, the 10th was a beast to finish on. Other places, like Singapore, the ninth is the tough one, and the 18th is reachable. It adds a layer of complexity, especially when you’re grinding on the cutline.

TIME WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Prior to teeing it up in Turkey I had a month off the tour and spent some time back home working on my game and catching up with friends and family. I also went on a golf trip to Portugal with a few mates. Playing golf with friends definitely reminds me why I fell in love with the game in the first place. It’s different, of course. I’m still competitive – bad shots still annoy me – but I don’t second-guess myself as much. I get the number, pick the club, hit the shot. There’s no overthinking. And sometimes I wish I could take that simplicity into tournaments.

After that trip I had some sponsor commitments in London, including a round at Windlesham Golf Club in Surrey with the guys at MASHIE GOLF, which offers organised events at top venues throughout the UK. After that I managed to squeeze in a game at Royal St George’s, which was dry, firm, and breezy, but still one of the best courses I’ve ever played.

In my amateur days, everything was links golf, but funnily enough, I’ve never really had my best

results on links courses. I love them, and think links is the purest form of golf, but something about the greens — the subtle breaks, the flatness, the lighter grass — throws me off.

I drive it straight, pace putt well, but I struggle to read links greens sometimes.

We don’t get to play much links golf on the DP World Tour – which is perhaps no bad thing given
my results on them – but I’m looking forward to the Scottish swing, with the Scottish Open
at Renaissance, and especially the new tournament, the Scottish Championship, which is being held
at Trump International near Aberdeen. I’ve not played it before, but it looks like an exciting course.

US OPEN QUALIFYING

With a break in the DP World Tour schedule caused by the PGA Championship, I took the opportunity to play in US Open qualifying at Walton Heath a couple of weeks ago.

Walton has been good to me in the past — some of my best amateur results came there. I played solidly. Three birdies and three bogeys over 36 holes, but that’s not enough in a qualifier. I was level-par, but it took seven-under to make the top eight. Sometimes, that’s the way it goes. I didn’t play badly, just not well enough.

Qualifying for The Open itself is something I’m undecided on. The R&A moved final qualifying to a Tuesday, which makes it almost impossible for tour players to manage with the travel involved.

If it was still on a Monday, I’d be in. But with a Sunday finish in Italy, travel on Monday, 36 holes on Tuesday, then off to Munich for the BMW International on Wednesday — it’s just not viable. Especially not when you factor in the costs. Between flights, caddie expenses, and accommodation, you’re looking at nearly £2,000.

It’s tough to swallow when you see Open spots given to winners of obscure events in far-off places where some players have little genuine interest in The Open. Meanwhile, national champions like the Spanish or French Open winners don’t get in. I won the French Open last year and finished 30th in the DP World Tour Rankings, which would traditionally have got me an Open spot, but now it’s just the top 25, so I still didn’t get a spot. It doesn’t feel right.

GAME GETTING CLOSER

The Soudal Open in Belgium was tough. My Thursday round was the worst I’ve had in a long time — just nothing was working. Prep was fine, but when Thursday came, I had no control, no confidence. The ball wasn’t going where I wanted it. I knew I needed something special on Friday
to make the cut— six-under or better — and when I missed a few chances early, that was that.

But I didn’t give up. I still tried to take the positives – my short game was solid and my putting felt okay. After missing the cut, I had a good session with my coach. Sent some videos over, got some feedback. Turns out a few old habits had crept back into the swing. Not ideal, but fixable.

Statistically, I usually gain off the tee and on approach. Lately, I haven’t. I’ve been hitting greens, just not close enough. Short game has improved, putting’s been okay — but not great. Still, I know my game is close. I’ve missed seven cuts this year by one shot, including at the Austrian Alpine Open, where I finished tied 67th on level par, with those on -1 under making the cut. Those are the fine margins we’re dealing with, but the Belgium round was the first time I really wasn’t in it.

ALL CHANGE AT KLM

Thankfully, things turned around at the following week’s KLM Open in The Netherlands, where a top-10 finish has provided me a bit of positive momentum. I got off to a really good start, holing a few early putts to go three under after eight holes, but I gave all those shots back around the turn, and then kind of hung in there to be one-over for the first round. It was pretty windy for the second round – gusting 40mph and it was just a case of limiting the damage and hoping everyone else was finding scoring
as tough as I was.

Thankfully that proved the case and my +3 total for 36 holes was two shots inside the cut mark. I played pretty solidly over the weekend, shooting 71 on Saturday and then fired a 66 on Sunday to move 40 spots up the leaderboard on the final day into a share of seventh. They were tough scoring conditions, so I’m proud of how I dug deep over the those closing holes and got the best possible result out of what was a difficult week.

With so many tournaments in Europe over such a short period of time, I decided to drive my own car between events, rather than flying back and forth. It’s been a 3,000-mile-plus road trip through some amazing countryside and I really enjoyed having my feet on ground. Compared
to flying – packing bags, checking clubs, airport stress – driving’s a dream.

Right now, I’m having a couple of weeks off before playing the Italian Open, the BMW International in Germany, and the Scottish Open. It’s a busy stretch, but they’re all relatively close together, so there’s less travel stress and hopefully they’ll bring some better results.