Challenge Tour

My first taste of Challenge Tour golf was at Stoke by Nayland Golf Club in Colchester. A nice course with long par 5’s and some tricky par 3’s. In the run up to the event I had been unable to keep any food down so wasn’t feeling my best on the first day of the tournament.
The first round started poorly with 2 bogies in the first 3 holes, I knew that there would be plenty of birdies out there if I stayed patient. I battled hard but putted really poorly throughout the day and if I didn’t have 3 birdies in the last 5 holes it could have been a lot worse and I ended up with a very poor 3 over par 75. This left me in a tie for 133rd.
Day 2 started better as I managed to eat something the night before so had a bit more energy when I woke up, however I somehow managed to make a double bogey at my first hole the 10th, I was now 5 over par for the tournament and needed to get to 2 under par to make the cut. I chipped in on the next hole and was unfortunate to not birdie the next 3 holes. I then made birdie at the 15th my 6th hole and I was back needing another 5 birdies to make the cut. I stupidly bogied 17 before just missing for birdie on the 18th, so with 9 to play I needed 6 birdies. I started with 3 straight birdies and with a par 5 to play I needed to find two other birdies, sadly though I bogied the 4th and only managed a par at the par 5 5th hole which left me needing to birdie every hole. I tired my best but attacking the course I made a few mistakes and ended up finishing with a two over par 74. I missed the cut by quite a few in the end but I played a lot better in the second round when I started to feel better.
I learnt a lot from the experience and realised that the standard of Challenge Tour golf isn’t that much different than that of the EuroPro Tour and also I learnt that preparation is key to success and if you can not prepare properly for a tournament then you will struggle to play well.