This week saw the PGA Europro Tour stop off at Leven Links in Fife, a course which I hadn’t seen before Monday practice. Practice day is always an important period in the build-up to an event, it includes working out course strategy and plotting an action plan for each hole that will give you the best possible chance of achieving your golfing goal.
When you research the course e.g. Leven Links [www.leven-links.com] the tag line on the home page says it all “A traditional links with rolling fairways, many of which are lined by ancient sand dunes, fast putting surfaces, burns and pot bunkers”. The key for me in practice is to determine the lines from tees, quickly understand the holes that are open to more aggressive play [driver from the tee] and which ones you play conservative on. This would prove very true throughout the week at Leven.
At Leven Links I was delighted to get my first Pro-Am start of the season, joining GMH Chartered Accountants team for a 12 noon shot gun start. The Pro-Am added a competitive edge to practice whilst have a chance to play some relaxed fun golf in good company. For me the day ended with a -3 score which included a slack double bogey at the 4th, so all in all a decent score. One thing to note; Pro-Am also gives you the opportunity to reaffirm your strategy from Monday’s practice, check your notes and adjust accordingly.
For those of you who have followed my journey this season on the PGA Europro Tour, tournaments are played over three days with the cut coming after 36 holes [Wednesday & Thursday], final 18 holes on Friday. Scoring on this year’s Tour has been exceptional and getting off to a fast start on Wednesday is a must, it really is no fun watching the cut-line on a Thursday.
Having had a solid practise day followed by a sub par round in the Pro-Am, the objective of the week was to target a top 25 finish. Top 25 is always nice and assists with the Order of Merit standings, where the top sixty players make the, all important, final event of the season at the Tour Championship. Staring the week in 67th spot the final two events [Leven Links and Castletown, Isle of Man] were going to define whether it was a good or average season, hopefully the former.
Wednesday Morning was a sharp start, teeing off 8am, in fine weather with little wind to speak of greeted the morning players. There was a two tee start, starting on the back 9, after settling well the pot bunkers came into play on par 5 12th & 6th meaning it was “play out” sideways and settle for two pars. This was disappointing as they were real chances to help build your score, however this year I’ve tried hard to accept what bounces and breaks I get and continue to build the best score I can. First round score ended up one under leaving me T54 after the opening round. Overall, a frustrating day where the ball striking was good, putter cold and coupled with the two tee shots at the par 5’s meant I lost ground on the field. As they say, in golf, there is always tomorrow.
After a long afternoon on Wednesday and later start to Thursday, I was eager to get going and put right some of the missed chances of the day before. Playing the course, the traditional way, birdies came at 3 & 5 meaning I got it to the turn in two under. Ball striking continued to be good with a few chances missed on tricky greens and hole positions, however three birdies on the way home meant a 65 (-5) for the day and a cut well made – tied 14th was a result I had to be pleased with.
The start of the final round was delayed due to fog meaning preparation wasn’t what it is normally however it was the same for all the players. One bad tee shot on 4 meant a lost ball and a double bogey meaning I was going backwards on the last day. A couple of birdies on the back-nine meant a one-under round leaving me on a tournament total of -7, T33.
Whilst I was having trouble, my playing partner Jack Davidson “lighting it up” with a hugely impressive 60, 10 under par. The only thing I could do was stand back and admire his golf and ability to get the ball in the hole. What none of us knew, was history was about to be made. Jack South of Tippity Green Golf Club became the first player to shot 59 on the PGA Europro Tour securing the tournament title along with a huge £59,000 bonus, very impressive golf. Massive congratulations to both guys on fantastic scores. To read more on the tournament head to
For the week my tournament stats by Par were:-
Par 3’s: -1 / T29 Par 4’s : -4 T27 Par 5’s: -2 T70
These stats show how finding pot bunkers on day one set me back and cost me the Top 25 finish which was the objective at the start of the week.
Remember if you want to catch up with any of the golf from Leven Links, tune in at 6pm on 21st Sept on Sky Sports Golf where highlights will be shown…. Probably nothing of me this week but onwards and upwards…. Next stop Isle of Man!!
Thanks, as always for your interest and support, it means a lot.
Happy golfing
Robbie