UNIQA Ladies Golf Open presented by Raiffessen - Weiner Neustadt, Austria

When I turned on the television in my room at the Martinihof Hotel in Weiner-Neustadt, Austria, I discovered some fantastic shows like "Greys anatomy", "Scrubs" and even "McCleod's Daughters". Unfortunately they were all dubbed in German. The only three television shows in English (with German subtitles) were all very dodgy reality TV shows on the MTV channel. "Hogan's Rules", "Flavor of love" and "Parental Control". I won't even tell you about these shows as you will be less intelligent for knowing. As you have now probably guessed I didn't watch much TV.

Basically in Austria if you don't speak German you are in strife. As I speak nein German (no German), I ate pasta for dinner (it was the only dish I could read on the menu) until I discovered Florence from Switzerland was staying at my hotel. I slyly sat with her for dinner and asked her to translate the menu for me. I can now recommend the Weiner Schnitzel followed by Apple Strudel!

This week we played the Uniqa Ladies Golf Open at Golfclub Fohrenwald in Weiner-Neustadt, Austria. This course is situated at the Eastern end of the Alps and when the weather was clear the views were stunning. I spent Monday to Wednesday doing loads of putting practice and also two practice rounds on the course.

We had wonderful weather during these practice days which was a fantastic change after last week. But come first tournament round, delays, delays, delays! My original tee time was 9am for Thursday morning. This was delayed to 10am, 10:50am, 11:50am, 12:50am and finally we teed off at 2pm. We were delayed by fog and rain so we headed inside the clubhouse to wait. The fog inside the clubhouse was almost as bad as the fog on the course. Austrians can still smoke whenever and wherever they want.

This was one of the most challenging tournament days I have ever experienced as I prepared to play for every delayed time. I psyched myself up 5 times for one round of golf, it was a great mental challenge. The last few groups (which included me) didn't finish our rounds and had to return at 8am the next day to play the last few holes. Ultimately it took 27 hours from the start of my warm-up to the last putt to finish my first round. The life of the golf Professional doesn't seem so romantic now huh?!

I shot 77 and 79 for the first two rounds. I played similar to last week where my long shots were solid but my short game was again very competitive rusty. I felt much more comfortable in the second round hitting long shots but just couldn't get the putts to drop. I did get a little frustrated that I scored so bad but there were also many positive signs. I never gave up and when my birdie putt hung over the edge of the cup on my final hole I didn't get angry, I thought what great motivation to do loads of practice!

My aim for these last two tournaments was to get back into the competitive groove. I am working my way back into form for qualifying school so I can get back out here full time. I will now spend three weeks in La Cala, Spain where I will be practicing my short game for many hours every day. I then head to Bologna, Italy for the final stage of Ladies European Tour Qualifying. I can't wait for Spain as I haven't been shopping all year knowing that I would be visiting Puerto Banus. Ladies, if you like to shop, you need to go to this city. But bring lots of money with you!

Austria has been a fascinating country. These people are very friendly and relaxed, the locals tell me Germany is much stiffer and stricter. The legal drinking age is 16 years old and the speed limit on the highway is 130km/hour. I had a courtesy driver do over 140km/hour to my hotel, I was a little freaked out by that. The buildings are so different here. They appear like big fortresses with no personality and huge walls around everything. But when they open their doors you see inside to the most beautiful courtyards and gardens. It's like they are hiding the good stuff from everyone outside.

And they certainly know how to party! There are night clubs everywhere and we had three official parties this week. The VIP party on Saturday night was wild. Scroll down for pictures and videos of the entertainment. As I am not playing Sunday due to missing the cut, I am going to catch the train into Vienna and hire a bicycle to ride around the city. I may have to try a few more local delicacies if I can work it out on the menu, wish me luck!

I bid you guten morgan (good morning). See you on the practice fairway in Spain!