Final Qualifying Ladies European tour - Le fonti Golf Club, Italy

Le Fonti Golf Club, Castel San Pietro Terme, Italy 23-26th October 2007

7 months of preparation for a tournament with the duration of 4 days. At the end of play on the last day of the Final Stage of qualifying for the Ladies European Tour, I almost felt in a state of shock. It felt so strange to have my every thought and action geared toward this goal and then it was all over in four days. My question was “Where to now?”

But first let me tell you about the tournament! We played at the Le Fonti Golf Club in Castel San Pietro Terme, 30 minutes south/east of Bologna in Italy. Our two practice rounds were in freezing conditions. During these days it snowed on the Alps a few hours north. On the 8th green during the second practice round it was 8 degrees and with wind chill 4 degrees. At least I could feel the sting on my hands, even if my fingers felt like one collective whole.

The weather was much kinder during the tournament. The first round we even caught climpses of the sun. I struck the ball beautiful this day and hit 15 greens in regulation. Unfortunately my putting decided to revisit stabsville on this day and I had 38 putts in total. Normally I would like to have 29. I had just cost myself 9 shots.

I finished the first round with 78 shots (+6 over par). This placed me at 89th position in the field. After 3 rounds there was a cut to the top 50 players and after the final fourth round a cut to the top 30 players for full playing rights to the 2008 season.

I knew going into the second round that I would have to do better. Alan Jewett (my American friend from Spain) flew over to caddy. He watched my first round, took me onto the practice putting green afterwards and said we have to fix this right now. And we did! My alignment was a little off which was causing optical illusions so I never felt comfortable or correctly aimed at the hole. I couldn’t believe the improvement to my putting the next day. It almost felt miraculous.

I shot 72 (even par) after the second round and moved to 72nd position. On the third day knowing that I had to finish inside the top 50 to play the final round and have a chance to play on Tour next year I set my goal for 68 (-4 under par). I felt this was an achievable number and would more than likely have me playing the final round.

I started the third day like a house on fire (that’s hot which is good for golf) and birdied the first hole. The second hole was a silly double bogey but I reset myself, parred the next and then birdied the next three holes to be at -2 with 12 holes to go. I made a bunch of pars and then another silly double bogey on my 11th hole. I couldn’t quite get the putts to drop and finished my round with another 72.

That put me on +6 after three rounds and the cut was made at +2.

I was and am so proud of myself and my behaviour. It was unfortunate that I fixed my putting one day too late. I think the only fault I have with my preparation was that I needed at least one more tournament to get my putting correct.

This trip has been so wonderful. I am so happy to be back playing. I am so happy that I never got down on myself. I remember why I love to play and I actually felt that joy whilst playing. Even on the bad shots!

I have learnt more about my strengths and weakness on and off the course. I realize that just because I didn’t win which was my aim it doesn’t mean I didn’t try my hardest to get there. I know how to improve my preparation for my next tournaments and I will do this. I also know that I am on my way back up with my game. I can see light at the end of the tunnel!

One of my most amazing moments during this trip was when my mum, supercaddy (my step-dad) and my boyfriend emailed me with simple notes to say they were proud of me. That meant so much to me more than anything that happened on the golf course. Funny huh?

The eventual winner was Dana Lacey from Perth. We have been pals since we were fourteen years old and I caddied for her during the final round. It was so wonderful to watch her win her first Professional tournament. You can check out all our photos on www.ladieseuropeantour.com.

I do have to recommend when in Italy try the hot chocolate (so thick your spoon stands up in it), the pizzas, my favourite kind was prosciutto, rocket lettuce, mozzarella and buffalo cheese with a tomato base (mmm...) and I had to return to the Lindt chocolate store just to make sure that it was the best gelati I have ever had. And yes, it was. Again.

So where to now? I return to Barooga for four weeks before heading off to the Pro-Am series for the Australian Ladies Tour. I have two weeks off over Christmas and then I will play the Australian Open at Kingston Heath Golf club in Melbourne and the ANZ Ladies Masters at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast.

I am expecting rent-a-crowd at the Australian Open so if you come to watch please say hi to me!