Pre - Stage II Final Qualifying Ladies European Tour - Italy

VIENNA to DUSSELDORF to MALAGA to MILAN to BOLOGNA…

Upon arriving to the sun shining in the city of Malaga on the Costa del Sol (Southern Coast) of Spain, I discovered that I had caught a hideous cold. I think the long flight from Melbourne to Glasgow and then two weeks of chilly, rainy and delayed tournament rounds all added up to a very tired immune system.

I decided bed rest was in order and spent my first two days looking outside to blue skies and 27 degree weather. I was devastated!

By the third day my hands were getting really itchy (to practice!) and I decided it was time to get cracking on the putting green. I putted for four hours straight, 3.5 of these hours involved a squat per putt to line up my ball. I basically did about four hundred squats and my legs were in agony the next day.

I spent two weeks in Malaga with the Jewett family, Wendy and Alan and their sons Sean (11yrs) and Connor (6yrs). Alan was my caddy at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in 2006. They live about two drivers, roughly 500m, from the La Cala Resort club house so it was perfect for me. Off to the gym at 8am, brekkie and then to practice by 10am. Home by 5:30 just in time for dinner and delicious cakes made by Wendy (choc-chip cookie cake, apple pie, oreo cookie ice-cream cake, mmm…).

I also used the driving range at the David Leadbetter Academy just up the mountain from the golf course. I had a session in the Taylor Made lab with Quintin van der Berg where they suited me up in a fancy outfit which tells the computer where my body and club are relative in space throughout my swing. Very cool information.

On my day off I drove 2 hours south on the coastal highway to Gibraltar, very much unprepared. I wore my pointy flats to go shopping on the way home at Puerto Banus and didn’t realize that I would be walking roughly 10km across the Rock of Gibraltar. I don’t know if my feet will ever forgive me.

This was a fantastic experience. I caught the cable car up the Rock, walked to St Michael’s cave’s, saw the Barbary Apes, walked through the Great Siege tunnels, saw the Moorish Castle and many World War II monuments. The Rock of Gibraltar is a very touchy subject for Spain, they pretty much detest the whole issue as it is technically British land, previously Spanish and taken by force. Try to avoid this subject in the south of Spain!

Unfortunately for me the Levante was down when I visited. The Levante is the cloud formed where hot and cold air meet and it’s like a fog hanging around the top half of the Rock. On a clear day at the top you can see Africa; my view extended about 8 feet.

On the way home Puerto Banus started calling my name. Obviously I had to make a quick stop to have a look in the ridiculously expensive shops. I tried on a Versace dress that was stunning. The staff member serving me let me know it was 50% off but the starting price was 2000 euros. Oops.

Halfway through my stay in Spain I was asked to be a guest at the La Cala Resort President’s dinner. I was seated with a table of English people and that was the day they beat us in the World Cup Rugby. I copped it all night from them. Painful.

We were entertained by Flamenco Dancers which was so fantastic. And it was a real Spanish party, drinks at 8:30pm, dinner at 10pm, presentations at 12:45am and then the party really began! I left at this point; I was almost falling off my chair in deep slumber. They are wild.

During my Spanish fling I saw an Orchestra perform in Fuengirola that featured a Spanish guitarist, asked for a good beach to visit and was answered with the beach Rosario. I was then later told this was a nudist gay beach (told to me by a gay man, he was trying to prank me, very cheeky and very funny), although somehow I never found the time to go there. I tried to stay alive when traveling on the N340, the coastal highway, also known as the most dangerous stretch of road in Europe. Spanish drivers are mentalists! And I practiced my favourite Spanish word at every opportunity… “Kepasa?” - “What’s happening?”

I have now been in Castel San Pietro Terme, Italy, for 1 week preparing for Stage II Final qualifying for the Ladies European Tour 2008 season. This will be a four round tournament from 23-26 November. The final cut will be to the top 25 players for full playing status for next year.

So far I have practiced, practiced and practiced. I also visited Bologna briefly yesterday afternoon and had to make a stop at the Lindt chocolate outlet store which has 1kg balls of Lindt chocolate. My boyfriend ordered 8 to bring home, dream on.

This area is the hub of Italian art, history, culture, cheese and wine (especially the Lambrusco and Sangiovese variety). I observed this immediately at the Le Fonti Golf Club when I saw shoes hanging from a tree by the 18th green. The portable loos also feature the statue of David by Michelangelo on the door (I censored a picture of this on my website www.melanieholmessmith.com). Venice is 1 hour north, Milan 2 hours north/west, Florence 1 hour west, Tuscany 1 hour south/west and Rome 2 hours south.

Tomorrow is my final day of preparation before the tournament begins. Alan has flown from Spain to caddy for me which will be a great help. I have spent the last 7 months focused on preparing for this tournament and I am really looking forward to see how I perform in the test.

My next update will be post tournament, wish me luck! Ciao!