Finally, after many years, persistence has paid off and, at a great MENA Tour venue in Malasia, I find myself winning!  The venue is called Els Club Desaru…no coincidence that it holds the same name as my girlfriend Els!

It’s a tough golf course; very demanding off the tee and into the greens with the irons. Almost every shot plays uphill or downhill.  

After playing the course the week before in “swing 1” I knew what to expect this week and what sort of score would be needed. That said, I also knew that I just needed to focus on executing my best effort one shot at a time for three days straight and see if it that was good enough.

I was fully prepared for a low score from one of the players behind me on the last day as that seems to happen all the time these days, regardless of how difficult the course is. I think I underestimated how big a three shot lead is on a golf course as demanding as this one and now, after time to reflect on the week, I can see that it was a great course to have a lead on going into the final round.

I would say the front 9 holes were the easier to score on. However, things didn’t go to plan…as expected for a final round…and I was three over for 9 holes and I’d definitely slipped down the leaderboard. For some reason the challenging back 9 did me well all week and I fortunately caught a few good breaks and managed to save par with some solid short game shots. 

My golf swing from about halfway through round two didn’t feel as together as it had in the previous weeks and I was starting to notice more potential danger off the tee. I had to double down on my commitment, good swing feels…and say a prayer!

You hear all the time if you watch golf on the TV, “anything can happen on the back 9 on a Sunday” and that’s what I kept telling myself when my inner demons tried to talk me out of it. I was well aware that this was a Thursday but to me it felt like a Sunday, and it meant a lot to me to get the best out of myself when I needed it. I converted some big birdies on holes 14 and 16, two of the tougher holes, and ultimately that helped me get back in it.

It is a relief, I feel like I’ve been playing for only a few years but time flies and 10 years from my first season I’m really happy to play great again. You hear sports people say this all the time but without the help of friends, family, and sponsors this really wouldn’t happen. No matter how big or small winning is really hard and to me this is as good as any. So, this one is for all of you and you know who you are.