That time of year again, Aussie Masters time! I have enjoyed my time at the Masters over the past couple of years and am enjoying it again this year despite play not quite being underway yet.
Metro is hosting us in the sandbelt this year and it is a treat to be playing another of the premier courses in Australia. I haven't played here for many many years and my memory of it was always that it had amazing fairways. I was not mistaken and when I arrived on Monday for my first practice round I was treated to "golf on carpet!" The fairways are unbelievable and the only way you could get a bad lie this week is if you find a divot in the fairway. In typical sandbelt golf tradition, the course is all about keeping the ball below the hole and controlling where you are putting from.
My week so far has been about familiarizing myself with the layout on Monday and coming up with a plan for the course. Tuesday I played 18 holes with that plan and checked to see whether the plan will work and make any necessary changes. After some lunch on Tuesday it was off to the chipping and putting green to try and get a natural feel for the firmness and speed of the greens.
Today was the final day of preparation before the main event starts tomorrow. I am playing early in round one so it was an early start for me today too. Get out there early and finish early so that I could relax and be fresh for the next 4 days. I had a great session this morning out there, the early bird caught the worm as the saying goes. There weren't many players out there early so I had the chipping and putting greens pretty much to myself before hitting a very limited number of balls on the range. Why would I only hit a few range balls the day before a tournament you may ask? Well normally I would hit a few more but today I was hitting it every shape with ease through the bag so I decided to stop. Simple as that!
I am ready to go and looking forward to the week. I have a week off next week after being on the go for the past couple after getting through to finals in Japan last week. The Final qualifying for the Japanese tour awaits after that week off and I am hoping the the break will freshen me up to make a serious assault on the 6 round final stage.
For now though I have a task in front of me, to stop the 3 peat from Adam Scott at the Aussie Masters!