To quickly catch up with the final round from last week, I shot 1 over to finish in a tie for 26th at 8 under. I played great in the final round but just didn't have the speed of the greens right on the day. It plays a massive part in whether you are holing putts or not and on that day I was a little firm with my putts, probably trying to make them, but that meant that weren't quite breaking enough with the extra speed on the ball. Despite this it was a solid week and I felt like my game only got better and better as the week went on.
So leading into the Vic Open this week I am excited at where my game is at this stage of the year and how I am hitting the ball. I have had a few good days practice down here at 13th Beach Golf Course in Geelong and enjoyed my day today in the pro am. Last year I played with a couple of cats (Geelong style) and today I played with a couple of tigers (Richmond style) in Jack Riewoldt and Brett Deledio. They were solid golfers who repeatedly ripped it past me to their liking only for me to beat them on the hole most times to their dislike.
I love chewing the fat and talking sport with professional athletes and you can certainly learn, if you want to from these sort of guys even though they are playing a different sport. I also got the chance to catch up with Ricky Ponting again, whom I had met at the Aussie Masters last year. We had a good chat a few times throughout the day and once again just trying to learn a few things off such a successful high profile athlete that Ricky is. I'm looking forward to having hit with him in a practice round in NZ next week.
The format this year down here sees us play the Creek course once and the Beach course 3 times so that meant learning the second course. Just a time consuming process I am not sure was necessary but anyway it's all done now. It is not a bad course but certainly the Beach course remains the pick of the two courses. I am off early on day one on the Beach course so hoping this crazy wind that is blowing outside right now calms down through the night for me. Looking forward to bringing you some highlights this week from a successful week at 13th Beach.