Mark Brown has had a week to forget in Sinagpore, his agony prolonged by the stormy weather. After a lost ball and two in the water on Thursday, Friday fared no better with a long delay due to storms and heavy rain meaning the second round was completed on Saturday. Mark had another 78 to mean a weekend of practice ahead of the HSBC Champions in Shangai next week where he is about to set the golfing world on fire. Click here for full scores as Ian Poulter of England leads the way.

Mark Brown had a bad day at the very hot office today as he shot a seven over par 78 in the first round of the Barclays Singapore Open. Three, yes three double bogeys on par fours were costly errors as he only hit seven of 14 fairways. Mark will need to learn to minimise the damage from wayward tee shots if he is to improve in the second round tomorrow. On a brighter note, the putter was working okay and Mark will be digging in for a better showing. Click here for full scores.

Necessity has forced a change of name of this blog from ‘Mark’s Monday’ to ‘Mark’s Week’. It was getting a bit ridiculous, and everyone knows that Monday is a day for washing and resting.

It is great to be back in Singapore this week, even though I had forgotten how hot it gets here! It was a long flight out from Europe on Sunday and for the first time ever I arrived with a sore back from the travel. I have had a bit of treatment the last two days and I am fine, just a bit painful throughout the day.

We have a great field here this week, the Barclays Singapore Open alawys has a strong lineup, normally through a fair bit of appearance money but this year it is co-sanctioned with the European Tour and is also in the run up to Dubai, so as a result even more great players are here trying to get into the top 15 in Europe where the big bonus money kicks in.

The Serapong course is very demanding, a good test. I finished 8th here two years ago and really enjoy the course so I am looking forward to it. The key around here is to avoid the long rough off the tee and also to hit quality iron shots into the large sloping greens. The game feels pretty good, the last six weeks have been pretty good tee to green so hopefully the putts will start to drop soon.

After this week I am off to Shanghai for the WGC HSBC Champions followed by the Hong Kong Open. If I have a great few weeks I will be playing in the Dubai World Championship for the Top 60 players in Europe but otherwise I will be heading back to New Zealand for the first time since February. I can’t wait!

Mark tees off today at 8:20am (1:20pm NZT) playing with Niclas Fasth of Sweden and David Gleeson of Australia.

Mark Brown will not remember the seventh hole at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course in Portugal with fondness. He managed to play the hole six over par in two rounds, yet still finished one-under par in two rounds, three shots outside the cut. Brown has shown a promising return to birdie form and is taking a week’s break in Ascot before a blitz on three Asian tournaments: the Barclays Singapore Open, the HSBC Champions in Shanghai and the Hong Kong Open. Click here for full scores from Portugal.

Mark Brown has shot an even par 72 on the first day of the Portugal Masters near Faro. On the face of it this is a reasonable score but closer inspection is encouraging yet demoralising for Brown. He hit 17 greens in regulation but also made tripe bogey on the par four seventh and had 35 putts! Mark will be disappointed with this on a day that scoring was low. The leader Francesco Molinari of Italy is nine under par and Mark currently sits in a tie for 90th place. Click here for full scores.

Last weeks event, the Madrid Masters, was a strange week.  There was some really positive stuff happening but also a lot of frustration.  I got off to a nice solid start of 68, then played late on Friday to shoot par 72.  We all thought four under would be fine to make the cut but at one stage it got outside the top 65 before someone made a bogey and let us all back in again.  It was an incredible week of scoring, four under cut and 25 under par winning.  The golf course was there for the taking, little wind and soft greens turn these events into a putting competition and the scores go crazy.  I felt like I had played solid for the first two days and was looking forward to the weekend.  Unfortunately I could only manage a 71 and a 70 over the weekend to finish seven under for the event, down in 66th place.  Along with Holland a few weeks back, this was my best ball striking week for a long time, playing beautifully tee to green.  Without harping on about it too much the putting was again a disgrace, almost last in the tournament statistics and giving me no chance of moving up the leaderboard.  A new grip and method is going to be used this week, left hand below right so am hoping for a big turn around.

I managed to get home to London for two nights before flying back out to Portugal for this weeks tournament, the Portugal Masters.  It is a beautiful part of Europe here down in the Algarve, hot dry weather a good solid golf course at The Oceanica Victoria course.  It is good to be back here as I was here earlier in the year for some pre season practice.  A good friend of mine Alan Brown owns a sport and leisure club here, an awesome facility with a rugby / football field, two gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts, beach volleyball court and a fully kitted out sports bar and restaurant.  If you ever make it down this way, check out Browns Sport and Leisure Club at www.browns-club.com.  It makes a really nice change on tour when you can meet up with people you know, most weeks we are on our own in a strange city so it’s great to relax and  get to know a place a bit better.  I am really looking forward to a strong week and this will be my last event in Europe before flying out to Singapore next week for three tournaments in Asia, the Singapore Open, WGC HSBC in Shanghai and finally the Hong Kong Open.

Mark Brown has finished in 66th place at the Madrid Masters with scores of 68, 72, 71 and 70 over the four days. Brown should take heart in the consistency of his rounds, this being one of his most steady and consistent performances in months, averaging 15 greens in regulation per round. Despite putting stats of 31, 33, 31 and 33  per round, Brown will be encouraged by his improvement from tee to green and will keep working on his short game and was pleased with his eagle on the last hole of the tournament. Click here for full scores. This week he heads to Portugal for the Portugal Masters.

Mark Brown’s dogged determination and practice has finally seen some rewards in the first round of the Madrid Masters in Spain. Brown shot a four under par 68 to sit in a tie for 16th place, six shots behind the early runaway leader Manuel Quiros of Spain. Brown’s blemish free round featured 16 greens in regulation and only two missed fairways. Mark will be now looking to consolidate his position early tomorrow and capitalise, and in doing so must look at Friday as the second day of four for a consistent tournament. Click here for full scores.

Down to sunny Spain for the Madrid Open this week.  After a cold and windy week in Scotland last week it feels nice to have some heat in the sun and some dry conditions to play in. 

 The Dunhill Links Championship was played over 3 fantastic links courses, St Andrews Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.  It was a real thrill to play these famous old courses, two of them being on the Open rota.  We play so many tournaments and courses throughout the year that you just turn up, map the course and get your strategy and go play.  It was a really nice change to stand back and appreciate the quality of those courses, remember the holes you have seen on TV so often, and even take the odd photo during the practice rounds.  Standing on the 1st and 18th holes at St Andrews is like a dream come true.

 The format is a bit different in that you are paired with an amateur for the first three rounds, then the field is cut to top 65 pros and top 20 teams.  I was paired with legendary All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick.  We had a great few days but unfortunately our golf wasn’t too great as a team.  Sean played some fantastic golf though, especially on the first day at St Andrews, making two nett eagles.  My golf was very disappointing, again struggling with the putter which seemed to affect the rest of my game as the week went on.  From Scotland is was a seven hour car ride home to London and then a flight the next day to Madrid.  I am looking forward to playing some much better golf this week.

After weather forced the abandonment of play on Saturday, Mark Brown has completed his first Dunhill LInks Championship with a grim 79 on the third day of play at Carnoustie. Brwn needed a miracle to have any chance of playing the fourth round at St Andrews but it wasn’t to be as he had an off day with he driver, hitting just five of fifteen fairways. Brown will now drive home ahead of the Madrid Masters this week, where he will fly out to on Tuesday. Click here for full scores.