Mark’s Monday (getting later…)

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.