FIRST PERSON

Rock takes you inside the ropes

By Robert Rock,
Special for WorldGolf.com

Englishman Robert Rock is looking to make the breakthrough on the European Tour this year, and he has agreed to pen a weekly diary exclusively for our readers as he plays his way around the tournaments. After some late birdies sent him home early in Dubai, he made the cut at the Qatar Masters and finished at 1-over-par 289 at the Doha Golf Club, good for 77th place.

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It was the first occasion I had been in a field with Tiger Woods, which is a little daunting, with all the extra media attention that brings.

But I was doing alright and had hopes of joining Tiger -- and Ernie Els -- in the draw for Saturday's third round.

I teed off with Gordon Brand Jr. and Joakim Haeggman and posted a level par score in the first round -- eight behind the overnight leader Bradley Dredge -- but in the second I was one-over -- and there were some decent scores being posted elsewhere.

It all came down to two guys who birdied the 18th late on. There were a few of us at plus-1 who went out to watch them come in. We knew if they parred we'd be OK as the cut was scheduled at 1-over.

But their birdies changed all that, and the cut was made at level par.

I fell down on the 17th, where I bogeyed. If I'd played to my strengths I should really have gone for it as the hole is a driveable par-4. But I attempted to play safe and ended up three-putting.

Joakim was the only one of our trio to make the cut, after he posted two rounds of 70 to finish the second day 4-under.

Jarrod Moseley, Ignacio Garrido and Pierre Fulke were among eight other players who were 1-over for the first two rounds as I was. And some well-known names failed to make the cut as well, so we weren't alone in being disappointed. Sandy Lyle, Miguel Angel Jiminez, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Ian Woosnam were among the big names to dip out.

My putting has been letting me down recently so I've been working really hard on improving it with Dr Paul Hurrion, a biomechanics consultant for The Centre for Sport and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University.

I really believe if I can become an average Tour putter, I will make the breakthrough on the European Tour and win a few events as I've been reasonably happy with my performance from tee to green.

Mark O'Meara won the event -- his first success on the PGA European Tour for six years -- by one shot from Paul McGinley.

The course was magnificent though. The Emirates Club was the first all-grass championship golf course in the Gulf region when it opened in 1988. It's the best course we've played on so far this year.

The greens are immaculate and it's amazing they manage to keep the course in such excellent condition given the weather. It was tolerably warm in Dubai, whereas the heat was almost unbearable in Malaysia previously.

There were two real high points for me, however. On Friday morning I was on the practice ground next to Tiger. There's a definite aura about the guy and there were an awful lot of people who were crowding round just to watch him practice -- players and caddies as well as fans.

I was pleased that all the attention didn't put me off my practice though.

Here's hoping it won't be the only time I find myself next to him.

The other high point for me was that my girlfriend Lynda was out with me. So with two days spare I had a lot of time to spend with her -- in between working on my putting obviously.

It's nice to have her out with me. As a golfer you spend a lot of time away from home. And with two tournaments so close together and so far from the UK, I have to stay out here.

There's a lot of time to kill between the end of the second round on a Friday and the start of the first round the following Thursday. Having Lynda with me cushioned the blow.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.