FIRST PERSON

Robert Rock's putting starting to come around

By Robert Rock,
Special for WorldGolf.com

The weather made life difficult for all of us on the final two days of the Madeira Island Open at Santo da Serra, but I had a good tournament overall.

Sweden's Christopher Hanell won his first event of the year and his first win on the Tour after 119 attempts. I was ahead of him after the first round. I went around in level par, while he was 1-over. But he carded an impressive 67 on the second day to launch his challenge, while I was 1-under after two rounds.

The third and fourth rounds saw higher scores all round -- I posted a 74 and a 76 -- but Hanell braved it out to win the event.

I finished joint 33rd at 5-over par to win £4,450 -- and moved to 166th on the Volvo Order of Merit. You had to feel some sympathy for Brad Kennedy who fell victim to the 18th -- twice!

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The Aussie mistakenly signed for a quadruple-bogey eight instead of a seven in his third-round 80 to put him five shots off the lead.

And then after producing an impressive final round in the gale-force winds, he bogeyed the 18th to miss out on a playoff with Hanell by a stroke.

And the finish was made even more interesting for me as my friend Sam Walker was in with a chance of winning almost all the way through. He fell away a little at the end to finish in the top 10, but I was cheering him on all the way.

It was yet another magnificent course -- we've been treated to some beauties on the Tour so far. Santo da Serra overlooks the bay of Machico, where the Portuguese navigators first landed.

Golf was played here as long ago as 1933, but the course in its present guise was redesigned by Robert Trent Jones in 1991 -- and he's done a fine job.

But the weather made it all quite difficult for the organizers as there were quite a few delays. My one regret is the double bogey on the 16th in the last round which probably cost me £1,000. Still it could have been worse.

The most pleasing part of the event for me was how my putting has improved.

It has always been the part of my game I need to work on most and after having some special putting sessions earlier this season it seems to be coming good.

This week we have moved on to Le Meridien Penina Golf & Resort, in Portugal, for the Algarve Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos. It's a richer event in terms of prize money so I'll be looking to improve on my placing at Madeira and move up a few places in the order of merit.

But it won't be easy. Four of the players scheduled to play -- Joakim Haeggman, Hanell, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Marcel Siem -- have recorded wins on the Tour this year already, so competition will be fierce.

Still, this is why we go through all the qualifying schools and practise until the sun goes down -- to pit our talent against the best the continent has to offer.

I played my first round here with fellow tour golfers Paul Broadhurst and Steve Webster and lost a few Euros in what was supposed to be a friendly game of skins. Let's hope my luck turns for the tournament.

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.