 FIRST PERSON
Qatar Masters could be a start for Robert RockBy Robert Rock, I don't think I'll retire on my winnings just yet -- but at least I managed to complete four rounds of golf in Qatar. And I'm a record breaker! I was among 84 players who made the cut in the Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club -- and just five shots separated us. It was the fewest number of shots between the 36-hole leaders and the cut line in European Tour history.
I was four shots off the lead at that stage, though it could have been even better. During my second-round score of 70, I dropped just two shots -- both on the 18th -- which was my ninth hole of the day. My tee shot went under a large rock so I had to take a penalty shot and my next went in the water. Before that, I'd picked up three shots and was really pleased with the way I was playing. But I recovered to pick up another shot for a round of two under. And then on Saturday, I picked up two shots on the first two holes, only to bogey four, six and seven. I birdied two more holes on the back nine, but dropped a shot on 18 again. Quite a mixed round really. But I did take just 29 putts, which is better than average for me. I'm told I'm 140th on the Tour for putting, taking an average of 31.3 putts per round. When somebody tells you something like that it just makes you more determined than ever to work on that part of the game. And I am working on it, regularly. Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin led after the third day after posting an impressive 65 -- his second successive sub-70 round -- so even at 2-under I was already nine shots off the lead.
I dropped down the leaderboard drastically on the final day, however. I took a 75 which saw me finish 77th -- a disappointing end given my encouraging start. I was pleased with my putting this week though. I'm starting to show signs of improvement. My downfall was that I didn't hit the ball as well from tee to green as I did in Dubai. I scrambled a few pars well too, getting up and down when I needed to. Joakim Haeggman won the event -- his first for seven years -- when he drained a 15-foot birdie putt on the last green to beat Nobuhito Sato by a stroke with a 16-under 272. I played with Joakim last week in Dubai and there were signs then that his game was coming together again. He's a nice guy, and I was delighted he walked off with the trophy. Last week I said how I felt the course in Dubai was the best we'd played on so far this year. Well, I've had to revise my thinking because the course at Doha was magnificent. The greens were quite hard and fast though which may have contributed to the closeness of the scoring. It made approach shots difficult and it was quite hard to get up close to the pin.
I'm not taking part in the Caltex Masters at Laguna National G&CC, in Singapore, this week as I've decided to take a week off. And I'm not sure yet whether I will participate in the Madeira Island Open, at Santo da Serra on March 25. We're getting to the stage where the main events of the European Tour start coming back to back which means a long time away from home and family, so I have to take advantage of any opportunity I get. In the meantime I will be looking to determine what went wrong tee to green. I'm normally at my strongest there, so I don't think it will be too much of a problem. 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. Also From Robert Rock Series:
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At one stage, because I was out early, I was quite well up the leaderboard, but it was so tightly congested that as soon as you start to drop shots you go backward.
It's a long course and the par fives are true par 5s -- the ninth is 634 yards! I'm quite a long hitter, so I may have missed out on a couple of birdie opportunities -- but it was the same for everybody.
