The UAE’s Ahmad Skaik says his game is in good shape ahead of his return to Challenge Tour action this week at the Challenge de Cadiz.
The 27-year-old amateur is making his third appearance of the season on the feeder circuit to the DP World Tour thanks to a unique initiative set up by the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF), which ensures UAE National Team players and top expats in the country get a taste of elite-level events across the world.
The UAE’s governing body of golf received 60 invitations across the Abu Dhabi and UAE Challenge earlier this season and have been able to swap some of their allocation with other international federations.
Skaik is the benefactor of one of those invite swaps this week, while the UAE’s No.1 professional golfer, Joshua Grenville-Wood, is set to benefit from the initiative next week in the Czech Republic.
“My game is feeling really good,” Skaik told Gulf News.
“I played an EGF Order of Merit event last month, but other than that, my last competitive outing was the UAE Challenge at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club.
“I’ve been pretty busy with my brother’s marriage, so I haven’t practiced as much as I wanted to.
“I’ve been trying to play as much as I can but had lots of family over which has kept me busy.
“I’m excited to get back into a routine and compete again.”
The return to high-level competition at Iberostar Real Golf Novo Sancti Petriwill also give the Emirati the opportunity to test his new-look swing against the game’s up and coming players.
The 27-year-old revealed to Gulf News earlier this year that he made the decision to majorly revamp his swing in a bid to reach new heights in the game, with the belief that his old swing was holding him back.
“My swing is looking much better,” he says.
“Obviously, I still need to do lots of work as its very tough to get away from old habits.
“Sometimes you need to work on the swing and then remind yourself to just play golf when you are on the course – you do that for a while then you start going back to your old swing.
“I need to find a way to stay on top of it and also switch off when on the course, but there’s plenty of positives, for sure.”
While Skaik is yet to make the cut in a European Tour group-sanctioned event, he remains as confident as ever that his hard work, determination and willingness to stick to the gameplan will ensure he fulfils his dream of competing regularly on a professional tour.
“My goal is to stick to the process,” he says.
“I feel like I can play all the shots I want, but sometimes I just get in the way of myself and don’t score as well as I’ve played.
“I want to get stronger and mentally better, which I am doing, and start performing.
“It always takes time, but I’m a believer that when you go through rough times, it will always get better if you work hard.
“Obviously, I want to do well on the Challenge Tour, my goal is top 20 and maybe get a few starts on the DP World Tour and win a few amateur events.”
Skaik will begin his first round alongside Christofer Rahm and Andrew Martin at 8:50am local time.
