Dubai based Joshua Grenville-Wood, is reporting this week for Gulf News from the Challenge Tour’s Andalucía Challenge de Cádiz as he continues to ride the wave of good form after his second place finish at the Abu Dhabi Challenge at Abu Dhabi Golf Club back in April. A feat not possible has it not been for the Emirates Golf Federation and their long term agreement with the European Challenge Tour.
Last week in the Czech Republic was alright, but it wasn’t good golf. There was some good and bad but there was a lot more bad in there. It was my first time playing in Europe in quite a while. But at the end of the day it was a positive week because I wasn’t playing good golf but I managed to make the cut still and post a couple of “ok” rounds on the weekend and also help out my ranking. It was also a really good learning experience and there’s a few things I have taken from last week that I’ll bring into this week so that should be good.
It was a bit of a pain the journey from the Czech Republic to Cádiz here in Spain. I got notified that I was in this event pretty late. So I flew back to London on Sunday night, and flew out to Cádiz on Monday afternoon, but my flight was delayed two and a half hours on Monday so I didn’t get to Cádiz until 1am! So it was a pretty long day haha!
But the first couple of days have been good, I played 18 holes yesterday (Tuesday) and then today I have just been practicing, working on a few things that I struggled with last week but overall it’s been a good couple of days. I have been feeling good about how things are looking and how I’m hitting the ball.
The golf course here at Iberostar Real Golf Novo Sancti Petri is really good. It’s a lot flatter than last week! It’s a cool Seve Ballesteros design with the mushroom trees and there’s a lot of really cool holes out there with it being tree lined, but there is also some wide open holes. The greens are pretty small and there’s not too much of an undulation, but the rough around the greens is pretty thick and heavy so hitting a lot of greens in regulation is going to be key.
The goal this week is to just play some good golf, I’m targeting at least a top 15. I feel as though I am playing good enough for that and I feel everything is there to be able to do that. I just need to go out there and have some fun and let it take its course. I can’t force anything to happen.
I’m keeping an eye out on where I sit on the Road to Mallorca Rankings (37th). Obviously now there is a new category on the Challenge Tour, Cat 3C which is the top three players inside the top 45 who are not exempt. So this week I am playing on Cat 3C which means I don’t need invites I can just keep playing on Cat 3C every week. So it’s key for me to stay in the top 45 but it’s also key to stay ahead of the two other guys who are there as well. So a good week this week puts me right back up in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and makes my life a lot easier knowing that I am getting into even more events and not needing the invites which is great.
I can’t thank the Emirates Golf Federation enough
Looking back, the Abu Dhabi events were a game-changer, a life-changer almost. Now I have got the opportunity to play pretty consistent tournament golf now and I can’t thank the Emirates Golf Federation enough for giving me the opportunity in Abu Dhabi to be able to do that. I have been given three other confirmed invites and obviously this week I am playing on Challenge Tour Category due to where I am in the rankings and hopefully that stays the same for the next few weeks and I won’t need those invites. But still the invites are great to know that I have events confirmed and I can’t thank the Emirates Golf Federation enough for helping out with that.
And with that it’s great to see two UAE nationals, Ahmad Skaik and Ahmed Al Musharrekh being here this week. I know Skaik pretty well because we practice at the Els Club Dubai quite a lot and I would be so pleased if I see them having a good week and representing the UAE and flying that flag nice and high. It would be great to see them have a good week, make the cut and push onto the weekend here in Cádiz.
I’m teeing it up tomorrow (Thursday) at 09:40 local time alongside Mauro Gilardi from Switzerland and Max Rottluff from Germany, who won the UAE Challenge at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club which is pretty cool!
