A couple of days since your victory at Abu Dhabi Golf Club Ricardo, how special was that last week?
It was an incredible week, just the way that I finished the round was pretty special. Super happy with the win obviously as it takes a lot of hard work to win everywhere but it was just great to cap it off on Sunday the way I did.
That was your sixth Challenge Tour win, one being the Grand Final in Oman in 2015. Do you think those previous wins helped you last week?
Yes obviously a bit of experience helps always to finish the weeks like I did. I was still very nervous towards the end but I dealt with it really well and all the mental work that I have been doing helped me a lot in that situation.
And what a way to finish the tournament, birdie-eagle. Talk us through those last couple of holes.
I had just three putted 16 so I made bogey there but I stayed patient and had a good attitude towards it tried to finish the best that I could. 17 I hit two great shots in there and finished with a great putt. Then 18 has been a tee shot that I haven’t been very comfortable with throughout the whole week and I spoke to my mental coach the night before about a couple of tee shots and 18 was one of them. We had a good strategy for that hole. I played a beautiful tee shot and then the second shot I was trying to go a little left of the pin, middle of the green but I pushed it a little bit and it was striked really well and the ball just stayed on it’s line and holed a nice putt to make an eagle to finish!
Your first win since becoming a father in September. Has that given you a different outlook on golf? Maybe a catalyst behind the victory?
Since becoming a father it was funny because I wasn’t doing to well on the course and off the course as well before my son was born. Then after my son was born my perspective kind of changed a bit, I’m more relaxed and they have been travelling with me a little bit so its great when they come with me like after golf is over I come back and I’m a dad and doing my normal dad stuff and I can completely forget about golf and that’s great. It’s hard to not think about golf when they are not here. But I try to do that as much as I can and just shut it off. Unfortunately they weren’t here last week but they will be back on the road from net week so I’m looking forward to seeing him again, and obviously my wife as well!
What’s the mindset going into this tournament? Are you just going to keep riding the wave or is it a complete reset?
Just do the same things as I did last week and that I have been doing in terms of preparation and nothing changes. My mentality going into each round is going to be the same. I have mini goals for every round and just take it the same way that I did last week.
Finally, how awesome is it to have the Challenge Tour here in the UAE for these two weeks?
Two great courses, obviously the weather is amazing, almost too warm to play golf! But it’s better than being too cold! Hospitality has been amazing and myself and all the players love coming out here and playing some good tournaments.
