So off to China I went! Just the 21 hour journey! We started our trip from Manchester to Amsterdamn, then on to Bejing and finally the flight down to Kumning, then a taxi ride to Wind Valley!
I’m not sure that I expected the jetlag to of bothered me as much as it did but for the first 5 nights I was wide awake at 1.30-2 every morning, but by the time the tournament came round I was sleeping ok. We arrived out there 7 days before we started which turned out to be about right, a few days to settle in and try to get the body clock readjusted and then some practice days. The course itself I thought was great, genourous fairways, very quick and undulating greens which is where the course had its protection and was extrememly difficult should you miss the green or even hit the ball on the wrong part of the green, add that together with the wind which seemed to be turned on every day at 11.30 on the dot and you had yourself a very testing golf course!
On to the food!!! Now I am not a fussy eater and will eat anything but I really struggled with it all, it was pretty much a diet of egg, noodles and rice with lots of cake and fruit! It didnt really bother me for the first week but as it went on i really started to struggle and felt like I really needed a good meal!!
Practice had gone really well and i felt very comfortable with my game and the surroundings, a few 9 holes and mainly chipping and putting covered the first 4 days and plenty of rest, a few more 9 holes and I was ready to go. An early tee time in the first round gave me a great opportunity to get out before the wind started to blow and post a good score. I started great and was -2 through 7 and looking very solid, a bogey on 8 but still I turned in -1. I felt like I had really let a number of shots go on the front 9 and hadnt taken advantage of some solid golf and got a litttle frustrated coming down the 10th and tried to be more positive with the putter, that really was a big mistake on my part as anything under par was a great score. I 3 putted 10 from nowhere, bogeyed 11 and 13! Birdies at 14 and 15 restored a nice bouncback but the wide had got up and i really found it difficult the last few holes putting in the wind and a couple of 3 putts on 16 and 18 left me feeling frustrated for a + 2 score. I ended the day in 34th place and in the conditional cards position and only 2 back of top 15. How i finished that round was unfortunately the story for the second round too, poor short game and lots of 3 putts. It was arguably unplayable when I teed off in the second round, the ball was blowing on the green and it was extrememly difficult to hit greens, this is when you need your short game and to hole out from 6ft and in to be dynamite, i didnt get up and down once!! However it was a tough day for everyone and I finished the day still only 3 shots out of the card positions.
What happened next was just horrible and I honestly wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy!! I had woke up the morming of the 3rd round was a banging headache, so I got some asprin and paracetamol from the doctor and went to warm up, I started to feel dizzy and my whole body was in pain, by the second hole I was struggling to stand up and I 4 putted from 15ft as I couldnt really see the hole, I carried on but I was starting to be sick as well so I had to withdraw. I wemt to see the doctor straight away and she gave me some chinese tablets and some more paracetamol, I went back to the room feeling so ill, i was shivering so bad but sweating and when I laid down to go to sleep my whole body was in excruciating pain. I woke up 19 hours later!!! The doctor came back the next day to give me some more chinese medicne and things to bring my fever down! I didnt get lut of bed the next 3 days until I had to fly home! Now flying home when you feel that ill for 31 hous is pretty horrible! I spent the next 10 days in bed at home and had the doctor round to the house. I feel better now but am still feeling really drained and so tired! Ive not made it past 9 at night before I’m in bed!!
So it was far from the trip I had hoped it would be and very frustrating as I had worked so hard the previous months in getting ready for it but as one door shuts another one opens, so we’ll keep working hard and doing the right things.