The professional golf calendar will finally come to an end after this week’s Thailand Golf Championship on the Asian Tour and the Nelson Mandela Championship on the European and Sunshine Tours.
Never before in my career have I ever said this, but I am glad the long season is finally over and, while I am looking forward to competing in Thailand this week, the thought of being able to pack my clubs for a couple of weeks after that is a very appealing one.
Everyone who knows me also knows that I don’t mind playing 53 weeks a year, if that was possible. But perhaps age is catching up with me, or perhaps I am extremely frustrated how the whole year was completely ruined for me by injuries. But yes, 2013 is thankfully coming to an end and I cannot wait for the new season to begin.
However, before all the R&R, I have a very important tournament to focus on this week — the Thai Golf Championship. It’s definitely one of the highlights of the Asian Tour season and the organisers somehow manage to attract an outstanding field even this late in the year. So, we have stars like Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, defending champion Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler featuring this week.
What a field of this quality does is increase the world ranking points on offer manifold, and also increase the prestige value associated with the tournament. Winning would be fantastic, but what most players would dearly want is a good end to the season. Of course, you cannot change the feelings about a whole season with just one round, but it makes a massive difference psychologically to finish the year with a 67, compared to a 76.
Henrik and Justin are two of the top ranked stars in Chonburi this week, and both are coming off a good tournament in Sun City. However, the way Charl has performed in this tournament in the past couple of years, it is clear that the Amata Springs course suits his eyes very well and he will begin as the pre-tournament favourite.
In the inaugural year, Charl finished second to a rampant Lee Westwood by seven shots, but there was no denying him last year, when he almost lapped the field and won by 11 shots over Bubba.
In South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Championship is being played, and obviously, it is going to be an emotional affair given that the great man passed away only last week. I never had the good fortune of meeting him, but I have read and heard millions of stories about him and I have the greatest regards for what he managed to achieve in his life and what he managed to do for his people. RIP Madiba.
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