Heading for Tour School

Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Europe

Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Europe

I’m off to Spain for Qualifying School this week and hope that I can qualify as I did in 2010.

2013 has been a poor year for me and that’s proved very frustrating. I’ve not achieved any consistency, so it was good to get a few weeks off recently to work on my game.

Getting a card gets you into some events in South Africa before Christmas, so my aim is to excel at the Qualifying School, which is the only way I know of getting my card. I’ve not managed it off the Challenge Tour, but I’ve got good memories from the Qualifying School so I just need to focus on going there with my head in the right place.

In this game it’s about learning from your mistakes. I think I was probably oblivious to a lot of things earlier in my career, but that’s no longer the case. Hopefully, things will start to look up again at the Qualifying School then I can crack on from there.

This year I’m delighted to have new sponsorship from Links of Strathaven, a golf clothing company owned by former Archerfield member Graham Hillan.

My Open Championship preparations are going well

LloydSaltman_202845My preparations got the Open are going well. The R&A have been good in letting me go down there a couple of times earlier this week. To be honest, the course was a little bit alien to me. I’d only been there in the winter in the past, so I’d never seen it set up like it is at the moment.

It’s been good to get familiar with the holes and how the course is playing. It’s been great to be able to do that while I’ve been staying at home. But, while I want to be able to take advantage of being able to prepare on the golf course, you don’t want to spend too much time there as it can start to drag. I want to keep it fresh as well so that I am champing at the bit when I tee up on Thursday.

It’s great to know that I’m going to be playing in an Open just ten minutes from home. I normally drive through Drem when I’m going down to Archerfield but, on Monday I think it was, I decided to go through Gullane so that I could soak up the atmosphere. The first official practice is Sunday. I’ll probably go over to register on Monday and look forward to getting a player pin again. [Read more…]

I’m delighted at qualifying for the Open at Muirfield

I’m really delighted to be back into The Open, especially at Muirfield. I drive past it every day on my way to Archerfield every day and have seen the stands going up and all the other preparations taking place. All my Open appearances will have been in Scotland and I am very pleased with that.

Today, I just tried to stay patient over the two rounds. I played smart and away from daft pins to try to keep any big numbers off my card

Playing at Muirfield when I live just ten minutes down the road will be amazing. I’ve actually only played the course twice before,  both times in the winter when it’s been freezing and with the ground solid.

One of these perfect golf days in Austria

Today I got off to a really fast start by birdieing the first three holes at the Kärnten Golf Open, and then it was pretty simple from there. It was one of those days where you very much enjoy being on a golf course and I havwe to say that those haven’t been coming along too often recently.

I played nicely today and managed to stick to the game plan that I had put together in Wednesday so it was a very satisfying day.

I made some nice putts today and I have to say that the greens here are in magnificent shape at the Jacques Lemans Golf Club – in my opinion they are the best we have putted on year on the Challenge Tour.

You need to get off to a fast start out here and try to get into the tournament as quick as you possibly can because the scoring is always very low. Hopefully we can keep this going for the next three days and see where we are come Sunday.

I won’t stop believing

People sometimes ask me if I dob’t feel jealous when I see  Rory McIlroy and my old friends and rivals tearing up the world of golf. My answer is that I wouldn’t change anything — this is what I want to do. I’m not one to look back and think where I could be and where I was. I look at where I am now. Today I’m part of Team Scottish Hydro and I’m playing on the Challenge Tour.

Lloyd+Saltman+Scottish+Hydro+Challenge+Day+7t4WLXvOtgEx (1)Back when I was an amateur, Rory was always younger than us but he was playing at our level which was very impressive. But there were many guys who went head-to-head with him down the stretch at major amateur events at that time and beat him. I played him in the last group of the Lytham Trophy, the Irish Open, those occasions I came out on top.

It wasn’t like he was a Tiger Woods of amateur golf. He wasn’t untouchable but he did hit shots that you thought ‘woah, that’s pretty impressive.’ He was always fantastically confident.

Rory’s rise is a dream story and what all players want but the difference in golf is always just fractions.Guys like Rory, Richie (Ramsay), all those Walker Cup players have done really well and it’s nice to see them do it but I know, and all of us know, that when we are on the top of our game we can compete at that level and that’s exciting.

A wee decision here or there can be the difference between winning a tournament or getting that result and the exemption to missing your card and being back on the Challenge Tour.

It’s all fractions in this game but that’s the exciting thing about it. There are opportunities around the corner everywhere you go.

Rory is a dream story and it’s what we all wanted to happen to us. He gave himself a year and he wanted to be top of the world. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t and it can change in weeks.”

I’m still just 27. You look at someone like Stevie Gallacher who has come good after a few struggles. You know when you play like that you can do it, it’s just about getting the consistency. I know I can win and that has 
to be the focus.

I’d never say ‘I’ll give myself another year’ or whatever. You just have to keep going. As soon as you stop believing in what you are doing, then it’s time to give it up.

I don’t think there’s an age or a time to do it. If you work and train hard you know you can get to where you want to.

South African Open

Zack, Elliot and I arrived on Tuesday in Durban.  It rained for most of the time.  On the first day of the tournament, Elliot was off early and I was off in the afternoon.  Play was suspended for the day when Elliot was on the third tee.  The rain never let up all day.

The following morning play resumed to blue skies.  I played pretty solid and fought like a bear to make birdies to counter act any mistakes I had made.  The second round saw me three over in the first nine holes, but I finished with three birdies for a total of two under for my two rounds.

Zack  came out to caddy for me and was a great help.

Due to the bad weather the tournament was cut to 3 days with the final two rounds being played on Sunday (today)

Getting home to Scotland is proving to be a nightmare as one flight is cancelled after another.  We were meant to fly to London but gather Heathrow is closed due to snow.

Thankfully we have found a flight flying  to Dubai then onto Glasgow missing out London Heathrow. Fingers crossed Glasgow airport stays open.

Elliot and I would like to thank everyone for their emails and txts, congratulating us on gaining out European Tour cards.  It was very much appreciated, many thanks .

Absolutely unbelievable!!

To win my European Tour Card feels fantastic, and to have Elliott get his card makes it extra special – unbelievable! I hardly put a foot wrong today – to make only one bogey on that course was pretty good going – so it’s up there with the best rounds of my career, and certainly the most important.

I’ve been in the top 30 most of the week, and just lost a few places yesterday, but I’m proud of the way I finished the job off and I’m sure my parents are proud of me too. I owe them a lot for the support they’ve shown us, so hopefully this goes some way towards repaying them.

It’s taken me a while but I’ve got there. I’ve stuck by everything that’s served me well over the years and I’ve been with my coach Colin Brooks for 12 years.

Some people thought I should change things when it was not going so well. But I stayed confident and trusted what I was doing and have just kept going. The tour was always the goal and it’s going to be great to be a part of it.

Final Stage Q Tour School

It has been a tough few days in Cadiz, playing second stage of Q school  due to the bad weather, although I hear back  home  the weather has and still is horrendous with snow and freezing temperatures.

I am delighted Elliot my older brother has qualified to final stage as well.  We have rented a villa nearby the  course

We both have full challenge tour playing rights for next year, but would love to make the step up to European Tour.

The final is held over 2 courses, we played one of them today and will play the other tomorrow.

Looking forward to the start which is Saturday and hopefully playing well.

Run of Form

Recently I am a lot happier with my performance and the results are showing all my hard work is paying off.  I played an EuroPro event a few weeks back as no Challenge Tour Event was taking place – finishing 2nd.

I traveled to Russia where I had another good week finishing 9th.  Fortunately I seem to always play well in Russia.   The following week I continued my good form, finishing 3rd in Toulouse.  I am now in Roma.  I had a nightmare getting here.  I was to fly out of Edinburgh at 6am yesterday.  After sitting on the plane for an hour, was told to disembark as there was a technical problem.  Eventually the flight was cancelled.  Luckily I was able to catch a flight from Glasgow Prestwick, arriving in Roma at 11pm.

I teed of at 8.30 this morning without having seen the course or practiced on the greens.  I played well considering, finishing 2 over.  Loosing a ball on the 11th was just down to the fact of not knowing the course. I’m teeing off tomorrow at 1pm.

I will keep you updated.

Shot one under in the second round which wasnt low enough to make the cut.

Off to Cairo today to play in the European Tour Challenge Egyptian Open.

In a few weeks I am going to put in some extra practice before second stage of  Tour School playing some tournaments with my Brothers in Spain.

Thank you all for logging into my website.  It is very much appreciated.

The past few weeks

Since April, I have been playing European Challenge Tour events in Turkey,  France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Aviemore in Scotland, Morocco and last week in La Gomera an Island of Tenerife.   Yesterday I played in The Open Regional Qualifier at Scotscraig, where I lost in a play off.

It was very disappointing as I would have loved to play back at St Andrews where I won the Silver Medal in 2005.

Elliot and I are  today in Sweden for the Challenge Event.  It was very hard to get up this morning  to catch the early  flight, as I have played eight tournaments on the bounce, but loving every minute.

I have had a mixture of results the best finishing 11th in Scotland.  It has been good playing with my brothers Elliot and Zack  who also played in Morocco and Elliot played La Gomera last week finishing second.

Thank you for your emails and questions.