Maybank Malaysian Open

Kuala Lumpur, Sunday 20 April 2014

After a few holes I felt this was not an attacking day for me, I was not comfortable enough on the greens... And this course can bite back on the back nine... I decided to play on my experience and apply the "catenaccio"... Nothing fancy but without letting strokes slipping. I could go for the -12 but I decided to wait the 18^th. I hit a good one but just caught the pre rough, so I couldn't go for the green in 2. My 3^rd was a bit pumped... from there I needed to secure the 2^nd place.

61 at the Race 2 Dubai after 1 tournament and I might come back in the top 100...

I needed to change my flights, will stay in Kuala Lumpur till Monday night and then off to Hong Kong to reach Shenzen and the Volvo China Open...

Just an eye blink to my faithful team who organized me a great week before flying here... Good job guys.

And what about 2 Belgian Flags up there! Even in New York you'll find some happy smiles this morning at Excel Sports!

Kuala Lumpur, Saturday 19 April 2014

Again that 72 is a good one even if I had preferred shooting much lower. But, you know I was nervous playing with Lee Westwood last off (my putting was shaky) and it was the hottest day of the week... Some suffers less than others, for me it's time that the tournament ends, it's really draining!

Tomorrow??? Well all will depend on how I can score on the first nine. Those three par 5's (3-5-10), need to be played under par, I'll need an early cushion, because tomorrow with the huge audience expected, the flags and the humid heath, there are gonna be bogeys on the card...

Hope is not enough on Tour... I 'll need a good driving and a lot of greens, this is my pace setter game...

Kuala Lumpur, Friday 18 April 2014

Started the momentum again during the 8 first holes but was surprised then by some putts staying short in line and lost my mojo on the back nine due also to two drives that went to the left...

But not far from the leader, good to be back in the hunt...

Kuala Lumpur, Thursday 17 April 2014

Last week was a great one, I could put everything in perspective. I'm swinging well for the moment and already scored well on the Pro-Am with 7 birdies and 1 eagle... 

Good round today, -6 with 8 birdies, even if my driving wasn't good at the practice this morning, I was able to steer a kind of second serv' during the all round but couldn't make birdies on some par 5's... Fixed it with Brian after the round, so we're all good for tomorrow... We did some drills also on the putting green.

Hope I can get rid of my soar throat and escape some annual angina... I cross my fingers since Wednesday afternoon...

Light fitness with Emilio this afternoon... I'm not in super power form but I like to do the job...

See the pictures of the practice and first round (pics by Fohn)

Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday 15 April 2014

Early morning practice round (18 holes) with Havret and Wiesberger, happy to be here even if it's super warm and humid. Early is the key, there are often thunderstorms in the afternoon...

Brian came with his lovely wife Fohn, long time no see but always a pleasure! I didn't come alone neither...

Happy to be here on the European tour, the Tour of diversity... very refreshing even with the temperatures here...

Play solidly today, I saw an happy Brian after a few shots ;o), tomorrow drills, pro-am and a few duties for the organizers now that they have two belgians on their tournament, a world "premiere" ;o)! Tom is not alone anymore, we'll boost him, godverdoemme (this is not a Malaysian word)!

Belgium - Training - Junior Bombers

Brussels, Sunday 13 April 2014

Fun day at Hulencourt with the Junior Bombers yesterday. wanted to show them some serious golf, everybody from the tips, in stroke play! Played -8, -4 on each loop. I hope they learned a lot about trajectories, strategy, thinking around the course, attitude (I saw one too slow, one who couldn't stop grumbling and moaning, one who couldn't chip, one with too low trajectories...), Mich and jérome will fix that....

Junior Bombers is about learning, sharing the passion of golf and the values of sport...

Great night with Jerome and family and Vince with a sushi session in front of the Masters... And the winner will be...? Will it be for a past winner Bubba, the young Spieth (I liked his scoring yesterday) or, like usual,  The famous legend of the Masters will make his own choice in the last 9 with, wht not?, an experienced player like Kooch, Bjorn or Vince's favorite Jimenez? Vince is looking forward to see the Andalusian receiving the green jacket with a glass of Bordeaux and a real cuban cigar in front of millions of spectators. I must admit this would be an unforgettable moment, with a speach that nobody would understand. But the way Miguel Angel plays for so many years, he certainly deserves a Major! Super player with an incredible touch...

Tonight, I will be in the plane for Malaysia (I'll fly Etihad, guess why?), so no Masters final in a confortable couch for me, but I wish every golfer to have a great night to follow the last 9 holes... a thriller in perspective!

Brussels, Saturday 12 April 2014

Yesterday, before looking at the Masters, I had another visit to my physio, it's all good. Nothing hurts anymore. I was already able to train again on Wednesday after Blaise's green light. A lot of distance control shots with the flightscope from 40 to 120 meters with Vince and Jérôme calling the shots. in fact we have decided to drill two types of shots: the 3 to 4,5 meters putt and the wedges between 70 and 120 meters.

Richard is also happy on my overall physical form, on the European Tour i will have the help of Emilio, the Spanish trainer of Txema, Gonzalo and other Spanish players!

Great news: today we'll having a training at Hulencourt with the Junior Bombers. Mich is quite enthusiastic with the progress of the bombers, we will see that together on the range and on the course. Thanks again 2PM for giving us a great help for this initiative...

Tomorrow Sunday, I'll fly from Paris to Malaysia, for a long stretch in Asia, then in the USA (Wells Fargo in Charlotte) before coming back in Europe to play Spain and the BMW PGA Ch'ip in Wentworth, I know it's a lot of travelling but that's what I need, the variety of different cultures...

Shell Houston Open

Houston, Friday 4 April 2014

On the advices of the physio's here in Houston, it's better to stop playing. Since yesterday on the beginning of the round, I felt a pain in my neck, I was far from swinging at 100%, afraid to provoke a more important injury. We couldn't solve it overnight and this morning on the range I decided to withdraw from the tournament.

It was 5 tournaments in a row, with a lot of training and exhibitions and no great results, my body needs some break, that's what it means I think.

I need to solve this very quickly. Blaise Erpicum is the man, more than anyone, he knows how to heal my body and certainly this neck pain. So I will fly back to Brussels to solve this problem straight away.

Message to the tournament organisers and volunteers at the Shell Houston:  "Thanks for providing us with the fantastic venue, and looking after us the way your people did. I hope I can compete in Houston (great course by the way) again in the future."

Next week will be oo and I'll wait the medical decision to fix my schedule...

Houston, Wednesday 2 April 2014

Here is my new bag:

Driver Callaway Big Bertha with the same blue Motore Speeder X flex shaft

3 wood Callaway Big Bertha 14° Fujikura 100 gr X flex

irons 3-9 Callaway Prototype x flex (Iron 2 Mizuno Fli-hi 18°)

Wedges Callaway Mac Daddy 53-58-60°

Putter Odyssey White Hot Mallet Pro V-Lie

Tonight, Baseball match to support the Houston ASTROS...

Houston, Tuesday 1 April 2014

Mich arrived yesterday and today we played and trained. He was quite happy how I'm swinging the club, we also had a great short game session. The Callaway new wedges are in the bag, Roger Cleveland made a super job, I liked them straight away!

After the driver, the 3 wood is also in the bag, the Callaway engineers worked with the shaft industry and they found a 100gr shaft that match perfectly with the Big Bertha 3 wood head. I have all the shots I want and need, this is an edge.

Valero Texas San Antonio

San Antonio, Friday 27 March 2014

Very disapointing start. Missing some fairways but nevertheless, I had twice 2 meters to save par and I missed them. Then I lost a ball on a recovery shot, an event that happend once every 5 years, hit a branch and the ball disappeard.

Good fight from the 9, to keep the ball in play from the tee. I began to hit more greens and was able to finish in style with my first (and very late) eagle of the year.

It's gonna be a week-end of work instead a week-end of competition...

San Antonio, Thursday 26 March 2014

Very foggy, 2h30 delayed start, and conditions not so simple...

Good start, followed by a drive that cost 3 strokes, with a good bunker shot single putt for 6! And  bogey on the following, damned. Then had just a bad 3 putt on the last par 3.

Had some good drives like on the 5^th hole 5 hit with the driver (312m), or my longest of the day, 352 meters.

Good challenge tomorrow to play in the week-end!

Chris Liley in on the bag, I'll join Brian back in Malaysia in 2 weeks... Chris and me worked together in 2003 and 2004, 9 years now that he's been working for Raph Jacquelin...

San Antonio, Tuesday 25 March 2014

Arrived in texas yesterday night from West Palm Beach. I had a fine Sunday at The Bears Club, playing 36 holes with Pierre Relecom who was invited by his friend and fellow pro on Tour, Sandro Piaget. The three of us, we had a great day, Pierre's game is in good shape.

First time in San Antonio, well known thanks to their basket ball team with Tony Parker playing there now for 12 years! 

Quite an history, this tournament is played since 1922, let's discover it...

Bay Hill Invitational by Arnold Palmer

Bay Hill, Friday 20 March 2014

There was much more than a 74 and 75, I need to find my confidence back and I'm working on it with Julie... I will come back here at Arnold Palmer's tournament to have a revenge against the course, I can beat it but the course won this time...

After a ride to Jupiter, I'm in Admirals Cove for 2 days before flying to San Antonio to the Valro Texas Open! This is a new tournament for me.

Bay Hill, Thursday 19 March 2014

Once again, good and bad shots in succession, too many bogeys, I'll need to go low on Friday!

Bay Hill, Wednesday 19 March 2014

Pro-am day. Sunny Day! Had a great team with a lovely spirit, Harry Arnett played quite well and his humor was a great asset to the team! 

Met a bunch of young Belgian players at the Westwood academy under supervision of Sean Daoust and Thomas Mambourg.

Last fine tuning after the pro-am...

Bay Hill, Tuesday 18 March 2014

Played 9 holes, even with the heavy rain yesterday, the greens are quite firm already... This is the particularity of Bay Hill: very firm and fast greens...

From the tee, you need to find the right lines, that's what Tiger did so well and won 8 times here! The week-end is always much tougher because of the firmness of the greens...

At night, great dinner with the Excel Team...

Orlando, Monday 17 March 2014

Playing professional golf is  7 day on 7 business. Today, wake-up call at 6.00 to be at the Bay Hill GC at 7.00 to take our golf equipment for the Morning Drive show on Golf Channel. The Tour truck is not yet unloaded, unable to pick our stuff... the show is live, so, no time to waste. But it was a good experience, everything goes so fast, you see them all rushing from one set to another, no piece of cake! 

Thunderstorms and rain all day here in Orlando, no golf and at night we attend an Callaway event "on line on internet" with Gay Woodland, Matt Every, Patrick Reed and Henrik Stenson at Annika Sorenstam Academy.  We spend a nice time together...

All our thoughts to Antoine Martin family in Belgium (Royal Hainaut), we received the bad news, he was a lovely passionate young golfer. It hurts...

Valspar Championship Tampa Florida

Innisbrook, Sunday 16 March 2014

Better display than the score will tell, I'm closer and closer to what I want to achieve... Already with my mind into next tournament: The Bay Hill Invitational. Indeed I needed to receive an invite from the organization and Mister Arnold Palmer. I have a great respect for the man, the player and certainly how he change the game of golf since he's the man who attracted in the 50's the crowd (Arnie's Army) and the television: his power, brilliance and charisma change it al...

Went yesterday night to a ice hockey match with Julie and Brian, always a great intensity, I love it.

This afternoon, with Brian, we drove from Tampa to Orlando, Vince arrived also, ready to step to another tournament.

Tomorrow at 7:00 AM Morning Drive at Golf Channel, my first golf channel studio, really looking forward to...

Innisbrook, Thursday 13 March 2014

Good solid round, only 4 greens missed and 2 in the last 2 holes... I enjoyed the par on 18, -2 is a better image of the overall quality of my game... "k'ben content" like they say in Brussels down town...

It's really quite a test of golf, and not only the Snake Pit (16-17-18th hole), the wind playing his role also...It's gonna be a long and demanding tournament... but we witnessed it very quickly after a few holes in the beginning of the week...

Innisbrook, Tuesday 11 March 2014

I agree with Brian Analysis: "The winner will be around -10"... This is a tough course, different than others in Florida, not as flat. Big ondulations and treelined with fast greens. The three last holes (Par 4, par 3, par 4) are called The Snake Pit. Obviously, there are bogey traps.

For me driving will be the key, the course is narrow and has a lot of doglegs, tree lines have to be avoided...

This tournament is quite well organized by the Copperheads Charities Inc. Vincent explained me all the advantages when tournaments are run by a group of people representing charities. I do not understand why we don't do that in Belgium.  It's a global Win-Win operation: Charities and Golf are the winners. The Copperheads in more than 30 years have raised more than 30 millions US dollars for 70 charities in the Tampa Region. It's great... That's why Companies (sponsors) and volunteers enjoy their participation at all the golf tournaments on the PGA Tour... The PGA Tour in the USA has already raised over 2 Billion USD for Charities, that's the secret of their success in sponsorship! Just do it Belgium... it's also good for golf in our country... To be followed!

Innisbrook, Monday 10 March 2014

Arrived in the middle of the night with a 3 hours delay flight. Hopefully the Valet parking is working 24/24, that's the uSA at their best...

Don't know the course, but I heard a lot of flattering comments...