I was very nervous this morning. I was very, very nervous. I hardly slept at all last night, knowing this was a big event and that I wanted to do well.
All my nerves were on the inside, and I was trying not to show it.
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It was tough, to be honest. I started off on hole 10 and I thought I’d played a really good front nine.
I birdied my second hole of the day, the par-3 11th. It had the same pin as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and the same wind on that hole. I hit a pretty good shot and holed the putt.
The conditions played a big part. It was very windy, which made the holes very long and tough.
I was level par through nine, then I bogeyed holes one and two, birdied three, then bogeyed four and five. I think I doubled six and bogeyed the last. Just rough, rough, rough, rough, rough!
I just didn’t drive it well. I was hitting it into the rough, and you just can’t play out of the rough well from here, especially because it’s so thick. Then around the greens, the pins are tucked, and if you hit it in the wrong spots, it’s tough to get up and down and you can easily make a double bogey.
The support was great. I saw friends, family, people I play with, UAE National Team members, so it was good to see them out there. I tried to put on a good show for them.
But I am disappointed. I’ve done well here before, but of course it’s a different set-up and a different atmosphere. I wanted to do better, but it’s all part of the learning experience and part of the process.
I’m still new as a professional. I’m not on the DP World Tour, but I’m trying to be, so it’s going to take a few steps to reach this level. I’m willing to put in the work and hopefully work my way up to it.
I don’t know, maybe I put too much pressure on myself, but I gave it my all and it just wasn’t meant to be today.
But that’s golf. I’m sure everyone has bad scores. It’s another day tomorrow and we go again and try to go low. I’m going to come out here in the morning, do my warm-up again and try to hit the best shot I can on every hole.
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