The Coupe Didier Illouz is played at Racing Club de France near Paris on the Vallee course. The course was built in 1901 making it the oldest golf course in the Paris area. It was designed as a par 72 but for the tournament, we play the last two holes as par 4s making it a par 70. The design is challenging with tree-lined fairways, fast and firm greens, difficult finishing holes, and sloping fairways. The course has played host to French Opens and the Amateur World Championships in the past and some notable players to have competed at the venue are Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Sevriano Ballesteros, and Tiger Woods.

Despite the course being in beautiful shape and the conditions good for golf I, unfortunately, didn’t play my best this week. I struggled with my iron play and putting which led to fewer scoring opportunities and on the rare occasions that I did create a chance I didn’t capitalize on it. Throughout the tournament, I hit a lot of shots into places where saving par was very difficult. Overall I dropped too many shots to really score well and finish high on the leaderboard.

It is quite frustrating because I really prepared well for the tournament when I left to go to the competition I felt like my game was in a really good place. Even though the result was to forget (missed cut) it is important to learn from the way I played and improve for next time. After analyzing how I played I realized that I have to improve and get back to being in a better mental state when I compete. The great thing about this sport is that it continuously challenges you to improve and I will take steps to be in a better mental state for future tournaments.