One round for a chance to play the Challenge tour event of this week. Monday qualifiers are not your usual tournament. The 18 hole format means that mistakes are very costly yet you still need to play very aggressively because only the top 2 scores earn a spot. My game has been quite good recently so I knew I could make birdies and maybe qualify. We were playing at a course near Rennes that offers many birdie opportunities but also has some very narrow and demanding holes. I decided to be rather aggressive with my strategy and hit a lot of drivers.

The round did not start the way I would have hoped. After making a par on 10, my opening hole, I proceeded to make bogeys on my second and third holes. Both of these bogeys came from errant tee shots. I hit my iron shot in a bunker and then missed the fairway with my drive. Needless to say things were not going great... I was in desperate need of birdies. Thankfully I played the next two holes very nicely. I managed to make consecutive birdies to get back to level par and give myself a chance of doing something special on the rest of the round. After a few pars came a spark. On my tenth hole, a par 5, I found the putting surface in two shots and rolled the putt in for an eagle 3. That was just what I needed to get the round going. I was -2 with eight holes to go and I knew that if the putter could get hot this could be my day. Unfortunately that is not quite how the round unfolded. I missed a few tee shots coming in and this reduced my chances of making birdies. In fact I made two bogeys to move back to level with only a few holes left. I finished the day with a birdie on 9 after hitting a fabulous iron shot. The golfing gods were not with me but still gave me a little consolation prize before the 6 hour drive home. I finished the round at -1 but that was not enough to earn a spot. Following the round I had mixed feelings. On one hand I was disappointed that I did not shoot lower and did not qualify. On the other hand I was somewhat pleased with the fact that I battled to make a score even though I was not playing my best. I hope I can take the positives from this day and that it will help for the rest of the season.