A HELL OF A CHALLENGE

Félix Mory’s fantastic season..

By Inesis

March 17^th, 2021

The good news came at the end of 2019. With his good season on the Pro Golf Tour and qualifying school for the European and Challenge Tour, Félix Mory gained his place on the Challenge Tour for 2020. But this was before anyone knew that 2020 would be a very different year to anything we have ever seen before.

How have you found this lockdown?

In March, I rented a small apartment in the south of France to be able to train in good conditions. When we felt that the situation was going to get worse, I went back to my parents' house in the north of France to be able to continue to have at least some form of golf and physical activity. I trained in the garden, they lent a Trackman to me. I also did a lot of fitness. I finally accepted the situation, I had to grin and bear it. At the time, I thought the season was just going to be postponed.

What was it like, after three months of not playing?

It was weird! It was the first time I had spent such a long time without playing on a course. With my brother Baptiste, we started a course on the first day that the golf courses were reopened. I didn't play a good game! It took some time to get back into the swing of things. Furthermore, between seasons, I changed trainer (from Benoît Ducoulombier to Jérôme Theunis) and we made some changes to my swing.

When did you restart your season?

We started up again in Austria on 9 July, after five months of not competing. It was a good test to see if the technical changes my coach introduced were going to work. And I must say I was satisfied, I played well. I finished 18th in the Austrian Open out of 144 players, of which the top half progress to the European Tour. I followed this with the Euram Bank Open, again in Austria and also with a mixed group of players from the Challenge Tour / European Tour. I took part in three solid tours but I fell back in the last tour which we played under heavy rain, and finished 39th.

Then onto the Northern Ireland Open. I didn't make the cut, the putting was not up to the standard required.

Then I was on my way to Portugal with a new mixed Challenge Tour / European Tour tournament, and then onto Italy. Afterwards, the Challenge Tour programme was a blur.

What were the lessons you took from this first tournaments?

It's great because it allows me to gain the most experience. In any case, that's how I see the season, because given the circumstances, everyone is thinking ahead to next year. In relation to the Pro Golf Tour, we saw that everyone is a pro and really means business. To make the top 10, you can't make any mistakes. This made me go on to play with the best. In Austria, for example, it was very interesting to play with Joost Luithen (six-time champion of the European Tour). At 120 metres, he always manages to get at least two metres from the flag. I need to further improve my wedge skills. I also need to continue my physical training. I am very fast so I need to build up my lower body to increase my stability.