I’m in Munich (Germany). I live there so I’m in the cold at the moment just taking some time off, enjoying the time at home and spending a bit of time in the mountains, it’s pretty cold but it’s beautiful.
The top 45 from the Challenge Tour season gets to play the final in Mallorca. Everybody’s goal is to finish inside the top 20 to get promoted to the DP World Tour. I came in the week 39th so I had to finish inside the top3 to move on to the main tour. I finish 26th. I struggled a bit the first two rounds with my putting. The greens were pretty quick during the practice rounds, probably the fastest greens of the seasons, I did a lot of speed drills to get used to the speed of the greens. The wind forecast for the first two rounds were pretty strong so the slowed down the greens to make it playable for us but I struggled to adapt to the pace of the greens. So I didn’t putt well in the first two rounds unfortunately because the long game was pretty solid and I shot over par both rounds so that put me a bit far to get a top3. I played really well for the last two rounds, the course was tough, I shot 2 under both rounds and I finished 26th. It’s decent result but that’s not what I was looking for.
It’s another opportunity for players to make it to the DP World Tour, the first division in Europe and I mean, kind of in the world with the PGA Tour. There are 3 different stages. First stage is played on 6 different locations. A percentage of the field gets to move on to the second stage and then the top guys move on to the final stages. There are 156 players in the field and the top 25 and ties move on with full status to the DP World Tour and top 70 gets full status to the Challenge Tour. So the goal was definitely to finish in the top 25. I didn’t know what to expect coming into the week, it was my first time playing final stage Qschool.
Last year and in 2020, it was canceled due to covid so it was my first time and I put a lot of pressure on myself. I found I had to play really good golf to finish inside the top 25. I feel a little frustrated the first two rounds when I felt like my game was not at the top of its form and I got a little too impatient. I shot over par the first rounds and I thought I had to produce some really really solid golf the next days to have a chance to finish inside the top 25 I need to be in a good position. I played well second round, I shot 4 under and the the third round, my game was not exactly how it needed to be, I lost my patience because my expectations were too high. Third round really screwed me over. I played well the fourth round, I played 5 under but it was not enough.
Now looking back, if you can manage your golf well during the 6 rounds and stay patient and shoot 2 or 3 under every round, then you finish inside the top 25. It’s like a golf marathon and you have to be patient, and don’t make the little mistaked, you’re going to miss shots over 6 rounds so you have to accept and stay patient and just manage yourself really well more than in a normal event because it’s so long.
Hopefully next year I won’t have to play and hopefully I’ll make a top 20 in the Challenge Tour but if I have to play I know what to expect and how to handle myself better so it was a great experience.
It was a great season. Last year I finish 35th on Challenge Tour, this year I finished 41st but I played better this year, really. Last year I had a win so that gives you so many points so that’s why I finished higher last season. This year I played better golf, I improve my average score by one stroke, I’m pretty happy about it. It was overall a pretty solid season. I feel I really had a chance to finish inside the top 20. At this event in Portugal the way I lost in a playoff was really crazy. Sometimes it’s really a matter of details and how things play out during the season to finish inside the top 20 or not. Maybe few things could have gone a little better and maybe I would have been closer. I feel like my game is getting better so that’s what matters the most at the end of the day. I think if I can improve as a golfer, I think I give myself the best chance to move on next year and have a good season.
I took 2 weeks of vacations after the final stage of the Qschool, I played so much golf this year, I played 26 or 27 events. It was time to putt the golf bag in the garage and do something else. Now I’m doing a lot of physical work over the winter with my strength coach. So I try to put some weight and try to gain 4 or 5 kg. I’m 77 right now, I’ll try to be around 81/82 for the start of the new season. I want to be more stable on my lower body and get stronger in my legs to increase the clubhead speed without trying to swing hard. Also being stronger helps you prevent injuries. I’m already very flexible and a pretty skinny guy so it’s not so good for my back and at the end of the season I could feel some tension in my lower back and my left wrist during the final started to hurt. To me, that’s the most important thing. So push some weight until the end of December or first week of January. Then focus more on mobility and speed before the season starts again.
Golf wise, I’ll do 4 or 5 days of training with my coaches, just covering the basics I need to work on because when you play a lot, things tend to move and the natural technical mistakes come back. During the season, I want to focus only on playing and performance.
The calendar hasn’t come off yet but apparently it’s going to start the first week of February in South Africa and we’re going to play 4 weeks there. It’s so nice to go play in South Africa, with beautiful courses and good weather.
For next season, my goals are to improve my scoring average by .5 points, trying to get close to 70 and finish inside the top 20. I also would like to get a win at least because a win really helps. The difference between a win or a second or third place is a lot of points so if you get a win, it really helps to get into the top 20. It’s be fun to win in France, Open de Bretagne for example : it’s well organized, the course is beautiful, there’s always a big crowd, it would be really nice.
© 2026 Inesis
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