Hi Everyone,

I had an eventful week last week at the BMW Championships at Wentworth with Chris Wood. He finished nine shots behind the winner, Rory McIlory who managed to put behind him the disappointment of breaking off his engagement with Caroline Wozniacki, to produce some sublime play on each day of the tournament. The golf course was playing long, the rough was lush and the greens were in good condition and I must admit I had to hold onto my jaw as I noticed Thomas Bjorn had shot a ten under sixty two, and Shane Lowry a sixty four in the first round. It just shows how good these players are, I can only say the comparison would be a round of approximately a 56 or 57 at Bristol and Clifton.

It must be quite difficult seeing such low scores on the leaderboard just before you tee off for your first round, especially if you get the wrong side of the draw and the wind starts to blow. This is exactly what happened for Chris. He definitely had the wrong side of the draw and the worst conditions to play in the first two rounds. A round of one over, seventy three, was well off the pace and of course he was extremely disappointed, and after the first round he was tied 80th. I must admit I didn't even contemplate that Chris would miss the cut, although it was tight after the first round. He didn't play badly, he just simply didn't score well! The odd three putt combined with a constant shave of the edges of the holes were agonising for Chris. He stayed patient! He was hitting the ball well and knew it was a matter of time before good things happened!

The second round was very much the same. He played beautifully from tee to green but couldn't quite get the ball close enough to the flag to give himself good chances for birdie. I watched shots missing landing spots by one or two yards from two hundred yards from the green. It was almost as if he wasn't allowed to score well and he certainly wasn't getting the rub of the green! Big summer coming up??!!

Level par had easily made the cut as worsening conditions had pushed a one over total well inside the cut and Chris was lying 48th.

The third and fourth round was just as impressive from tee to green and we waited with baited breath for Chris to hole putts. He shot rounds of sixty nine, sixty nine to finish tied 21st on five under for the tournament. The only difference between Rory and Woody was Woody's par five scoring, which was ten shots different. Rory had obliterated the par fives scoring fifteen under, Chris was just five under. Chris struggled to pitch the ball close enough from 100-130 yards from the flag, and this then put too much pressure on his putting.

There were plenty of positives from the week at Wentworth. Chris finished number two on fairways in regulation and fourth in greens in regulation according to the tournament statistics. He won £40,000 pounds and has moved up the Race to Dubai rankings into 48th position. Of course this is no consolation for Chris as he wanted to win the tournament but he and I know he is gaining ground on the best players and that's more important. If he gets better and better statistically, his results will improve.

After the final round at Wentworth we jumped in the car to walk a few holes at Walton Heath, in preparation for US Open Sectional Qualifying the following day. After a gruelling week, thirty six holes seemed daunting for Chris and he shot a tired seventy five in the morning needing a six under round in the afternoon to sniff a chance of a spot in the US Open at Pinehurst. The weather was breezy, cold and raining cats and dogs. Chris shot a brave four under, sixty eight in the afternoon to miss qualification by three shots. A testament to Chris to carry on after his morning round as a dozen or so players had already left for the next tournament in Malmo after an ordinary first round.

After Sweden, Chris will have a short break before a run of huge tournaments on the European Tour schedule. Ireland, Germany, France, Scotland and then the big one, The Open at Hoylake. Surely he's got to win one of these? Please can it be The Open!

Ladies Challenge Cup - 36 hole medal

The Overall Winner is our Lady Captain, Mrs Liz Hale. Well done Liz, absolutely brilliant!!

Day one scores: 
1st Linda Smith - nett 72 
2nd Dorothy Bastable - nett 73 

Day Two scores: 
1st Karen Price - nett 76 
2nd Janno English - nett 77 

Founders Day Trophy - Bank Holiday Monday Greensomes competition 

1st Mark Walker and David Whitaker with 34 points 
2nd Nick Chapple and Michael Bracey with 33 points 

Reid Quaich - 18 hole medal 

1st Matt Windo with a nett 68. (Failand Plate winner and now Reid Quaiche! Well played!) 
2nd Reece Johnson nett 69 
3rd David Bow nett 71