July 18, 2017: Reigning Asian Tour number one Scott Hend will make his fourth appearance at The Open this week. He safely made the cut last year and will be hoping to repeat and better his performance at Royal Birkdale. This is what he has to say in his own words.
By Scott Hend
The course is fantastic. Condition wise, it is awesome but the bunkers are brutal. The greens look fantastic and I’m sure it will get firmer and faster. It depends on what conditions we get thrown at us.
My game is getting there. Every week I feel like I’m taking a step forward in my game. Hopefully the end goal comes pretty quick and I get there this week!
The way the tee times are, from early in the morning all the way through to the afternoon, there are many variables that might affect your game. You just want to hang in there as much as you can.
I’m off at 3.21pm on Thursday so sometimes you can dodge the weather but something you have to put up with the bad weather. The forecast looks good this week but you never know especially with the amount of tee times.
I’ve been fortunate to make the cut once. The other two times, I’ve been pre-occupied with the event and not doing my job properly. I made the cut last year and had average weather to deal with.
How will I deal with the wind? All you can do is go on the golf course and see where the rough is less penal. If you get strong wind, you want to hit it there so if you miss the fairway you can have a chance to hit the green. You also have to see where the bunkers are. The yardage books are so good so that helps.
I’ve been getting a little better each week. I missed the cut by one in Scotland last week but I played fantastic in the second round. It seems that I sort out of my driver so I should be back to playing good again.
I’ve had a fair few weeks of playing links golf so the chipping and the dealing with the wind will become slightly easier… I hope.
Asian Tour Release
