Eddie Pepperell
In my last column, I spoke about how I could see some positives in my game after a decent spell in the Canary Islands. That continued in the British Masters at The Belfry, where I played some good stuff. I was tied for the lead during the third round, but unfortunately didn’t have a great final day.
I can’t help but feel in the past I would have converted my tie for 12th at the Tenerife Championship and tie for 11th at the British Masters into better results, but there’s no doubt I’ve made some good strides in the last month or six weeks, so there’s definitely something to build on.
Of course, it’s nice to see your name on top of a leaderboard, and getting to that position felt strangely easy, which was nice, but staying there was a different story. I didn’t play so well on the final day and I think in the past I’d have had a bit more robustness in my game, which is what I’m trying to get back. But I’m confident I will and there’s a good stretch of tournaments coming up.
It was great to see Richard Bland get over the line for the first time at The Belfry. I’ve played with him a few times in the past and every time I’ve done so he’s been excellent, so I’ve never quite understood his European Tour record. He’s a really, really good player. It’s tough to know what clicks when you win and you obviously need the cards to fall your way a little bit, but regardless, it was great to see his debut triumph at 48 years old.
Lee Westwood is obviously still playing at a high standard and Phil Mickelson has just won a Major at 50, so it’s good for people to see that golf remains primarily a skill-based game. As long as you aren’t totally physically impaired, you can still compete at a high level, which goes against the narrative we all read about the need to be young and hit the ball miles.
Blandy definitely has the game to go on and win more – he came close in Denmark the following week too. The confidence boost he got will be massive going forward and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him win again this year. It was a really nice moment.
The following week, Mickelson became golf’s oldest Major winner at the USPGA. I thought it was a brilliant event to watch – the course lent itself to drama, there were crowds and the history books were re-written. Kiawah Island rewarded players with a great deal of short-game and shot-making ability, and obviously Phil is at the top of that list. Padraig Harrington also finished fourth, so it was certainly a layout that facilitated a few surprises.
Mickelson used a strong 3-wood or mini driver to good effect and I seem to recall he employed something similar at the 2013 Scottish Open and Open Championship, both of which he won. I just think with Phil, when he chooses to try and get the ball in play, invariably he ends up winning or coming close to winning. He’s such a great player from the fairway in – he just needs to get himself on the short grass to start with.
Brooks Koepka played his part, too. He’s built up a Major persona in recent years and it felt very much like two heavyweights going at each other, with the one you’d perhaps not have favoured using wisdom, skill and guile to come out on top. It was fantastic viewing.
I think this will end up being a vintage year for the Majors. Matsuyama’s victory at Augusta was great, Torrey Pines is a tremendous venue that I’m sure will produce drama – and you’ll know the outcome of that when you read this – and Royal St George’s is a quirky course that could throw up a really interesting winner. It could be the best Major year we’ve had in quite some time. Hopefully I haven’t cursed things!
“I think this will end up being a vintage year for the Majors”
Our playing editor has recorded two victories on the European Tour, including the 2018 British Masters, and has 24 top-tens on the circuit