Wood hoping to hit the heights

Englishman bouyed by success of countrymen

Last updated: 3rd March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wood hoping to hit the heights

Wood: solid early season form

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Chris Wood is hoping to maintain his solid start to the season at this week's Maybank Malaysian Open, but admits he still feels some way from hitting top form.

The European Tour's 2009 Rookie of the Year will be one of the top-ranked players in the field at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

The 22-year-old posted three top-20 finishes during the Tour's Desert Swing, with the best a 14th place in Qatar, before being knocked out in the first round on his WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship debut by Lee Westwood on his last outing.

Wood insists he did not dwell on that defeat for too long and heads to Malaysia in good spirits.

"It has been a pretty solid start to the year and then I got the best player of the field in the first round of the Match Play so it was never going to be an easy match against Lee," stated the world number 68.

"I played okay but just couldn't score very well.

"It still feels like I haven't played enough golf yet so it feels like I am just starting the season."

Bristol-born Wood announced himself on the world stage by finishing fifth in the 2008 Open while still an amateur, before just missing out on the play-off last year as a professional at Turnberry - one of five top-10 finishes in 2009 for the two-time English Amateur Order of Merit winner.

Feel-good factor

He admits the current feel-good factor surrounding English golf - with Westwood, Paul Casey and recent Match Play winner Ian Poulter at four, five and six in the world - will only help the continued development of the game.

"We had two Englishmen in the final of the Match Play, that was great," he added.

"I think a lot of the players have come through the England Amateur set-up and the opportunities that you get from that have really improved over the last 10 years. That is when all the good players have started to come through.

"I did a lot of travelling with the England team and that is 50% of being a tour pro, all the travelling. It helps to get that experience before you turn pro.

"They have invested a lot more money into the coaching side of things in England."