Chris Wood talks to us from Dubai, where he is preparing for the final event of the Middle East Swing.
Chris returns to Dubai for Desert Classic event
Hi everyone from Dubai. Yes, I'm back here yet again - I think it has been my second home for the last few months!
As you'll remember after I started the season with a second place in the Africa Open I spent a great week with my coach Paul working at the both the Els Club and the Emirates course that hosts this week's tournament.
Our main focus of attention was my pitching and it seemed to work because I felt really good in Abu Dhabi when finishing 23rd (I ranked 11th for Greens in Regulation which again suggests the practice was paying off).
I then went home for a week and it's pretty amazing what seven days of freezing cold weather will do because I felt very rusty on my return to action last week in Qatar. I missed a lot of fairways and the rough was very thick - that would be bad enough but on Thursday it was seriously windy so being erratic from the tee and trying to recover from the rough was not an easy option!
I really struggled to score as a result, never got going and was out of the event come Friday night.
Excited
I'm very excited about this week, however, because I really love the Emirates golf course - it's just a great layout to play. It's also a really well-run event (which always helps) and we've got a superb field this week so there are some good world rankings points on offer.
All of the world's top three are in attendance, which is great news, but not necessarily in the order we might have expected! Anytime you get Tiger Woods in the field it is great, it really adds to the excitement and buzz, but having two Europeans above him shows what a strong state the Tour is in - pretty good I reckon!
Martin Kaymer has been awesome again this year and although Lee hasn't started in his normal fashion I'm sure it won't be long before he is racking up the points again and cleaning up!
The finishing holes at Emirates are absolute class, I love them, so I really hope I'm in the mix come Sunday because my game is not that far off and I'm not looking forward to a month off.
Good finish
But that's what I'll have if I don't have a decent week because I need a good finish to give myself a chance of getting into the WGC World Matchplay event out in Arizona - I'm currently 96th and need to drag myself into the top 64.
Whatever happens, it's been another good Middle East Swing. I love the courses - Abu Dhabi and Dubai are quite similar whilst Doha is a bit different and probably the toughest of the three.
One of the big stories of the Swing was Padraig Harrington's DQ in Abu Dhabi. Coming after he had completed his round of seven-under-par it was a bit strange but I was so impressed with how he handled it.
Listening to his interviews he went up even further in my estimations - he's a true pro! Having seen the footage the DQ does seem harsh but, like he said, the rules are there to protect the game so that's it - we have to accept it.
At the moment, then, I'm not sure what I will be doing after Dubai. Hopefully I'll be off to the World Matchplay because if not I'll be back at home and freezing cold!
