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Cancelled play but still a good day!
2009-10-03 Play was cancelled today due to high winds. The balls weren't still on the green, not even on the greens. Maybe not even in the bunkers when all the sand blow out of them. Never seen the wind that strong! I fell over a few times on the range when the wind was in my back. A lot of people says that hitting balls in strong left to right wind is very bad for your swing and makes more harm than good. I would say the opposite. It makes you have good balance, work out a good strong draw and it's good to test your fade as well. If your fade is too week, it will just slide off the earth but a good fade just goes a little with the wind. After hitting two buckets of balls practicing different shots, me and Magnus A Carlsson had a shortgame contest on the practice green and he beat me. Still pissed off about that but it was great fun in the strong wind. The wind just grabs the ball and it can be really tough to get it close even from an easy lie. Here are some photos from today..jpg "31(1).jpg")
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Pierre carrying his tools.
After a few ping pong games, we hit the Dowies Gym and Fitness. The coolest gym in Leven. My caddie Colin and a photographer friend of him came with us to get some material for Colin's new book he will release this winter. He wanted to get an insight of what we do in the gym and compare how golfers train today to how they trained 20 years ago when he started caddying. The Dowie brothers showed up and they are the nicest guys! Their gym is fully equipped and we all go there to work out while we are here and will be back again for the 2010 Open Championship at St:Andrews..jpg "36(1).jpg")
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Hit some balls on the beach outside the house...I couldn't even look up as either the sand or the water from the ocean hit my eyes. I love watching the sea. It makes me relax. The wind is still picking up in strength late in the afternoon..jpg "38(1).jpg")
PS. An incredible thing just happened, Johan Edfors beat Alvaro Quiros left-handed in ping-pong.
Later!
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Confidence is key
2009-10-02 Carnoustie showed a nicer side today with no wind and no rain. The weather forecast couldn't have been more wrong as they forecasted heavy rain all day. I started a bit slow with no real chances for birdies. I was pleased with even par for the first nine holes. I wasn't hitting the ball good and Marco van Basten looked over at me and told me to have confidence in my game. Confidence is the most important thing, he added. As he is my idol, I listened to him and tried to just swing with confidence. Went on a run from then on with four birdies in a row and Marco was happy with me as a teammate again:) Finished with pars in for a 4 under 68 which I'm very happy with. Improved my putting from yesterday by 10 putts.
Marco van Basten is the most humble superstar I've ever met. Haven't met many superstars but seen them on tv. He is a little shy and makes everyone around him feel great. I asked him how he felt after making all those incredible goals in his career and he just said that those things just happen! It's kind of like when somebody makes a hole-in-one. It just happens, he added. It's seems like he doesn't put himself up on a pedestal and I like that.
Confidence is something he said he got later in his career. He started playing with older boys and had to outsmart them on the pitch when he wasn't as big as they were. I've always struggled with my confidence on the course. Always believed in myself and dreamt big but I've had many doubts and I still do. For example today, I was really unsure of myself on the course and only after making those birdies, I could play freely without much doubt. Marco said that always believe in yourself, no matter how bad you are performing. Easier said than done, but you can learn to do it I guess.
Tomorrow's forecast is high winds gusting up to 60 mph. If that's true, we can't play golf. Hope it's not that windy. I like wind, but not when the balls roll of the greens. We are playing at St:Andrews tomorrow and we'll see how that goes.
Sleep well and see you later!
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Round 1
2009-10-01 Started with left over steak from yesterday...first time I've had steak for breakfast. It was nice. I've been trying this non carb diet to get enough protein in me, so this breakfast felt perfect! Then off to Kingsbarns to play the first round of Dunhill Links Championship. Started good but didn't get anything going and finished with an even par round. Happy with a few things and dissapointed with a few. Need to hit the iron shots closer to have better looks for birdies.
Feels so different playing these hard links courses after practicing on a fairly soft course in France the last two weeks. I have to adapt to hitting low shots when needed and curve the ball to master the wind. Last two weeks was more target golf and and the ball stopped directly on the green, which it doesn't do here.
Playing with Marco van Basten today was great! He is such a nice and humble guy! He almost made a hole-in-one on a par 4 today. He hit it to 1 foot on the 6th and made an easy eagle. That helped our team score and I think we are middle of the pack in the rankings. Got him to sign some stuff after the round and my caddie thought I was really embarrasing for asking him. He was the best football player in the world, you gotta ask him for an autograph!.jpg "1(6).jpg")
Tomorrow we are playing Carnoustie. Heard the weather is gonna be bad but it can change over night. I'm an optimist. I love Carnoustie, it's one of the best links in the world I think. Kingsbarns is fun, St:Andrews is holy and different, and Carnoustie is just very good. It tests your whole game. I need to hit it better than I did today to shoot under par there. We'll see if I have what it takes.
Pierre was nice to me today, just a swiss ball session and some flexibility work. Felt nice after just getting past
the soreness from the monday and tuesday workouts. So much easier working out in front of this view..jpg "2(6).jpg")
Jesse, Hedblom's caddie, and Colin chilling on the range after the round. Jesse looks like he's going skiing:).jpg "3(6).jpg")
Gotta hit the bed...the wind and the tough courses here make me tired!
Later!
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Marco van Basten!!! Unreal!
2009-09-30 As my caddie was walking around Carnoustie, I did a photo shoot for Golf World Magazine at St:Andrews. Took some swing pics and was trying to tell them what I try to do in my swing. There are a lot of things and it will take a while I tried to explain:) The photographer was really good at getting the pics he wanted and we were done in just 15 min. Normally this stuff takes forever!.jpg "301(2).jpg")
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Best photographer ever!.jpg "303(2).jpg")
Tee shot at the 14th.jpg "304(2).jpg")
Ruud Gullit joined after a few holes and he was a very interesting guy. It was weird playing with him after watching him on TV so many times!.jpg "305(2).jpg")
Colin on the back nine heading towards the town....jpg "306(2).jpg")
The "Hell bunker" is not very friendly....jpg "307(1).jpg")
"Hell bunker".jpg "308(1).jpg")
The beach outside the house. When the sun is shining in Scotland it's one of the best countries in the world!
Really tired again after yesterdays work out. Hope the soreness will be gone by tomorrow morning...we'll see:)
I'm gonna team up with Marco van Basten this tournament! It's like a dream come trough for me. I loved watching him when I was little! Me and my friends had a AC Milan club and he was the man!!! He was voted the best player in the World by FIFA in 1992. I'm a little nervous to play with him and I will embarass myself on the first tee asking for an autograph! But I don't care:)
Pierre is about to give me a massage, sometimes he is a great guy!!!
Later!
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Kingsbarns
2009-09-29 Totally dead when I woke up this morning! Pierre absolutely killed me yesterday during our work out. We have a plan we follow for each tournament. We go really hard on monday and tuesday, easy on wednesday and thursday. Hard on friday and easy on saturday. Relax sunday. This make me feel really sore on wednesday and a little sore on thursday morning but it doesn't affect my game negatively. Then I feel great friday and pumped up for the weekend after the harder work out friday night.
Found a great gym today! Two brothers own the "Dowies Gym and Fitness" in Leven, Scotland and they both look like they have lifted a kilo or two in their lives..jpg "291(2).jpg")
Some pics from today when we played Kingsbarns GC....jpg "292(2).jpg")
Kingsbarns 3rd hole.jpg "293(2).jpg")
Colin Byrne looking strong....jpg "294(2).jpg")
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Looks old but the club house at Kingsbarns GC is fairly new.jpg "296(2).jpg")
Nice to chill here after a tough day on the links.jpg "297(2).jpg")
So glad I'm inside!.jpg "298(2).jpg")
Good view by the entrance to our house this week.jpg "299(2).jpg")
Chef Kenneth on a roll in the kitchen!
Tomorrow we are playing the Old Course at St:Andrews in the afternoon. I want to play really late so we can see the sun lowering and the shadows getting longer. The light is so nice in the evening at St:Andrews. Got a "swing photo shoot" with the magazine Golf World in the morning so I have to swing my best!:)
Sleep well!!!
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