Well after being home for a week or so after South Africa it was time to pack for the long stint! I plan to be away for 6 to 7 months now.. so its always a little tougher saying goodbye this time of year. My first stop was Japan. My first time to the country, which is always exciting! I got an invitation for winning the Australian Order of Merit, and thought it was a great opportunity to see what the Japanese Tour is like. I enjoyed it very much, the tournament was very professional, and the people so nice and friendly. Unfortunately the golf didn t follow.. I shot 74, 77 to miss the cut by 3 shots. I really didn t play well, and feel my lack of tournament golf over the past 2 months hasn t helped this. But as we say – onwards and upwards! But I thoroughly enjoyed the event, and am so thankful to all those who helped me while I was there. So then I was off to the USA for US Open pre qualifying. This is just one day of 36 holes, which I have never attempted to do. I wasn t going to be missing an event in Europe so I thought why not! Things worked out quite well, with me shooting 2 rounds of even par to be in 3rd place. I didn t know how many spots were up for grabs at the start of the day (I m glad I didn t) and lucky for me there was 3! So now I am playing the Women’s US Open, (June 24-30) which for those who know me well, I m slightly excited about!! But until then I m back in Europe playing in Holland and Germany which I cant wait to get back into things!! I arrived into Holland to some not so nice weather! And the forecast wasn t great for the week, just feels like we getting a little unlucky with the weather this year! This was a new course which is always exciting, and I loved the look of it, not too long but very challenging. Day 1 in some tough conditions I managed to shoot -1 after a poor finish but I was in the mix. Round 2 I did much the same, playing solid in some tough conditions, but a poor finish cost me to be right up there going into the final round, signing for a +1. Final day felt better and made some great saves, but again tough conditions stopped me from doing anything good enough to be in contention, but finished with a -1, and T10th for the event. Overall very pleased for my first event back! Now Germany bound.. love this event and golf course! All involved put on a great show here, and everyone loves coming back. But again as this season goes for LET the poor weather has followed us everywhere!! Unfortunately it was looking like the event was going to be a total wash out, but I guess maybe we could say lucky we even got 27 holes in! I played steady for those holes, -2 first round and then +2 for the extra 9 holes, but this is a course where there are birdies flying everywhere usually, so my level par was only good enough for T37th. I was so pleased that a good friend of mine Carlota Ciganda was able to get the win. So deserved, and very happy for her!! Also on another golfing note, Karrie Webb winning on the LPGA, she has been playing well for so long, always there abouts yet hadn t won in 2 years on the LPGA (a long time in her books!!) , great news for her and Australian Golf!!! Very happy for both girls!! So now I have some time off to get my game in shape and ready to head over to the US Open in 3 weeks times! Hope we have some good news to share next time Im blogging! Stacey Keating is a former National Squad member, the current Victorian Open champion, two-time Ladies European Tour winner and current member of Golf Australia&aposs Rookie Professional Program. This blog can also be found at his website www.staceykeating.com.au . Follow her on Twitter @staceykeats
Author: Stacey Keating / GA Rookie Squad member