The Open Championship at St Andrews started off in the best way possible for me with a 63 in round one and after that I thought I had a really good chance to kick on and take the tournament by the scruff of the neck. The conditions on Friday didn’t really let me do that and I just didn’t handle them as well as I probably could have done. I hadn’t played in wind like that for a while and it was really tough going.

However, I was really happy with the way I handled things over the weekend and to come back and shoot a couple of scores in the 60’s  to finish in a tied for 3rd wasn’t what I wanted but left me on a positive note.

Tonight I’m heading up to Lough Erne to play in the Lough Erne Challenge – and this year it’s North against South with myself and Darren Clarke taking on Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington which is going to be a lot of fun. It’s nice to get away from tournament golf so it should be a good couple of days – and I intend to spend a bit of time in that fantastic spa and the hotel as well at Lough Erne.

The week after that I’m playing the 3 Irish Open at Killarney which I’m looking forward to – I’ve never played the course or been down to Killarney before but have had really great reports about the course and the whole area so can’t wait to get there. It would be nice to put the disappointment of the Open behind me and have a win in my national open. I think everyone who plays would love to win their national open and it would be cool to do it.

I’d like to say a massive congratulations to my ISM stablemate Louis Oosthuizen on such a fantastic victory at St Andrews. I spent a bit of time with him and the other South Africans in The Jigger during the week. He was very calm and relaxed all week and handled himself so well the whole time.

Have got the dogs back home now and it’s just great to see them so I think a bit of fun with them is in order for the rest of the day.

I’ll be reporting in again after the Irish Open.

Cheers, Rory.