I enjoyed a couple of weeks at home, I even managed a trip to London to watch Les Miserables as a birthday treat. It was amazing and now I can't wait until I get to see another show.

I drove to St Andrews which was a nice change, but when I got into town it was pouring down and you could only see 30 feet in front of you, so I registered and collected my balls and gloves from Titleist before checking into my hotel.

I played a practice round on Wednesday at Kingsbarns, this is where I always seem to practice the week of the Dunhill, as its the newest of the three courses we play I figure if there are going to be any major changes it will be there.

As this week is a pro am format and at three courses St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, not just one it is a very different week to normal. I'm sure I have said before how I love St Andrews as my family would come on holiday most summers to play golf.  My Mam drove up on Wednesday to watch for a few days, so we went for dinner at the clubhouse at the St Andrews Bay hotel for fish and chips, but mainly for the stunning views of the town.

My amateur partner for the week was Pawan Munjal, he runs a motorbike company in India. The other pro in the group was Aussie Ashley Hall and his amateur Niel Hoogenhout.  We were at Kingsbarns on Thursday and I got off to a good start to the week with a three under par round.

On Friday we were up early to get to Carnoustie, its around a 40minute drive from where I stay and was a little longer than usual as the main road in Dundee was shut for roadworks so we went on a little detour. The weather was cold but calm for most of the day with only a little breeze, I have never seen it so calm at Carnoustie, as we walked off the 10th tee, our first of the day I joked with my playing partners that we should make the most of the calm conditions before the wind or rain came, and apart from a slight sprinkle neither came. I played very well and shot 66, a round of 6 under par, it had been a round of 1 bogey and 7 birdies, each of the birdies being no longer than 6 feet. 

On Saturday high winds had been forecast and for once they were right, as I was due to play at St Andrews I thought I would have gotten a luckier draw for a change but it was so windy the buses couldn't get across the bridge to Carnoustie and Kingsbarns was unplayable. Play was cancelled for the day. I spent most of the day trying to make sure I could stay in my hotel on Sunday night and change my hotel room and flight booking for Madrid as I was now going to arrive on Tuesday. It was typical that no great football was on TV, after a quiet dinner in town it was an early night.

Sunday we played our third round on the Old Course, I played well and was a couple under before a couple of there putt bogies. There is always the possibility of some long putts with the double greens. I had a great finish with birdies on 17 and 18 to shoot three under for the day and and twelve under for the tournament. Our team score was 26 under and qualified for the final round as we were in 6th place but Pawan had to get back to India for business so I would be on my own for the team side of things on Monday.

Monday I played with Ritchie Ramsay and his amateur partner Ian Webb. All three of us got off to a solid start.
Ritchie picked up a couple of birdies around the turn and another at 14 and found himself in 2nd place, the Scottish crowds were getting excited and our gallery increased for the last few holes.  I was disappointed with my double on 17, as I was less than a yard off the fairway and could only hack the ball out and forward. Having spoken to a couple of players it seems I wasn't the only one to have this problem on the 17th, it still doesn't make me feel much better! I was pleased to follow up with a birdie on the 18th to finish the tournament at 14 under par and in a tie for 9th place.        

It was good to see Dys and his caddie Guy win again, they are having a great season.

As soon as I finished playing it was a dash to the car as I had just over three hours to drive home before a couple of loads of laundry and a repack of the suitcase. Tuesday was a full day of travelling to Madrid, I left home at 7.30am and got to my hotel room a little after 6pm.

I am looking forward to this weeks event, hopefully my good play will continue.