Ana Dawson's summer update

My first event since my last update would have been Evian; it was exciting to get to play on a course that hosts a major. Being my first Ladies European Tour (LET) event in Europe and making the cut, it felt like a good set up for the season.

Then, in Belgium, I opened up with a two under par round, my first round under par at an LET event, which felt great to do. 

Straight after Belgium, I played the US Open pre-qualifier. I was doing pretty well but unfortunately, on the 16th hole, I made a triple that meant I missed out by two strokes. Nonetheless, it was cool to be in the mix. It was my first time playing in the US Open against an obviously very strong field. A whole LET field was competing for three spots, so that made it even more exciting. Moreover, it gives me a lot of confidence for next year too, especially after playing 36 holes in a day. It's been a little while since I've done that!

I then went home for the Golf day in honour of my Dad, which was nice since it was the first time being back at home in a while. We managed to raise a good amount of money for charity and I would like to give a massive thank you to RL360 for their support and for donating a few prizes. It’s great to have the support from RL360 outside of golf and for something that's very important to me: raising money for a hospice and a brain tumour charity. It was truly a great day. 

Afterwards, I went to travel back to my first event, which was going to be my first three-week stretch on the road, the longest stretch I have ever done. My flight to Germany was cancelled, but luckily I was able to swap onto my boyfriend (Will’s) flight as he was due to fly in the afternoon. If I hadn’t been able to get onto that plane, I would have missed the tournament as, due to the TT, there were no other available flights.

With lots of driving between airports and little sleep, I made it on time and managed to play my practice round. In Germany, I finished strongly (eagle, birdie, par), enough to make the cut by one stroke. It was a good weekend overall and my best finish on the LET so far. After spending time at home on the Island and then the added stress of it being a pain to travel there, I didn’t really want to be at the tournament but I’m glad I went. It's funny how things work out as it was actually a really nice tournament, and a four round tournament too which was enjoyable to play since we normally play three round events. By making the cut, it was a good opportunity for me to have more of a chance to move up. 

I had some good vibes going into Prague and was leading after round one. There were many positives from that, especially after I had a triple on the 16th. I think that was the first big moment where I thought, “Whoa, I didn't even play my best and I've still got a lead in a European tour event”. 

To begin the next round with a birdie was a good start. I didn't feel too nervous and was really enjoying it. On the ninth hole, I was still doing pretty well. We were bang on halfway through the tournament and at that point, I think that I was sitting around third when my caddy picked up my ball. Unfortunately, I was penalised for that and it was quite a big deal since it’s not a common thing to deal with on the golf course. The penalty meant that the ruling took quite a while which really killed all momentum and it was hard to wrap my head around that for the back nine. Unfortunately, I did let a few slip away and didn't end up finishing how I would have liked, but it's hard to say I'll learn from it since it wasn’t a normal situation. However, I did learn a lot from leading in terms of how to navigate that better. 

I then played my third week and was a bit tired by that point. We had many delays and a lot to learn in that three-week stretch from my best finish, leading an event and playing three in a row. It’s a learning curve playing that much golf and still being fresh by the end of it.

Afterwards, I went to caddy for Will on the challenge tours’ biggest tournament of the year, which was on my birthday, and he came second overall. Although it wasn’t really a break from golf, it was enjoyable to be the one not playing golf and ended up being a nice way to celebrate. 

La Sella, most recently, was fun and an extremely well run event. This was the biggest event and strongest field I've played in, and it wasn't easy. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, we stopped playing for a day and a half, and I didn't get a great draw. I think I would have carried a little bit more momentum if I hadn’t stopped. Stopping and then starting again, along with the first round taking over eight hours, was not easy. A shame to miss the cut, but I am looking forward to playing larger tournaments.

Now I'm left with all of August off. I’m not too sure when I'm playing next since we have a re-rank. There's a bit of waiting around now but I'm very excited to have a few weeks off because there's been so much just play and no chances to practice, see coaches and work on my game since February. I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of my time off and when I get some good work done, hopefully I’ll have a strong finish to the year.