James Erkenbeck has travelled a long way to play on the European Challenge Tour this season, but his dedication is starting to pay off ahead of the Euram Bank Open as he continues to find form away from home.
The southern California native, who earned a Challenge Tour category out of European Tour Qualifying School last year, initially crossed the Atlantic Ocean to compete in the D+D REAL Czech Challenge, but was unsure of how many additional starts he would garner.
Aiming to follow in the footsteps of countrymen Brooks Koepka and Julian Suri, who both launched their careers on the Challenge Tour, Erkenbeck decided not to return to the dazzling San Diego coastline, instead electing to stay with an old neighbour who was living in Zurich while he waited for higher ranked players to take a week off and put him into the field.
The decision turned out to be a wise one, as the 28 year old now prepares to make his eighth start of the season on the heels of a tied eighth place finish at last week’s Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.
“I’ve never travelled this many weeks in a row,” he said. “I didn’t even think it was possible to be on the road for what will now be my tenth week, but I’ve really enjoyed it.
“It’s been cool to see different cultures and eat different foods and that’s one thing, but also the golf courses have been really nice and really fun to play so it’s made it just that much easier to have fun and enjoy each event.”
Aside from the surroundings he has been adjusting to, Erkenbeck was also forced to make another adaption while preparing for the Prague Golf Challenge.
“For the first six events I played, I just didn’t feel like I had a chance because everything I was hitting off the tee was going both directions. I had a two-way miss,” he said.
“Then my driver cracked in a practice round in Prague and Julien Brun was kind enough to lend me his back-up driver that week, and immediately things felt a little better.
“When I didn’t get into the field in Scotland, I got fit for a new driver in that off-week and its made a big difference.
“Once I started to get it in play a little bit more, the par fives became a lot easier, birdies came a lot easier and my scores reflected it last week.”
Now armed with a new weapon and more certainty off the tee, the American is still facing plenty of uncertainty as he continues his Challenge Tour campaign.
“It’s hard for me to say what my goals for the rest of the season are because I’m not sure what events I’m going to get into, so I’m just taking it one week at a time,” he said.
With the Euram Bank Open beginning this Thursday, and the demanding undulations of Golf Club Adamstal awaiting the field, Erkenbeck was able to concede one goal he had decided on.
“I want to be in contention, that would be nice,” he said. “Last week I wasn’t quite in contention because I had a first round where I had one hole where it kind of slipped away and I made a seven on a par three, so I was always playing catch-up.
“It would be nice on Sunday to feel like I have a chance to win.”
