David Law has admitted that missing the cut at last week’s SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge marked the lowest point of his professional career, but the Scot bounced back in determined fashion with a four under opening round 67 at the AEGEAN Airlines Challenge by Hartl Resort.
The 24 year old, a protégé of former Open Champion Paul Lawrie, missed out on the weekend’s play at Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club last week by a single shot, having started positively with a two under 69.
The Aberdonian feels he is striking the ball better than ever this season, making it all the more frustrating that he has not been posting low scores – just three cuts in eight starts is a testament to that.
Law admits it was a difficult couple of days for him last weekend but with the advice of his brother Chris, a talented golfer in his own right, ringing in his ear, he has picked himself up and atoned for that crushing blow in perfect fashion this week.
“Last week, to be honest, was as low as I’ve been with golf in a few years,” said the two-time Scottish Amateur Champion. “I was devastated missing the cut by one.
“The fact that I played solidly and then scored really poorly, I was really down that weekend to not be playing.
“I think this week I just needed to be patient, rather than trying to force everything. If you just go out and let it happen and relax it will work and I think that happened today.
“My brother Chris just told me I need to relax and let it happen. I’ve been too uptight and wanting everything to happen and for every putt to drop. When you get into that mentality and you don’t hole it, it’s the end of the world.
“It’s one good round of golf but we’ve still got three more to make up shots and Ricardo’s already got himself a good lead, so it will be good fun to try and do it all over again tomorrow.”
While it has been a tough season for Law, he still feels like he is close to finding a vein of form and having taken on the same caddie that helped Frenchman Jérôme Lando-Casanova to European Tour graduation via the Challenge Tour last year, he believes things are looking up.
“It’s been a funny season,” he said. “The long game has been as good as it’s ever been, maybe even better than it’s ever been, but my chipping and putting hasn’t been very good so I haven’t been scoring well.
“It’s been frustrating so far this year because I’m hitting the ball better this year than last year but the scores aren’t reflecting that. I’ve changed a couple of things this year and taken on Olly (Crolla-Parkhouse) on the bag for the last two events.
“I’ve been making some bad decisions lately and I thought I needed to change something up and it definitely helps to bounce ideas off a caddie. Olly has experience with Jerome Lando-Casanova so it’s been great.”
