Christopher Mivis arrives on home soil with a renewed sense of purpose as he prepares to tee it up in the B-NL Challenge Trophy by Hulencourt this week.
The Belgian made a terrific start to the season in South Africa with back-to-back runner up finishes at the Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open and Jonsson Workwear Open, however he has been unable to record a top-ten since and now finds himself sitting in 22nd position on the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
The 33-year-old is relishing the chance to tee it up in front of the home crowds this week and believes it can be the catalyst for a strong finish to the Road to Mallorca as he looks to move back into the top 20 on the rankings and secure promotion to the DP World Tour.
“It’s always very nice to play at home,” he said. “I’m staying at my house, so getting to sleep in my own bed will be a big bonus. I took a week off last week and next week there is no tournament, so it is great to have three weeks in Belgium.
“I’ve been playing well over the last few weeks, but I’ve been unable to convert performances into results. I went through a tough period in the middle of the season where I missed a lot of cuts ad tried to make too many changes which didn’t work. There is still plenty of golf to play and I know if I have one good week, I can get back inside that top 20 on the Rankings.”
Mivis will be looking to use all his experience of navigating the parkland layout at Hulencourt to his advantage, after teeing it up several times here in the past.
“I played here a lot a couple of years ago in national tournaments,” he said. “There has been a lot of investment and changes made to the course with some new tee boxes and bunkers, so I will have to play close attention to that. It’s quite an open course and the greens are always great here. You must put yourself on the right side of the pin if you want to make birdies.”
Mivis is joined in Belgium this week by last week’s winner Mikael Lindberg, who won his maiden title at the Indoor Golf Group Challenge, as well as Road to Mallorca Number One Freddy Schott.
The action gets under way at 7:45am local time on Thursday September 1, with Mivis playing alongside German Alexander Knappe and Frenchman Adrien Saddier at 1:55pm.
