Florian Praegant is hoping a week’s break from Challenge Tour action has recharged histhe batteries enough to cope with a gruelling run until the end of the season.
This week’s Credit Suisse Challenge is the first tournament in a 14-tournament, 16-week stretch until the campaign reaches its climax at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, and Praegant was grateful to have some time off from competitive golfon last week after playing four consecutive tournaments.
The Austrian is currently 53rd in the Rankings, but a return to Golf Sempachersee in Lucerne, Switzerland, where he has an enviable record, finishing third last year and runner-up in 2009, could kick-start his season.
“Last week I played in Open qualifying on Tuesday, so by the time I got home I only had four days off rather than a whole week, but that was better than nothing,” said the 28 year old, who finished 22nd in last year’s Rankings.
“I played four in a row up until the Challenge Provincia di Varese and it was very tough. The break in the schedule was very welcome.
“I think three in a row is the maximum for me because it takes a lot out of me. It’s tricky when one week is very cold, like in Scotland, and the next week it is 30 degrees, as it was in Italy.
“But now I’ve had a chance to rest and I’m really looking forward to playing the Credit Suisse Challenge. It’s a good tournament for me as I’ve had some great results. I’ve never missed a cut there and twice I’ve nearly won.
“Last year the weather was so bad on the last day. It was raining all day and really windy, but I stayed focused and managed to shoot two under, which moved me up about 30 spots into third place.
“I hope the conditions are better this year, but I tend to do well when the weather is bad for some reason. A week later in the Norwegian Challenge I played really well on the last day, when it was also wet and windy, and came second after losing a play-off.”
Praegant’s best finish so far this season came at the Barclays Kenya Open, where he was eighth, and he admits he needs to improve to challenge for titles more regularly.
“It’s okay this year, but not great,” he added. “I’ve only missed two cuts but I’ve only had one really good finish, in Kenya. The last few tournaments have been better but I’ve not been finishing very high, so I need to step it up to start challenging again. I just need to hole a few more putts.”
Challenge Tour Rankings leader Gary Lockerbie is joined in the €160,000 event by the rest of the top five, – Magnus A Carlsson, Simon Wakefield, Andreas Hartø and Phil Archer, as well as sixth-placed Raymond Russell, who won in Italy two weeks ago.
