William Harrold is hoping the presence of his father on the bag can inspire him to a second victory of the European Challenge Tour season when the Englishman plays in Germany for the first time at the Aegean Airlines Challenge Tour by Hartl Resort.
The 26 year old burst on to the Challenge Tour scene at the Belgian Challenge Open two weeks ago when he overcame Germany’s Florian Fritsch to claim a maiden title in just his third appearance on European golf's second tier.
Having already earned two victories on the satellite Europro Tour prior to that, Harrold’s season has provided a perfect example of how things can change in the blink of an eye in professional golf.
The Norfolk man is loving every minute of it and is looking forward to having his father caddie for him this week at Hartl Resort in the Bad Griesbach region of Germany.
“It’s all happened really quickly for me this year,” said Harrold, who studied in the University of Missouri in the USA. “I won twice on the Europro Tour and that gave me a chance to come out and try to play some more Challenge Tour events.
“Even going into Belgium last week I wasn’t really thinking about winning. I was pretty certain I was going to be back on the Europro Tour the following week, but it was amazing.
“It was awesome to win. There were such big crowds out there, it felt like a European Tour event because there were so many people watching.
“My dad is coming over next week to Germany to caddie, which is great. He caddied for both my wins on the Europro Tour, but not Belgium.
“He’s really good, he’s pretty relaxed and that’s the best thing about him as a caddie. He won’t give yardages or anything, he just drags the bag and keeps my head up. We work well together, just working on focusing on my shot, one shot at a time until it’s all over.”
Harrold knows all about hard work, having grown up on a farm in south-east England, and while he has enjoyed the ride on the Challenge Tour so far, he knows there is a long way to go this season and he must move on from his victory if he is to graduate to The European Tour.
“It’s been my goal since I turned pro to get on to the Challenge Tour and then see where I can go after that,” he said. “I just have to try to keep doing what I've been doing and change nothing.
“Every week is different. You might have won one but the next week is completely different and you have to just forget about it.
“I've never played in Germany before so I'm looking forward to it. I've kind of driven through the borders before but I've never been there properly. The Challenge Tour is showing me around Europe, that’s for sure.
“I don’t know much about the course but I've looked it up and it looks really good.
“The things I've been working on seem to be going alright so I'm as confident as I always am I guess, so it should be a good week.”
Harrold joins a strong field at the spectacular Hartl Resort, with current Challenge Tour Rankings leader Jordi Garcia Pinto hoping to emulate Italian Andrea Pavan by winning this event on the way to finishing the season as Number One.
Last week’s Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts champion Andrew Johnston is another of the seven winners from the 2014 season present this week, while former European Tour winners in the field include Swede Michael Jonzon, Ross McGowan of England and Argentinian Daniel Vancsik.
