Tomas Santos Silva will focus on practising his putting ahead of this week’s 56º Open de Portugal in a bid to increase his chances of success.
The Portuguese finished tied 15that last week’s Challenge de España, mainly thanks to a stunning second round 65, the joint low round of the week.
Despite a one over par 73 in the final round, the 25 year old finished on five under for the week on a course where scoring proved difficult.
And although he’s happy with where his game is at right now, Santos Silva is planning to work on his putting to pick up further shots at Morgado Golf Resort, a course which he believes doesn’t reward high quality shots off the tee.
“I’m really looking forward to playing this week,” he said. “I feel like my game is getting near to where I want it to be.
“I played a really good round on Saturday and I felt really confident with my game last week, although I struggled a bit on the greens.
“I had a hard time with finding the pace of the greens but I feel like my game is getting there. I feel like next week can be a really good week.
“My driver is unbelievable at the minute. I think I missed four or five fairways in Spain, so that helped me a lot.
“I just need to work and focus a bit more on my putting. If I can take two or three strokes on the greens, which I know I can, it will be fun.
“That course doesn’t really suit my game because it’s pretty wide open. A guy who is playing well off the tee cannot gain strokes against a guy who is hitting bad off the tee because the course is so forgiving.
“I need to work on my putting because I feel like I’m going to really need my putter this week.”
Santos Silva is relishing the opportunity to play in his home country on the European Challenge Tour and believes the course will be in good shape.
“We had some events there during the winter and the course was pretty good,” he said. “The greens were firm, which, during the winter in Portugal, is not normal.
“I think the weather will be good so we’ll see what happens.
“You feel the pressure of playing at home in front of some of my teammates, some of my friends are going to be there and some of the Portuguese crowd. It’s really good to play in.”
Joining Santos Silva in Portugal will be Challenge de España winner Oscar Lengden and Road to Ras Al Khaimah Number Three Kim Koivu.
