Jeff Winther has used the pain and disappointment of his failure to close out victory at the KPMG Trophy in Belgium to ignite his season and his fine recent form.
The Dane led, alongside Dutchman Taco Remkes, going into the weekend after rounds of 65 and 69 but he then struggled in windy conditions to fall to tied 39th, 12 shots behind winner Jamie McLeary.
The 27 year old has made the cut in every European Challenge Tour event he has played this season and last week finished in a tie for third at the AEGEAN Airlines Challenge Tour hosted by Hartl Resorts.
Continuing that form this week in the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge, Winther was seven under after 12 holes in round one before four birdies saw him finish two shots behind the early round two leaders Ricardo Gouveia and Steven Jeppesen.
“I’m playing really well right now,” he said. “I feel like every shot I hit is going to be good, I’m that in control of my swing at the moment.
“It was nice to get a high finish in Germany last week and after that I was excited to come here to Slovakia and see what I could do.
I'm definitely playing well enough to think I can win here - the course sets up well for low scoring so it will be exciting
“After I had a really tragic experience in Belgium, when honestly I was so angry I could have killed someone, it was great to bounce back straight away last week and hopefully this week can be even better.”
Late in round one stormy weather prevented any improvement in scoring, halting Winther’s charge, but he dogged out a one under par second round to find himself well placed going into the weekend.
And although yet to win on the Challenge Tour, Winther believes the breakthrough is just around the corner as he looks to climb up the Road to Oman Rankings from his current position of 29th.
“Yesterday I had a really good round going,” he said. “I think I was seven under through 12 holes but it became impossible with the wind to get anything close.
“It was definitely a big advantage to be in the morning groups for the first round but we’ll have to see how the second round scoring goes.
“I’m definitely playing well enough to think I can win here. The course sets up well for me and for low scoring so I’m sure it will be exciting.”
