Benjamin Hebert, who took the European Challenge Tour by storm with three victories in 2011, is ready to rebuild his confidence on his return to the second tier after a disappointing season on The European Tour in 2012.
The Frenchman had a meteoric rise to the top table as he claimed his maiden Challenge Tour title at the 2011 Credit Suisse Challenge, before winning one week later at the English Challenge.
He then made it three victories just a month later at the prestigious Rolex Trophy to earn automatic promotion to The European Tour.
The 25 year old struggled to carry that form onto the top tier, however, and after an indifferent 2012 campaign, he returns to the Challenge Tour hoping to rebuild his game and his confidence.
“Last year was not great for me,” said Hebert, a former European Amateur Champion. “I didn’t have many good results. Finishing tied sixth in Austria (at the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity) was the highlight of the year, but I didn’t play well and never found the rhythm.
“But it was a good experience to play on The European Tour. I know I have a lot of work to do and now I have to focus on the Challenge Tour this year and do as well as I can.
“I am still young and I have a lot of things to learn. I don’t have a lot of confidence in my game, but I just need to learn more and get my confidence back.”
Hebert sees the Challenge Tour as the perfect place to regain his form, and is hopeful that he can notch another victory this year.
He said: “It’s a thing that happens to every player during their career – they find their own way to be consistent on The European Tour, and sometimes it means coming back to the Challenge Tour and making your way back up.
“The Challenge Tour is a great tour with a lot of good players and really good courses in good condition. It’s important to play all year and find your rhythm and keep working on your game and try to be better.
“I don’t know if I will be able to be better than two years ago. My game at the moment is not great but I am going to practise a lot during the break and we will see what happens after that.
“I know that I can win tournaments on the Challenge Tour, and I think I can some day win on The European Tour, but I need to be more consistent with every part of my game so I need to work more.”
