By Mathieu Wood
Golf is a fickle beast. Confidence is hard earned and in tough times perspective can be hard to retain, yet it can reward you when you least expect it.
Having lost his full playing rights on the DP World Tour at the end of last season, before narrowly missing out at Qualifying School, Eddie Pepperell holds a share of the halfway lead at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. Christmas might just come early for the popular Englishman.
This just a week on from missing the cut at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, where there was a 12-shot swing between his two rounds.
But despite the inevitable disheartenment caused by his start in South Africa, the belief gained from his second-round 69 appears to have carried over to Mauritius.
Still, saying that, he’d be the first to admit there is a long way to go at Mont Choisy Le Golf.
“[Confidence] probably goes quicker than it comes back but as we who play the game all know, if you are a good player and can find something the confidence can come back quite fast," said Pepperell.
"You have just got to keep that magic as long as you can.
"It is a fickle thing. I always think confidence is the icing and the cherry on top of the cake, but it is by no means the cake.
"The more rounds of golf and period of time you can have playing well, confidence can blossom."
Listeners of The Chipping Forecast, a podcast he co-hosts alongside broadcasting duo Andrew Cotter and Iain Carter, will know that he returned to an old swing feel in between his two rounds at Leopard Creek.
In summary, it's a slow takeaway with his right shoulder pulled forward to cover the ball as he looks to swing the club on plane in the backswing. In his words, it’s a ‘Dracula’s cape’.
Could that decision prove to be a masterstroke. You would certainly be hard pushed to find a more popular winner this week.
"Truth be told, it has been a while since I have really been able to feel confident because there has been a lot of bad stuff in there at times," he added, after carding a second-round 70 to follow up his opening 66.
"But that is the challenge for me to overcome this weekend and hopefully what I am working on will stand up, certainly it did today on a couple of tee shots coming in.
"That is the thing I am always looking for – is the outcome better than what you’re maybe expecting. If that is the case then confidence can really come back quickly.”
After a remarkable 11-week run of events at the end of last season, the 33-year-old fell one shot shy of winning back his card at Final Stage qualifying at Infinitum Golf. A missed eagle putt on the final hole of the six-round marathon in Spain proved decisive.
So, to come back from that dissapointment and win again for the third time on the DP World Tour and first since winning twice in 2018 would be quite the story.
With so much on offer, most notably exempt status until the end of 2026, having a loved one on the bag in wife Jennifer might help him embrace the opportunity in front of him.
"I do think what I have been working on the last couple of days in my swing has certainly got legs," he said. "Let's hope it has got weekend legs."
