Richie Ramsay felt the benefits of a break to recharge his batteries as he defied the ageing process to lie in a share of second in the D+D REAL Czech Masters.
Rounds of 65 and 67 at PGA National OAKS Prague, the latter powered by five birdies on the front nine, left the 41-year-old in a tie with Andrew Johnston and Jesper Svensson – one shot behind leader David Ravetto, who matched Johnston’s course-record 63 on Friday.
The 2022 Cazoo Classic was the Scot’s last DP World Tour win and his only one since 2015 but he was delighted to be back in the mix as the tour returns from a two-week break around the Olympics.
“Found a nice bit of time to get away from things and relax my mind,” said Ramsay. “Good family holiday and I think I just refreshed things, think about what I'm good at doing.
“A brilliant week of practice, going to Gleneagles, playing some matches and practising and making sure I was right in the gym. I think it's a consequence of doing the right things every day and it's nice to see results come to the fore.
“I didn't play well [before the break]. I had a couple of things that have been issues, more so with the body, they're going to be hopefully sorted out next week and then I can move on with it and feel like I'm 100 per cent after that. This is a good indication of what I'm capable of.
“I'm definitely no spring chicken. I would say I’m more towards the autumn of my career, but you know, I still love doing what I do. I like getting up in the morning. I like going to the gym. I like playing competitive matches. I like the grind of the practice. I still love that.
“I had a little quote, it was: ‘It's not the pursuit of happiness, it's the happiness in the pursuit’. I wrote it down and I've just got to always remember that because I do love going out and playing there.
“Anybody who’s played golf when they were younger and then you get a bit older, things don't work just as well as they used to. Then you have kids and there's more difficultly with time management comes a really big thing.
“It’s great that we’ve got a great physio unit here. We've got a new gym complex which is brilliant, which obviously when you're away from home, you need to do a lot of movement. You need to stay loose with being on planes and trains and cars.”
