Moritz Lampert may have suffered a frustrating season so far but all eyes will be on the three-time European Challenge Tour winner at the Ras Al Khaimah 2016 Golf Challenge.
The German is currently 47thin the Road to Oman Rankings, one place outside of the top 46 who will qualify for next week’s NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, adding even greater interest to the first major sporting event to be held in the most northern of the United Arab Emirates.
Though he looks to be drinking in the last chance saloon at Al Hamra Golf Club this week, Lampert – whose only top ten this year was a runner-up finish in May’s Montecchia Open by Lyoness – is confident his form is improving at the right time.
“It’s a very important week,” said the 24 year old. “It’s not the position I want to be in at this stage but I just played poorly throughout the summer, so that’s why I’m not where I want to be.
“The last couple of weeks especially in China I’ve played well but I haven’t quite put any scores together – I’ve shot under par but not gone that low so I’m actually feeling quite positive about this week and next and trying not to think about it because I’m playing well and that’s what counts.
“I’ve had a lot of success on this tour in the past so I’m hoping I can build on that and at some point just stay on top once I get there.
“The goal is to contend this week and finish up there somewhere – if I start looking at Rankings and think I need 1,000 points or whatever to qualify, that’s not going to work.
“I’m just going to try to do my best, prepare as best I can and get tiredness out of my body from the last couple of weeks which were quite exhausting with all the weather. I just need to get ready for Wednesday and take it from there.
“I don’t feel any added pressure. The great thing is I actually feel like I’m playing well again so that’s the most important thing, then we’ll see what comes – if I have to go to Q-School that’s what I’ll do, if not even better, but I’ll take it one step at a time, starting here.
“You can definitely see a lot of players start looking at the Rankings and leaderboards a bit more at this time in the season, but I’m not like that – I used to be, but the experience I’ve got from the last couple of years showed me that that’s not the way forward.
“You can feel the pressure though – Armitage last week, coming from that far behind and now basically guaranteed a European Tour card, you can see there’s so many points in these final few events, and we knew that at the start of the year, so if you play well even this late then anything is possible.
“I think my past experience will help. I don’t know the course here but I know Oman very well, I’ve played there a couple of times, so I think experience on that golf course in the wind can really pay off.
“Obviously I need to play well this week to get into next week, but then in Oman if you get an early tee time, without the wind, it might be an advantage and allow you to shoot a good round in the first round and go from there.”
Since this is the Challenge Tour’s first visit to Ras Al Khaimah, an unfamiliar test will greet all players at Al Hamra Golf Club, but Lampert has enjoyed playing in the United Arab Emirates in the past.
“I love this part of the world,” he said. “How can you not? The weather’s great, the hotel’s nice, it’s all very well organised, and the UAE is always a great place to visit.
“I’ve played the Desert Swing twice on the European Tour, which is phenomenal, and this part of the world is always just a great place to come and play golf.”
