Inspiring. Revealing. Thought provoking. We heard some fascinating stories from players in 2022. As we review the past 12 months, here are our favourite quotes from the Player Blog presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Robert Rock, ten years on from outduelling Tiger Woods to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, reflects on his career-best victory.
“To be playing this week in Abu Dhabi at the same tournament ten years after winning is really special,” he said. “I can’t top that week no matter what I do, and it was such a good day it’s hard not to think about this week - especially when you’re at the same tournament.”
Adam Scott, who won the Masters Tournament in 2013 a year after missing out at The Open Championship, discussed how the Major Championships continue to keep him motivated.
“The Majors are really what careers are defined by, more so than ever,” he said ahead of making his first appearance in the Dubai Desert Classic for 20 years. “I’d love to win more and be a multiple winner. At this point I need to be greedy because I don’t have much time. Certainly, the Open Championship is unfinished business for me, but I’m not going to be picky – I’ll take any one!”
Marcus Helligkilde, the 2021 Challenge Tour Road to Mallorca Rankings winner, talked about the role his family played in helping him adopt a more positive approach when he first picked up a club.
“When I first started really playing golf, I was awful: throwing the clubs, saying terrible words,” he said. “My grandad – who is the most positive person in the entire world – was about to quit playing golf with me because I was so negative all the time. But he was also one of the reasons my attitude changed.”
Ross Fisher reflects on the challenges of living up to his own expectations after making his Ryder Cup debut in 2010.
“I think I suffered from a little bit of Ryder Cup-itis earlier in my career,” he said. “It happens to a lot of rookies, who experience the incredible atmosphere and achievement of playing in a Ryder Cup, and then struggle when they come back to regular tournaments because they feel flat in comparison. It had been one of my biggest goals as a professional, and afterwards there was part of me that felt like I’d achieved what I wanted to, and then I struggled to live up the expectation of what I believed I was capable of and had set for myself.”
Marcus Kinhult reflects on the events that led to him being diagnosed with epilepsy, while on a trip in Spain with his father and friends.
“Before I was due to leave, I was on FaceTime with my girlfriend Agnes who was back home in Sweden. We talked for 20 minutes or so. I don’t remember much of what followed but she told me afterwards what happened. I just said to her that at one stage I felt a little dizzy. After that I dropped my phone on the floor and then everything went black for me. Most likely, that was the first seizure of the evening…”
Peter Hanson, speaking ahead of his final event as a professional at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed in June, looked ahead to his future goals.
“With the experience and the knowledge I have picked up from travelling around the world, playing on amazing courses, it would be silly not to stay involved in the sport,” he said. “One of my goals is to coach the next generation of Swedish players.”
Séamus Power discussed one of the psychological breakthroughs that he made which has helped his rise up the world rankings.
“I realised that at my age, I shouldn’t always be trying to evolve and change my swing,” he said. “I accepted that this was the golfer I was and to challenge myself to be as good a golfer as I could be, rather than copy other swings. That was the biggest breakthrough for me.”
Matt Fitzpatrick reflected on how the emotions of winning his maiden Major Championship at the U.S. Open exceeded his expectations.
“I’ve heard lots of people from golf and from other sports and they say that when they reach their career goals, get that massive win, it doesn’t feel as good as they maybe expected,” he said. “It was the absolute polar opposite for me, it was just an unbelievable feeling, one that was way better than I expected.”
A few months after making history on home soil as the first woman to win a DP World Tour event, Linn Grant gave an insight into her mindset.
“My goal has always been to be one of the top players in the world and one of the players that all the other players want to beat,” she said.
Sean Crocker talked about the challenges of reassessing after winning his maiden DP World Tour title at the Hero Open.
“I'm not going to start thinking I'm going to win out on Tour every week now,” he said.
Oliver Wilson returned to the DP World Tour winner’s circle in Denmark almost eight years after winning his first title and admitted he always held the inner belief to get over the line once again.
“I would have been devastated if I'd have ended my career with only one win because I feel like that would have been massively underachieving for what I'm capable of,” he said. “Two is still not enough but it's still one step closer to where I want to get to.”
Ahead of his long-awaited title defence at the Cazoo Open de France in September, Nicolas Colsaerts revealed he feared for his life after being diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder last year.
“I vividly remember looking out of a hospital window in the Dubai desert, thinking, ‘Is this where I am going to die?’,” he said. “That’s an example of how lost I was at the time and how irrational my thoughts were.”
Despite some challenging times in recent years, two-time DP World Tour winner Tom Lewis remains confident he is yet to reach his pinnacle.
“I think good things are going to come for me. I am still only 31 years old,” he said. “That is old if you want to be a great, but my time has passed in terms of being a legend. I can still probably be a great player over the next ten years. I remain confident that the next ten to 15 years are going to be the best of my career.”
Days after announcing his retirement as a professional golfer, Sebastian Heisele admitted he will never be far away from his clubs.
“I don't think I'll ever stop playing golf. I've been way too locked up and potentially in love with it to ever give up on it,” he said. “It will bother me for the rest of my life to figure out a way to beat it.”
