Lorenzo Scalise is looking to build on solid foundations when he tees it up in this week’s The Challenge presented by KGA, the second of two co-sanctioned events with the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India.
The Italian continued his excellent recent form with a fourth place finish at last week’s Duncan Taylor Black Bull Challenge, and he has now moved to sixth position on the Road to Mallorca Rankings courtesy of three top five finishes in his last three starts.
The 27-year-old is targeting another strong finish at Karnataka Golf Association this week and now, with several years of European Challenge Tour experience under his belt, believes this is the year he can earn promotion to the DP World Tour.
“Last week was my third top five finish in a row and it proves to me that I’m on the right track,” he said. “The goal is to be in contention as many times as I can throughout the year and hopefully I can do that again this week.
“I’m not going to change my strategy much. I will keep working on the details with my team and focus on having a strong mindset. It’s also important to balance my life away from the golf course and knowing when I need to push and when I need to rest my body. I’m getting more mature every year and hopefully this year will be my year.”
Scalise is yet to win on the Challenge Tour but he is confident his time will come if he keeps putting himself into contention on the final day.
“Having put myself into contention over the last few tournaments I am gaining experience of how I am going to feel in that moment,” he said. “I am learning from those situations, and I know that if I keep putting myself in contention then the win will come.
“I have loved being in India. The people are awesome, the golf course is amazing, and I like the place. It’s been good so far and I’m happy we are playing another week at Karnataka Golf Association.”
The Italian will be joined in Bangalore by last week’s winner Om Prakash Chouhan, seven-time DP World Tour winner Álvaro Quirós and Road to Mallorca Number Two Adam Blommé.
The Challenge presented by KGA will get under way at 6:40am local time, with Scalise teeing it up alongside Indian Yuvraj Sandhu and Spaniard Manuel Elvira at 12:15pm.
