While the European Challenge Tour’s elite are doing battle at the Rolex Trophy this week, the men aiming to break into the top echelons of the Rankings have the opportunity to do just that at the Skandia PGA Open at Arlandstad Golf Club, Sweden.
The top 33 Ranked Challenge Tour players are at the Golf Club de Genève, giving the players chasing Argentina’s Rafael Gomez and Co the chance to secure an invaluable victory that would propel them into the reckoning for a place on The 2006 European Tour.
Ireland’s Stephen Browne is one such player. The 30 year old has been playing on The European Tour for most of 2005 having secured his playing privileges at the 2004 Qualifying School, but a disappointing season, coupled with the fact that he has a free week on his schedule, means that the Dubliner will return to the Challenge Tour in an attempt to add to his victory at the Norwegian Challenge Open exactly one year ago.
Browne puts his season of poor results down to the swing changes he engineered at the beginning of the year, but is hopeful that his winning form is returning 12 months on from his maiden professional victory at the Vestfold Golf Club in Norway.
“I definitely want to play because it is the anniversary of my win in Norway and I like the course at Arlandstad – it’s a very, very good course. Also I’m playing quite well just now.
“It gets pretty windy there because there aren’t too many trees and it can be quite bouncy so it has a links feel to it despite the fact that it is nowhere near the sea, but it’s kind of firm ground so you have to judge the bounces well. There’s a bit of rough so you need to drive the ball well and there’s a really good finish to it with a great par five 17th and the 16th is a great par three with water all around it.
“I haven’t had the best of seasons but I have made the last two cuts and things seem to be getting better, so I am just going to try and keep going and make some money somewhere.
“I made a lot of swing changes at the start of the year, which I felt I had to do even though I had just won my Tour card. A lot of people were saying to me that I should have just gone with what I had, but I knew I wasn’t going to get to where I wanted to go with the swing I had so I decided to make the changes.
“I have been so focused on getting my ball around the course with the swing that I have neglected the short game, which is just what happens when you concentrate on one area of your game. I have been hitting so many balls on the range this year – probably more that I have ever done – so I have to get my focus back on the scoring side of things.”
