Welshman Jamie Donaldson is hoping to take advantage of home comforts when he competes in this week's Wales Open at Celtic Manor.
Donaldson will make his Ryder Cup debut when it begins on September 26 and the 38-year old will be aiming to go into the event on the back of another European Tour victory.
Cement his place
His performances on the European Tour have helped him cement his place in the Ryder Cup squad, especially his win in the Czech Masters in August.
Ryder Cup teammates Lee Westwood, Stephen Gallacher, Thomas Bjorn and Victor Dubuisson will also be looking to hit some form ahead of the battle with the US side.
Donaldson knows it's important to enter the Ryder Cup in form and feels that a win in Newport would be the perfect way to prepare for such a big event.
Good form
"If I can win again going into the Ryder Cup then you absolutely can't be more ready," said Donaldson.
"The good thing is that the form has been good of late so whatever happens I'll be going into the Ryder Cup on good form."
Related Articles
Billy Horschel wins Tour Championship
Golfer hits hole in one; wins trip to space
Padraig Harrington wary of USA revenge mission
The Wales Open will be played on the Twenty-Ten course, the scene of Europe's Ryder Cup victory in 2010.
Construction work
The tournament will be the final tournament held at the Celtic Manor resort as construction work are set to take place to focus on other projects.
Other high-profile names in the field for Wales Open are Paul Casey, Ross Fisher, Francesco Molinari, Joost Luiten, Nicolas Colsaerts and David Howell as they bid to win the £300,000 first prize.
The event has been running for 15 successive years and Donaldson is hoping to become the first Welshman to win it.
Last month's Czech Masters victory represented his third European Tour title to date after triumphs at the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2012 and the 2013 Irish Open.
Long time coming
Although it took a whole for him to get his first career win, Donaldson is glad with his recent success rate.
"Three in three years is nice," Donaldson told BBC Sport. "It took a while to win the first one but I suppose you never know when you're going to play well.
"You never know at what time in your life you are going to play your best golf.
"Some people play it from 22 to 28 maybe and some people peak later. I didn't win until I was 36 and I'm 39 in October.
"It's been nice and let's see if I can pick that up and try and win more often."
Tough competition
Donaldson has been a regular on the European Tour in recent years and believes that the competition to win titles in tough.
"It's very difficult to win on the European Tour; there's good strength in depth with so many good players.
"But you have to go out there and try and shut the door."
No comments:
Post a Comment