Gary Boyd

In the third of Gary Boyd

25 Jul 2012

Hi there.

Welcome to my third Tour Update for Golfmagic. It’s been nearly eight weeks since I last put hand to keyboard, so let’s fill you in on what’s been happening.

Firstly, I would just like to offer my congratulations to the new Open champion Ernie Els. It was another major Sunday fuelled with excitement and drama. A lot of people had written him off, so to win his fourth major answers plenty of his critics.

I think everyone started to believe Ernie could lift the Claret Jug when he birdied 14, and then to birdie 18 to have any kind of chance showed the sign of a great champion. That putt he rolled home at the last sent a shiver down my spine.

I was watching the coverage at home and I thought if Adam Scott could hit the fairway on 15 and 17, the trophy was his. But having played there numerous times, I can tell you they are two brutal driving holes.

It’s hard to win a golf tournament, let alone a major for the first time, so I think everyone feels for Adam right now. I’m sure there will be plenty more times he gets himself into contention.

So what about my own game? Well, when I last left you, I was heading off to the BMW PGA Championship. Things didn’t quite go my way that week as I missed the cut with rounds of 76 and 73, but it was great to see so many familiar faces following me along the way.

After that, I went to Wales and to be quite frank, it was a bit of a disaster. I had a chat with my manager after my first round at Celtic Manor and we decided that it was a good idea to withdraw from Sweden and go back to America to get my game back in shape.

I went back to the Leadbetter Academy at Champions Gate in Orlando and since then, I have really started to see some positive signs from tee to green, and most importantly, on the greens.

The BMW International Open in Germany was a big stepping stone with a tie for 33rd and Ireland was likewise, finishing in the exact same position. The Irish Open at Royal Portrush was a terrific week with a fantastic golf course and enormous crowds making it an atmosphere like an Open Championship. It was also great to see my good mate Jamie Donaldson claim his maiden European Tour title.

It was a fun week off the course too. I was sharing with James Morrison and Matthew Zions and, after I’d had a shower, I turned the shower head to face up and point out of the shower for the next person to get an early shower. Obviously, when Matt turned the shower on, he hadn’t noticed the shower head pointing straight at him. He got soaked and water went all over the floor. He found the funny side of it, though!

Following that, I took my good form into the Open de France and got off to a flyer with a round of 66. Although I ended up finishing 37th, the signs were encouraging. Le Golf National is a great course and it more than deserves its place as a Ryder Cup venue for 2018.

While I went on to miss the cut at the Scottish Open the following week, I can definitely see the hard work is paying off, particularly in terms of putting. I’m holing more putts and my pace is more consistent.

It just appears that one or two bad shots a round are costing me a few double bogeys, which in the pro game sends you down the board quickly. On the plus side, I am growing in confidence every week and I feel my game is improving.

You may remember I changed caddie to Paul Vincent Fernie earlier in the season, and I’m pleased to report that relationship is working nicely. We’ve been having some great fun on and off the course and he also came out to Orlando with me to see the things I was working on. That has really helped because he can relate to what I’m trying to work towards when we’re on the range.

In terms of changes in my bag, I put some new Project X shafts in my Callaway RAZR X Muscleback irons since France and they obviously got off to a nice start there. I have also got a new Callaway X prototype utility in the bag, which a lot of guys have been using lately.

That’s about it for this report. I am teeing up in Austria this week and then have three weeks off before heading to Gleneagles, Switzerland and Italy, where I have played well the past two years. It’s an exciting few weeks coming up, for sure.

In the meantime, thanks for all your good wishes and support. I’ll be back with an update soon to let you know how things went. Remember if you have any questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them next time or in the future.

Gary
@GaryBoyd86

What’s in Gary’s bag?

Driver: Callaway RAZR Fit (9-degree; Aldila RIP)
Fairway woods: Callaway RAZR Fit 3-wood and 5-wood (Aldila RIP)
Utility iron: Callaway X prototype
Irons: Callaway RAZR X Muscleback (Project X)
Wedges: Callaway X Forged (54- and 58-degree)
Putter: Odyssey Metal-X #6
Ball: Callaway HEX Black