Richard Bland: "I have finally got the first win"

Richard Bland reflects on the ups and downs of professional golf, and breaking through for his first win, on European Tour website.

Richard Bland, statements

"It feels like the reality of winning has finally sunk in now, and the main feeling I have is just one of satisfaction. A lot people have asked over the last seven days how I’ve felt, and it was a pretty big whirlwind the first two or three days with all the media and social attention. It was very overwhelming. It’s funny though, because I think if I’d won earlier in my career the elation I had of winning on Saturday would have stayed with me longer, but having achieved it so late in my career, I just feel more satisfaction, and relief, that I’ve finally got that first win".

"I always knew that to win any golf tournament would be tough and that I’d have to work. Even after I won on the Challenge Tour twenty years ago, then came close during my rookie year on Tour in a play-off in Ireland, I was never under any illusion that winning was going to be a breeze. The standard is just so high, and even 19 years ago I was still playing against the best players in Europe, and sometimes the world. Now, it’s not that winning has become any more difficult, but it feels like everyone has a chance. I honestly think anyone teeing up at the British Masters was good enough to win, and that’s just the standard that’s out here"

"But when you’ve been out here as long as I have, you do start to wonder ‘when is it going to be my week?’, and question ‘is it ever going to happen?’. I’m sure someone like David Drysdale feels the same, and he’s had a couple of near misses and been desperately unlucky in places like Qatar. But when you put it in perspective, every week there are 155 losers in golf. The only thing you can do is believe in yourself, and as long as you feel like you are working hard, you hope that door is going to open one week".

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3fUZq3F