In the wake of the postponement of the upcoming events on the European Tour due to the ongoing concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic, young Austrian Matthias Schwab is turning the break from competitive action into a positive as he looks to build on the steady start he made to 2020.
“I was in Doha for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters before the virus really started to spread faster,” said Schwab. “When the Kenya Open was called off I stayed in Qatar hoping to get some good practice in before going to India – but then the Indian Open was called off so I came back home to Austria.
“Now I’m at home, hanging out and waiting to see what happens next.
“I’m trying to stay fit and work out a bit but there are a bunch of restrictions from the government as you’re not supposed to go outside or really gather with other people.
“Conditions aren’t great here weather wise and everything is limited so I just try to stay fit and hit a few balls when the weather is ok. Other than that I’m just at home watching Netflix, playing Playstation, reading a lot and hoping for the virus to be gone soon.”
The 25-year-old didn’t miss a cut in any of his five starts on the European Tour earlier in the year and he’s hoping to build on that when the action eventually resumes.
“I’ve had a solid start – not quite what I wanted but a bunch of ‘ok’ finishes with a bunch of made cuts and some good rounds,” he said. “There’s been a lot of ups and downs and it’s not quite as consistent as I was hoping to be.
“But it was nice to play the World Golf Championship in Mexico – that was a good experience – and Qatar was good before the enforced break. I’m quite happy with the start but there’s a lot of potential in the coming months.”
Schwab was ready to come out firing in 2020 after spending the off-season working hard on two aspects of his game that he thought needed the most work.
“Over the winter I focused on every part of my game,” he said. “But I put some extra work into my putting and my driving because those are areas where I feel like there’s the most ground to be gained.
“I think my iron play, chipping and short game are ok, and I did work on those as well – overall I’d say I looked at everything with a little extra focus on driving and putting.”
