After a busy summer playing in the States and then the European Tour’s UK Swing, it was nice to spend some time away from golf for the majority of September before heading to Northern Ireland for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
I’m very intense and demand a lot of myself when I’m playing so I wanted to reflect on the ‘new normal’ and have some time with my friends and family after the Wales Open. It can get frustrating being inside the COVID-19 bubbles when playing in tournaments, so it was nice to get away from that for a little bit and head out onto the course with some of my friends which is always a lot of fun.
I also went to my home club, Moia Golf Club, where we hosted the third edition of a golf tournament that is held under my name. I have such a great group of people who follow me through my golfing journey so this is my way of saying thank you to them. The club has a lovely nine hole course and my dad is also the president so it’s great for me to spend time with those that are close to me and give something back to them for all their support.
Enhorabuena a los ganadores de la 3ra edición #TorneoFansAA 🙌🏆!! Bonito fin de semana con vosotros en el campo donde crecí, Golf Moià! Muy agradecido por todo vuestro apoyo 🙌⛳️👨👩👧👦❤️ Gracias a la organización y sponsors por hacerlo posible 🙏🔝🔝 #VamosAA pic.twitter.com/Y5I9Jzb3S0
— Adri Arnaus (@AdriArnaus) August 31, 2020
Having spent the first few weeks of September relaxing, I felt ready to get out to tournament golf again at Galgorm Castle for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. Being a resident in Dubai it’s great to see a huge company like Dubai Duty Free are still backing the European Tour despite everyone’s struggles right now due to the ongoing pandemic. I felt very relaxed heading into the event and we had a fun start to the week with the ‘Kids Club Challenge’ where I managed to pitch it within 10 feet of the hole with a child’s seven iron. I didn’t feel like many players would beat me – but it turned out that a few of them had some good skills with the little clubs! I felt I played well on the first day but I let it slip away on the final couple of holes which I carried into the start of round two, but I always thought I could turn it around and a birdie and eagle on my final two holes was a nice way to ensure I made the cut. It was really important to me to get four rounds under my belt and to finish off with a five under par 65 was a brilliant end to a really good week.
I’m edging nearer to the top 50 of the Race to Dubai and sealing my spot in the DP World Tour Championship, which is definitely one of my main goals for this strange season. I want to finish as high on the Rankings as possible and we have some big events coming up including the BMW PGA Championship which has plenty of points on offer. I’m also going to be heading out to Italy later this month and then to Cyprus which is a place I’ve never been to before, so I’m really keen to check it out as I’ve heard lots of good things.
It’s going to be an exciting end of the year for us golfers on the European Tour with lots of rumours about more events being added to the schedule to fill the gap between The Masters and the DP World Tour Championship. I think Dubai would be a great destination for more events with the vast range of fantastic courses in such a small space – and the fact that the weather is going to be a great temperature for 18 holes. It’s been a while since I’ve been back to the place I now call home so I’m really looking forward to getting back out there after hopefully playing my way in to the DP World Tour Championship.
