Benjamin Hébert has not won European Tour silverware in 201 starts but came agonisingly close last season having lost out in three separate play-offs; however, the Frenchman revealed in his recent European Tour blog that he is happy with the team he is building around him as he targets a maiden win.
“I’ve put a lot of money into getting the best people around me in the last two years,” said the 33 year old, who went to extra holes at the Volvo China Open, Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, and the Turkish Airlines Open last year.
“For me, it means treating my career like an enterprise: I have to put money into it to get the rewards out of it. I said I don’t want to look at how much I spend, I just want to have the best around me and try to learn from all of them and see what happens. I’m at a good age. I’m now 33, it’s now or never, and I think last season shows we’re going in the right direction.”
Maiden Major
Last season certainly went in the right direction for the 2014 Challenge Tour Grand Final winner at Al Badia Golf Club, Dubai. Despite missing out on a maiden triumph, Hébert did qualify for his first Major as a professional with his runner-up finish behind Bernd Wiesberger at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
“I was trying to go as low as I could to qualify for The Open during that final round, because I knew it was definitely my last chance to play a Major last year,” he said. “Even on the last two holes I wasn’t thinking about winning, I just wanted to finish in the top ten and get a spot in The Open. I was very happy. It took me ten years, and it was a long wait. I played The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2008, but I was an amateur and everything was new, and at the time I didn’t even know if I would be a good player. This time was different, and when I arrived at The Open I felt like I deserved to be there.”
‘Unnecessary pressure’
Hébert went on to finish a career-best 16th in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and recently moved to a career-best 89th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) following his second World Golf Championships appearance at WGC-Mexico Championship. But the six-time Challenge Tour winner is not overthinking things as he targets the top 50 of the OWGR.
“I used to think too much and it didn’t help me,” he said. “I still want to improve every part of my game and be a better player, so right now I’m just trying to stick to the plan I have scheduled with all my staff. You know if you play and you play well you’ll get points – whether its Race to Dubai or Official World Golf Ranking points – so you just have to focus, train and have good people around you to improve every part of your career, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Don’t think too much, that’s the real thing for me.
“I’ve got a lot of goals for the future and I’m very aware that I’m at the highest Official World Golf Ranking I’ve ever been, but I try not to think about it too much. I would like to win, I would like to be in the top 50 in the world and I would like to play in the four Majors and the four WGCs every year, but I don’t like to think too much about it because it can put a lot of unnecessary pressure on me.
