Ballarat’s Darren Bowman is hoping his knowledge of his home course can give him an advantage in this week’s PGA National Futures Championships.
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The 29-year-old has played many a round at Ballarat Golf Club after taking up the game at 16.
He has used the past few weeks to get as much matchplay as possible on the course in preparation for the event.
Bowman felt his home course knowledge would come in handy, particularly on some of the course’s difficult par 4s. Depending on the wind, he said knowing the ins and outs of how certain holes played would prove beneficial.
“Whenever you play a course that you work at and it’s your home club, you’ve always got an advantage,” Bowman said.
“There’s some good players out there, so if you can get an advantage with a few little local knowledge spots it’s great, but I think at the end of the week it’ll be about who plays the best.
“If you play them enough you understand where you can take advantage and get aggressive and when to play conservative.”
Bowman enters the tournament feeling confident in his game.
Bowman said how he drives the ball off the tee will go a long way to deciding how his week pans out, while putting was also a strong, and critical, part of his game.
“I’m playing as well as I would like to be.
“I’ve done a lot of preparation for this event, being my home club.
“I can’t complain about how I’m playing, it’s just a matter of getting out there and doing it now.
“It’s definitely an event that I’d love to win, I want to go out and do my best. If I can finish top 10 and give myself a chance coming into the last couple of rounds, that would be the main goal.
In Monday’s Pro-Am event, the men’s winner was decided on a countback as Marco Zirov and Geoff Waldron, Gavin Fairfax and Dean Rattle, Blair Riordan and Martin Smith were all tied on 43 points – Zirov and Waldron winning on the countback. Correy Price and Brenda Ryan won the women’s with 47 points.