Kvennalandslið Íslands hóf leik á Heimsmeistaramóti áhugamanna í gær. Mótið fer fram á Írlandi og Jussi Pitkänen afreksstjóri GSÍ er með liðinu á sínum „gamla heimavelli“. Jussi og skrifar ferðasögu frá HM – sem birtar eru hér á golf.is. Hér er 4. kafli í þeirri sögu sem skrifaður var í gærkvöld.

“The much anticipated first tournament day finally arrived this morning, and after a very quiet breakfast in our accommodation early this morning, we headed to the course to have a final briefing and a proper meal to make sure the ladies had enough fuel on board for round one. The girls were very focused this morning and I felt there was very little I could do to make their world better before the round, so as a coach it was a very uncomfortable place to be in on the range and putting green. Most of my time was spent keeping out of their way and under no circumstances do or say anything which might negatively affect how they perform. Its funny, a lot of the time we look for that golden piece of advice or information which will make all the difference, but as one of my mentors, Michael Hebron once told me,’ its what you don’t say that can often be the biggest difference.’ Fortunately all three players hit absolute bullets down the first fairway and our 2018 Espirito Santo journey got underway.

Unlike EGA tournaments, at IGF tournaments professionals are not allowed to act as advisors to players, so therefore I was restricted to watching from the sidelines, which can be torturous and great at the same time. I was able to see a completely different side to our girls performance than normal, without having any input to how they play or make decisions. This for me made the post round feedback session much more enjoyable and we were able to simply chat about the things which could have been better today and which went well, as opposed to a potentially conflicting conversation about the same subject. An early dinner was followed by a really productive range and putting session until 1915pm, where we were the last team on the practice area and able to just able to do our thing and get ready for tomorrows’ round on the Montgomerie course.

We are currently about 5 shots off our target after round one, which can change very quickly in a format such as this. Our game plan for tomorrow involves making sure tee shots are in play at all costs, and playing more aggressively when in position. We would like to cut some unforced errors out of each scorecard in order to better our position and make progress up the leaderboard.

Lastly it has been great to have a support team of family here to cheer the girls on, it is a great occasion and a proud moment for parents to see their daughters take part in an event like this. Also from my perspective it is great to be able to meet and talk with coaches from some of the leading nations, in order to learn how they do things and help their players perform at their best. Overall, a really good day, and look forward to tomorrow! We are off at 0924 and you can follow the scores on www.watc2018.ie

Sjáumst á morgun!