Ahead of playing on home soil in the opening event of the Back 9 at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, Matthew Jordan discusses his affection for the historic event, memories from his Open successes over the past two years and his drive to win on the DP World Tour for the first time.
Events such as the Betfred British Masters are what you remember watching as a kid growing up on TV. It’s where you saw great players playing and winning, including this week’s tournament host Sir Nick Faldo. When you come out onto Tour, this is among the tournaments that you want to play in and look to plan your schedule around. It's ingrained into you as a child.
I intend to play in seven events on the Back 9, which starts this week at The Belfry. The only two I will likely miss are the Open de España – the week after the BMW PGA Championship – and the Genesis Championship in South Korea. You wish you could play in them all but realistically you can't. With the increased Race to Dubai Ranking points on offer, it feels like a great time to play well. The money doesn't really come into it when you play these tournaments of historic significance. It’s an exciting time of the year.
I hope my performance in The Open last month can be a springboard for me to kick on and realise certain goals that I’ve had. The way I played tee to green and the way I performed generally at Royal Troon was similar to how I have done over the course of the campaign.
I was playing two groups ahead of Tiger over the opening two days at Troon, so I remember the crowds moving forward to watch the feature group come through. As a result, every grandstand was pretty much full and the ropes that lined the fairways had fans on either side. I played with Pádraig (Harrington), a two-time Open Champion who I really admire, on Thursday and Friday and straight away from the first tee and walking off, I had that sense of being around a player who has great history with the event.
The round I remember the most that week is the third round. The conditions were difficult, and it is hard to adapt when there are good scores coming in early on and you know what is to come. As soon as I went out, it chucked it down. Realising that people were catching you up, you knew you couldn't give away the hard work of two really good days beforehand. I remember some of the clubs I was hitting into that back nine in the third round were reminiscent of what I was like when I was a kid. I was hitting woods and a couple of people hit driver into the par three 17th. Those nine holes probably stand out more than most for that competition.
By comparison, at Hoylake, last year, it was a case of one good week at the right time. Going into that Open Championship, I felt like my performances were more inconsistent than they have been this year.
Whether it was at Royal Troon or Hoylake, playing in The Open is certainly nerve wracking. You constantly have an adrenaline rush. When you wake up, you get nervous, you build yourself into it, you get the first tee shot done, and then gradually ease into it. Yet, you're still kind of nervous throughout.
But certainly for Hoylake, there was more commotion around it, being at my home club. You have more media obligations. I also hit the first tee shot on the opening day, which I didn't realise how good an experience that was going to be until I actually did it. I came off the course on the Thursday and I thought that was just absolutely incredible. So, there were a few more added outside influences that I guess increased the pressure at Hoylake. But then once I actually got out onto the golf course, I felt probably quite similar to how I did to Troon because no one puts more pressure on you than yourself.
Since graduating to the DP World Tour from the European Challenge Tour in 2019, I'd like to have thought that I could have done better on the Race to Dubai Rankings, in terms of progression, than I have so far. Every week I play I'm trying to put myself into a position to win. That then takes care of the rankings. I’ve got to stay patient with that. The season-ending DP World Tour Championship is a tournament I am hoping to qualify for this year for the first time. But while I want to be in Dubai in November, every week I'm trying to put myself into a position to win, which then takes care of the rankings. Ultimately, it's not just about solely looking at Dubai, but I'm looking to try and aim for a PGA TOUR card, improve my world ranking and get inside the top 100. It's not necessarily one thing that I'm aiming for.
It's great seeing so many guys get their first win on the DP World Tour. It shows you how much it means to people, but at the same time it makes you a bit jealous because you want it to happen for yourself. Hopefully with the renewed focus on a consistency of performance, everything takes care of itself.
I think probably every player out on the Tour knows they can win, but it is a lot easier said than done. What I want to do is play better consistently, so it gives me more chances instead of having that one week a year that if it clicks it maybe happens. You look at the top guys, if they're not winning, they're almost always around the top 10, top 15. So that's what I kind of want to achieve, so then I develop an ‘it's going to happen’ attitude.
With that in mind, I could probably ask for a bit more advice off people on Tour. Maybe we're a bit stubborn at times, but I would certainly say that I'd watch, and I appreciate watching guys that have been out here for so long. To do that, you have to be good in certain aspects. For example, when you have experiences like The Open and you play with someone like Justin Thomas who I played with at Nedbank as well, I kind of watch and I keep an eye out on them. It's hard to judge someone off one round, but in terms of watching them play a couple of times, then watching some other really good players play that at the top of the game you can learn from seeing what they do.
The Brabazon at The Belfry challenges you in pretty much every aspect, which is what I really enjoy from a golf course. There are certain holes, especially when you go from six through to nine, which are really difficult. They’re really good driving holes and there are a few of them where you've got to stand up and hit the tee shot. And even then, it challenges you with the approach. So, you can't really rest on an individual shot. It’s an iconic venue, one associated with the Ryder Cup, so I really enjoy coming.
(Note: This Player Blog has been edited lightly for length and clarity)
Matt Jordan was speaking to the DP World Tour's Mathieu Wood at The Belfry.
