Tournament: D+D Real Czech Challenge
Venue: Royal Beroun Golf Club, Beroun, Czech Republic
Hashtag: #CzechChallenge
Preview
Benjamin Follett-Smith is hoping to prolong his season with a strong outing in the D+D Real Czech Challenge at Royal Beroun Golf Club this week.
The Zimbabwean will tee it up in the Czech Republic sitting 74th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, two places outside the current projected cut-off for back-to-back weeks that follow in China.
The 28-year-old ended the 2023 campaign just two spots outside the DP World Tour promotion places, but believes a good week in Beroun could give him a welcome boost ahead of a potential return to Mallorca for the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A.
“It’s an important week, so I need to make something happen,” he said. “This is what we play for all year, to get to the China events and get to the final event in Mallorca.
“This year hasn’t quite been what I’d wanted. I’ve been making a lot of cuts compared to last year but not finishing as high as I was.
“The consistency is much better, but I’ve got to cut the mistakes. If I can just focus on doing that this week, hopefully I get into China, play well there and get into Mallorca. It would mean so much to me to get back there.”
Follett-Smith knows what it takes to win having triumphed at the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open at the start of 2023, and enjoyed a promising week on the DP World Tour last week in the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid where he made the cut before finishing tied 61st.
Despite his Challenge Tour campaign to date not being as he’d hoped, Follett-Smith is intent on focussing on the positives ahead of a new week.
“Prague is one of my favourite places so it’s nice being back here,” he added. “The course is good, as are the greens. If I can keep the bogeys off the card, it should be a good week.
“In Spain last week, I made so many birdies but there were too many mistakes to be in contention, and that seems to be costing me.
“Last season I started with a win which was hard to better this time around, so I’ve taken a different approach with not being in the same position, and hopefully it pays off this week.”
Follett-Smith joins two-time DP World Tour winner Lucas Bjerregaard and three-time Challenge Tour winner Kim Koivu in the 132-strong field.
Round one gets under way on Wednesday at 7:25am local time with Follett-Smith teeing off alongside Frenchman Julien Sale and Portuguese Tomas Gouveia at 12:15pm.
