European Players Tour Cyprus - 31/1/2024 to 4/2/2024

Wednesday 31st Jan - Round 1

We arrived at Aphrodite Hills Resort the evening before so with no look at the course we were straight out into round 1.

The facilities of Aphrodite Hills could not be better, full driving range, short game area and putting green which was a short walk from the hotel. Warming up before the round was really windy and quite cold but I thought being in Cyprus it should warm up... 6 holes later and I found out that was not the case! We had 4 holes of heavy rain, wind and it could not have been much worse weather conditions! The golf course however was a delight to play, the greens were undulating, quick and ran true. Some of the holes across the valleys were stunning and I really enjoyed the course! I managed to grind out a level par round which left me in 2nd place and 5 shots behind.

Thursday 1st Feb - Round 2

Day 2 in Cyprus and we played at Secret Valley just down the valley 'literally' from Aphrodite Hills. The weather totally flipped from day 1, sunshine and no wind! The course had some great holes cut into the Valley but with a lot of blind shots this made it difficult to navigate certain holes! I finished +2 for the round after some silly bogeys and it was a little frustrating because they were very avoidable. Looking back after seeing the course I will be changing my strategy on certain holes the next time we play this course.

Friday 2nd Feb - Round 3

Our third day was at a course called Minthis which was about 30 minutes from our hotel in the mountains above Paphos. The scenery as you can imagine was incredible and the golf course was very tight in places with trees and wasteland. The weather was cold with a strong breeze and rain showers which made it tricky. The course itself wasn't the longest but the greens were very undulating, the pins were on little raised shelfs where it was key to get your distance control into the greens. I felt like I played decent but I just found myself in the wrong positions a couple of times which led to some drop shots and I finished +3 for the round. I was 8 shots behind going into to final day for the main tournament, lying in 4th place.

Saturday 3rd Feb - Round 4

Our final round for the main Cyprus Open tournament was back at Secret Valley and the weather did not disappoint today. We had very little wind with a lot of sun which was nice to feel some warmer weather. The greens at Secret Valley were so good, running about 11 on the stimp and very true, getting your speed and lines to match was crucial to putting well. This was my best performance of the week so far, I played really solid tee to green, setting up a lot of chances and I managed to shoot -3. This was a little frustrating because I felt like I had so many chances but could not quite convert them. I climbed the leaderboard to finish 2nd so overall a steady tournament.

Sunday 4th Feb - Round 5

The final round of the trip was back at Aphrodite Hills which overall was probably the best conditioned course out of the 3 that we have played. The weather once again was kind to us, it was dry and sunny but the wind did strengthen as our round progressed. I managed to build on my performance from yesterday's round, I felt like I hit the ball very solid, again setting up a lot of chances. I scored -2 for the round and managed to win the final day which was a sweet way to wrap up my time in Cyprus.

It felt great to test my game on new courses in a variety of conditions and I was pleased with my progress throughout the week, I felt like I ended the trip with a better sense of what to work on ahead of the main season starting soon.

Scores Summary

E, +2, +3, -3 & -2.

Many thanks for following my journey

Ryan