Break has done Davis good

Brian Davis was finally able to accept he had done the right thing in taking two months off at the end of last season after yesterday’s dramatic victory at the ANZ Championship boosted his Ryder Cup chances.

The 29-year-old had started the year relatively slowly and although his esteemed coach Peter Marshall had tried to convince him the break would prove beneficial, doubts were growing larger and larger.

He had battled through to make the cut at both the dunhill Championship and Johnnie Walker Classic, but missed out at the Heineken Classic and was not happy.

Then, after a putting lesson from his room-mate Gary Evans, Davis charged from 15th place, through the field with an electrifying display of attacking golf to win the modified stableford tournament by one point from defending champion Paul Casey.

The circumstances leading into the tournament meant that Davis rated the victory more special than his maiden tour win at the Peugeot Open de Espana in 2000.

“The first win will always be special, but this win more so. I had two months off at the end of last year. I came out at the start of this year and I really struggled,” said Davis.

“It has been playing on my mind – ‘I shouldn’t have had that much time off and I’m paying the price now, it’s Ryder Cup year and I’m slipping down world rankings’.

“I was getting really upset with myself over the last four weeks because I didn’t think I had prepared properly.

“But at some point you have got to have a break. My coach Peter Mitchell said ‘it might hurt the first couple of tournaments but when you get back to the PGA, the Deutsche Bank, you won’t be burned out like you were last year’.

“I just tried to do it a little different this year and this win was unbelievable.”

The victory moved Davis up to the fourth place on the Ryder Cup points list and he will now tailor his season around winning a place in the Europe side for the defence of the trophy in September.

“There are going to be other things that come up now which I must look at. I will look at the world events but my schedule is going to change,” said Davis, who will withdraw from next week’s Malaysian Open to prepare for the Accenture Matchplay.

“Obviously it is a Ryder Cup year and I don’t want to play too many events that don’t count on our Order of Merit because that might hurt me on the Ryder Cup.”

Davis began the final day targeting a top three finish at best to qualify for the Accenture Matchplay and earn some valuable Ryder Cup points.

Victory had barely entered his thinking, particularly as he had predicted at the beginning of the week that Steve Webster, his good friend, would win his first European Tour event.

But a putting tutorial from Evans on Saturday night revitalised his game and Davis went out to sink 10 birdies in a round of 65 and charged into the clubhouse lead on 44 points.

The modified stableford points format is designed to provide tantalising finishes and it did just that with Casey and then overnight lead Webster both requiring an eagle on the par-four last for victory.

Casey reached the green in one, but his 18 foot eagle putt slipped by; Webster imploded, driving out of bounds and then found the water with his provisional. Davis was champion.

“I had struggled over the last few weeks but it puts me straight back up there in the Ryder Cup rankings which is what I want and it puts me in the Accenture Matchplay,” he said after claiming the £137,938 first prize cheque.

“I knew if I finished in the top five I would have a chance of making it. Now, with a win, if I don’t jump four places in the world rankings there is something wrong with them.

“It’s amazing. I didn’t think a win would happen at the start of the day. I have not really been performing so to do what I did this weekend is unbelievable. I am over the moon, really pleased.

“I came close to a win a few times and felt like I could have won. But it wasn’t me making mistakes, more like people grabbing it.

“Freddie Jacobson chipped in four times at the Portuguese Open to push me into second spot.

“Peter Mitchell said last year ‘it is only a matter of time’ and it didn’t happen.

“A lot of people were saying ‘well you had a great year but didn’t win’. That’s been put to bed now.”