Chris Wood Should Find Black Mountain An Easy Climb After Years Of Hurtful Decline

1 year ago by Comments Off on Chris Wood Should Find Black Mountain An Easy Climb After Years Of Hurtful Decline

Eight years ago Chris Wood was the toast of the DP World Tour capturing the flagship 2016 BMW PGA Championship at Tour HQ in leafy Surrey.

The win took the then 29-year old Wood to a career high No. 22 on the World Rankings and on into the 2016 European Ryder Cup team.

However it began to turn sour for the affable Englishman having to withdraw from the 2016 Open and then missing the cut in his next three majors – 2016 PGA Championship, a first Masters in 2017 as a pro and also the US Open. He finished T14th in the 2018 Open but in the last major championship he featured, the 2019 Open, Wood also missed the cut.

Sadly, from that time onwards the golf world kind of forgot about Chris Wood who missed cut after cut, year after year including not one top-10 from 2019 to the present, and in the process plummeting to a career low in ending last year ranked 2,053 in the world.

The now 36-year-old Bristol-born Brit suffered from injuries and a loss of form, losing his DP World Tour card and contesting just two Challenge Tour events early in 2023 before spending the rest of last year sidelined.

Wood began 2024 in Doha where 11-years earlier he brilliantly captured a maiden DP World Tour title at the 2013 Qatar Masters while for the rest of 2024  he’s tried to ply his trade on the Challenge Tour.  He played some 13 events making the cut in nine, missing the weekend rounds in three and withdrawing from his last Challenge Tour event three weeks ago in Italy due to injury.

Now 12-years after capturing a maiden pro Tour event at the 2012 Thailand Open, one now asks what happened to Chris Wood and why is he contesting two Asian Tour International Series events firstly this week  at the Black Mountain Championship at the famed Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, and next week in the International Series Thailand at the Thai Country Club in the capital Bangkok.

Each event for Chris, and while Thailand will always be special in his career, is thanks to an invitation that also speaks volume of his stature in the game despite the hardship he has endured.

While remaining cautious, there is real optimism for Wood as he views these elevated Asian Tour events as important dates on his long road back from the crippling anxiety that has blighted his game for years.

“I was diagnosed with chronic anxiety and burnout,” the current world number 1,535 said ahead in speaking with the Asian Tour ahed of this week’s Black Mountain/International Series event.

“I’ve been through a really rubbish time over the last few years where my golf has really impacted me mentally.

“I’ve actually been like that since 2019 but it took maybe four years before I did anything about it. It took literally bottoming out to stop. I took a whole year off and this year has been about trying to get a card in my hand again.

“It’s still very, very hard, but I’m still doing it because I want to and because I feel like I’ve got so much more to offer. I know the quality of shots I’ve got and I can hit, so that’s why I’m still in it.

“Ten years ago, if you had said to me you will be in this position mentally, I was so unaware of what those words meant, and it takes going through something like this, or someone very close to you going through it, before you can appreciate what those struggles are actually like.

“It’s hard because I still believe I’ve even got a Ryder Cup in me, I truly believe that, and I wouldn’t still be putting myself in positions where I feel anxious and exposed unless I felt like it’s going to be worth it.”

One of the things that has attracted Wood is the atmosphere on the Asian Tour, which was also recommended by another English pro, Ollie Fisher.

Wood explained: “We are sharing a house this week, and Ollie said to me that one of the big things he’s noticed is how friendly everyone is here. It is how it should be and how it was (pre-Covid) really, and one of the things he spoke highly about.”

Wood revealed he received a lot of support from the DP World Tour medical staff and its helpline on his road to recovery, and although it is early days, he is hoping to overcome his issues and once more be a force in the world of golf.

Wood said: “It’s still very, very hard, but I’m still doing it because I want to, and because I feel like I’ve got so much more to offer. I know the quality of shots I’ve got and I can hit, so that’s why I’m still in it.

“Ten years ago if you had said to me, you will be in this position mentally, I was so unaware of what those words meant, and it takes going through something like this, or someone very close to you going through it, before you can appreciate
what those struggles are actually like.

“It’s hard because I still believe I’ve even got a Ryder Cup in me, I truly believe that, and I wouldn’t still be putting myself in positions where I feel anxious and exposed unless I felt like it’s going to be worth it”.

Wood tees-up on day one just after 12 noon local time alongside Thailand’s  Poom Saksansin and Canadian Jared Du Toit.

Well said Chris and wish you every success in your climb back to where you belong.

Special thanks:  Simon Lewis, Asian Tour & Chris Fraser, weare54.com Earned Media, Account Director 

 

 



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