Conor Purcell may be over 8,000 miles from Ireland but he is enjoying some home comforts as he prepares to tee it up in the Nelson Mandela Bay Championship at Humewood Golf Club.
The Irishman has made an impressive start to the Road to Mallorca, currently sitting in tenth position on the Rankings, and he is looking to build on solid foundations this week in Port Elizabeth as the four-week stretch of tournaments co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour comes to an end.
The 25-year-old has grown up in Ireland playing links golf courses and he will be looking to use that experience to his advantage at Humewood Golf Club, South Africa’s only true links course.
“It feels a lot closer to home this week,” he said. “The course is links in style being by the sea and the wind is blowing this week. There are a lot of similarities to home which is nice.
“It’s going to be windy this week so I’m going to have to get used to hitting shots in the wind again and not getting too fixated on my numbers. It’s going to be important to hole those momentum putts and fight for some of your pars out there.”
Purcell finished in seventh place at the season opening Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open, before finishing in a tie for sixth at the Dimension Data Pro-Am and he is reaping the rewards of the work he put into his game during the off-season.
“It’s been a great experience in South Africa and every city has its own traits,” he said. “Over the winter I tried to focus on a few fundamentals, and it’s been nice to see that work carry over into the season and perform under tournament conditions.
“I’ve started the season well, so I want to continue that form now. It’s important not to over emphasize and I just need to focus on each tournament as it comes.”
Purcell will be joined in Port Elizabeth by Road to Mallorca Number One Adam Blommé and three-time DP World Tour winner Brandon Stone.
The first round will get under way at 6:30am local time, with Purcell teeing it up alongside Blommé and South African Casey Jarvis at 7:20am.
