Chris Wood is set to return to action at this week’s Moravia Silesia Open presented by ALO Diamonds after a wrist injury sustained at The Open Championship kept him out of last week’s SAS Masters in Sweden.
The Englishman has only two weeks to wait for his next Major Championship after coming so close to Open Championship glory at Turnberry.
But Wood is not expecting a similar challenge at Prosper Golf Resort.
“This is different,” Wood warned. “There is not much wind and the ball goes further being at altitude. The greens are so severe that you really have to put the ball in the right place. At The Open anywhere on the green is good because of the conditions being so hard.
“I need to push into the top 50 [in the World Rankings] and get into the bigger events. Another is to qualify for The Race to Dubai which is such as massive end of season event so hopefully I've done that now so it has been a pretty good year.”
The 21 year old from Bristol, who like Lee Westwood bogeyed the last hole to miss out on the play-off between Tom Watson and Stewart Cink by one shot, is up to 59th in the World Rankings. And that guarantees him a start in the US PGA Championship at Hazeltine in Minnesota, starting on August 13.
Wood, who also has a Masters Tournament debut to look forward to next April, had to pull out of last week's SAS Masters after injuring a wrist in the Turnberry rough, but he returns to action in the Czech Republic.
Fifth in The Open Championship last year as an amateur, the six foot five inch European Tour rookie is also in position now to represent Britain and Ireland against Continental Europe in The Vivendi Trophy with Severiano Ballesteros in September.
If things stay as they are and everybody makes themselves available, Paul McGinley's side would be Paul Casey, Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher, Rory McIlroy, Oliver Wilson, Robert Rock, Nick Dougherty and Wood.
That is some turnaround for a player who prior to The Open did not even qualify for a place in either the Open de France ALSTOM or The Barclays Scottish Open.
Because Wood came through The European Tour Qualifying School last November and has not won a tournament yet, he remains a Category 11 player even though he is 31st on The Race To Dubai money list.
With a first prize of €333,330 in this week's Moravia Silesia Open presented by ALO Diamonds at the Prosper Golf Resort in Celadna, he could move up as high as 12th on the rankings.
Course designer Miguel Angel Jiménez is the one member of last year's Ryder Cup side in the field and Wood is the second highest-ranked player on The European Tour's first visit to the Czech Republic for 12 years.
Jiménez said: “I'm very proud and satisfied The Tour is coming to the course I designed. This is the first course I designed in my life here with Mr Pros ten years ago. It's a nice golf course and I'm very happy with the way everything is set up here and I think it is going to be a successful tournament.
“To win here would be very nice on the golf course I designed but then people might say hey what are you doing designing a course just for you! We'll see what happens. The way I'm hitting the ball I think I'll have a chance this week and hopefully I can get the victory on Sunday which would make me very proud on my own golf course.”
