Yannik Paul has good memories of last year's runner-up finish but says he is focused on sticking to his plan as he tries to go one better at the Hero Indian Open.
Just over 12 months ago, Paul had taken a one stroke lead into the final round of the 2023 Hero Indian Open, but an impressive final day from Marcel Siem saw his compatriot overtake him to clinch the title by one.
Despite acknowledging that the disappointment of that runner-up finish took a little while to get over, the German player says that he has put last year's result behind him while he tries to go one better at DLF Golf & Country Club this week.
"I have good memories from last year," he told the DP World Tour.
"I would have liked to finish one higher, but Marcel played well the last two rounds and caught up to me. It’s always nice to come back to some good memories. I’m looking forward to a good week. The course is in fantastic shape. I’ll pretty much use the same strategy as last year, maybe on a few holes change it up a bit. But in general you can’t fake it around here, you have to hit a lot of good shots.
"Sometimes second places feel really good, and others they don’t feel that good. I was pretty disappointed last year, but in general second is a great result. I let it go, it took a while but at some point when I got to summer it was all good. It’s a new week and nothing you did last year will help you this year. I’m not really focused on last year. I’ll stick to my plan and see how the week goes.
"The course plays pretty similarly. It depends a bit on how they set it up, if we play from the back tees or go a tee box up on some holes. That will have an effect on the score. 17 and 18 are spectacular. Last year I laid up with a five iron or six iron and had a seven iron in. This year I’m thinking about hitting driver down the left. But it depends on the wind, there’s a bunker at 305 yards and you have to avoid it. Otherwise you have 80 yards out of a bunker and that’s not a good place to be. If it’s in to the wind, am I going to hit driver to have a better angle and a shorter shot in? But I also don’t mind laying up, it will depend on how I’m feeling that day."
Paul, who made a strong start to the 2024 season with top tens at both the Dubai Invitational in January and the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, arrives in Delh with confidence despite a missed cut at the Porsche Singapore Classic last week.
The key to that has been a positive improvement in feelings about his swing, and while that hasn't yet translated into results, he is hopeful that sticking to process over results will help as he continues his search for a second DP World Tour victory.
"I had a good start to the season and the last couple of weeks," he reflected.
"I feel like at the beginning of the season I wasn’t hitting it as well. Then I got some decent results and starting in Bahrain the game feels much better. But I haven’t had the results really. I’ve made cuts but haven’t gotten into contention as much as I’ve wanted to.
"All of sudden when you’re hitting it how you’re used to seeing it and everything is in a good spot expectations go up and you push it a bit harder and it maybe goes the other way. In golf there are so many things you can’t control. I’m just trying to stick to the process and not be as result orientated or focused and I’ll hopefully have a good week this week."
