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Nicolai eyes Austria repeat
July 25, 2018
The European Challenge Tour last stopped at Golf Club Adamstal ten years ago, and while the course may be a new test for the majority of players, one man in the field knows exactly what it is like to triumph on the undulating Austrian track.
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Last year, Nicolai von Dellingshausen fired rounds of 63-72-70 to win the Pro Golf Tour's Adamstal Open – and the German is hopeful of repeating the feat at this week's Euram Bank Open.“I remember it very clearly,” he said. “I played a really good first round and didn't really get the momentum going from there, but I got into a play-off with Stanislas Gautier and won it on the first play-off hole.
“It was my second win last year, so I have a lot of good memories from this place.”
The victory was one of three on the Pro Golf Tour for von Dellingshausen – who sealed graduation to the Challenge Tour midway through the satellite tour's season.
While the 25 year old has yet to recapture the form that saw him record two top-five finishes on the Challenge Tour last year, he has been making steady improvements, and enters the event fresh off of a season-best tied eighth place showing at last week's Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.
“My game has been feeling good the last few months, but the results weren't really there,” he said. “Last week especially though, some parts clicked together and so now I really feel like my game is going in the right direction.”
For von Dellingshausen, the recent return to a high standard of play is part of a bigger plan.
“I started working with the mental coach of the German national team in January,” he said. “The processes and changes that we've both worked on, and still work on, have helped me a lot the last couple of months, but the results didn't show up.
“And right now, after working hard, I feel like my game is at a point where I can build on it for the rest of the season so that the results start to come, and that's something that gives me a lot of confidence.
“They are changes that I am convinced will make me better in the long run, but sometimes it's all about patience — especially in this game.”
As for the test that awaits the players at Golf Club Adamstal, the man who has triumphed here most-recently offered a few key insights.
“You have to play this course smart,” he said. “There are some challenging holes. You need to have all aspects of your game working here because you can't really miss it that far if you want to perform here.
“You have to be a good driver of the golf ball here, really.”
Joining von Dellingshausen in Austria is current Road to Ras Al Khaimah leader Joachim B. Hansen, who is one win away from his third of the season and an automatic promotion onto the European Tour.
This week the Challenge Tour returns to Austria for the first time since 2015, as a total of 14 home grown players will look to use the most of their local knowledge.
