Marcel Schneider is hoping to better last year’s tied fifth place at the Prague Golf Challenge when he tees it up at Prague City Golf this week.
The German led by one going into the final round in 2018 but was overhauled by eventual winner Ben Stow.
In a year when he won the Swiss Challenge and finished second at the Rolex Trophy, in addition to his fifth place in Prague, Schneider ended the campaign 27th in the Challenge Tour Rankings.
The 29-year-old classes 2018 as a positive season but is determined to mount a more serious charge for a top 15 spot this time around.
“It was a really good year for me last year,” he said. “I just missed out on the top 15 but I can still say it was a good year.
“I always look forward to this tournament. I drove here in my own car from home and the course is in good shape so I’m looking forward to it.
“I felt good last year and I feel good this year. I putted really well last year and holed a few putts and my long game was overall pretty good.”
Schneider will get limited starts on the European Tour in 2019 but he is currently focussed on competing on the Challenge Tour to give himself the best chance of finishing inside the top 15 place to clinch a European Tour card at the end of the season.
“It’s a tough decision whether to play European Tour events or Challenge Tour events,” he said.
“Right now, I’ve decided to play on this tour but we’ll have to see how it’s going and make the decision. I’m just trying to do my best every week and see what happens.
“My game feels good. I saw my coach yesterday and he had some little changes, right now I’m feeling pretty good. We’ll have to see how it feels on the course but I’m ready to go.
“Because the season started so late this year I took two months off and then just did a little bit of practice back home with a lot of gym work.”
England’s Ben Stow will defend his title when he tees it up at 8.10am local time, while last week’s Challenge de España winner Antoine Rozner begins his quest for back-to-back wins at 1.20pm local time.
