Richie Ramsay shrugged off his recent shoulder injury to shoot a five-under 67 in the Betfred British Masters, relishing `a proper tournament on a proper course’.
The 38-year-old Scot is one off the lead at The Belfry shared by Thorbjorn Olesen and Ryan Fox, just a week back from more than a month off resting a shoulder problem.
But it’s the feeling of being back among decent crowds at an acknowledged venue in an important event that gets Richie’s juices really flowing again, he reckons.
‘You feel as though you need to do something’
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“I think it helped today that it felt like a proper tournament,” he said. “The Brabazon is a big golf course and a good strength of field. It makes you feel as though you need to do something today and turn it on.
“It was really pleasing to do that and also have a good mindset, which was the most important thing. Today I checked myself a couple of times, and that was the difference.
“It’s good for the soul. When I played my first nine holes back in Edinburgh after the time off I thought `this is brilliant, it’s great to be playing again and not have any pain.’”
An MRI scan had shown bursitis and “exceptional inflammation” in Ramsay’s right shoulder. Rest, rehab and physio followed over five to six weeks.
“Just getting old!” he said. “Things start to creak and pain starts to happen. The guys in the physio truck and Tim Swan, who I spoke to in Spain last week, have been brilliant.
“But also when I was injured I had time to talk with people around me and said, ‘this is what I want to do’.
“I need to be all in it or not in it at all.I have an idea of what I want to do for the next two years and honestly no idea after that. But everybody’s been really supportive and pushing towards the same goal.
“It makes things a lot easier when you’ve got people around you who are positive and make a difference for you.”
‘There’s a lot of people out there’
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Ramsay finished strongly with two birdies at 16 and 17 and a key up and down at the 18th, rolling a 10 footer after he needed everything to get up to pin high off to the right.
“That’s an important one,” he added. “Because you don’t make it you leave two or three under and wondering ‘why didn’t I make more of that?’
“I also hit a nice four-iron down the flag at 12, and there was a nice chip-in at the 8th.
“Even though we had a late tee-time, there’s a lot of people out there. You enjoy that more, you want to play well with a decent turn out.
“I think I play my best golf when we play our biggest tournaments and that isn’t a coincidence.
“The other thing for me is playing on good golf courses. I like the courses that make you uncomfortable. You are going to get better if you put yourself in uncomfortable positions.”