Our family holiday in Abaco was just fantastic, we really enjoyed the fishing, the weather and the break but due to the Volcanic panic we had to extend our holiday by three days – which I have to say was an absolute pleasure. There’s nowhere better to be marooned! There was myself and Alison, Tyrone and Conor along with my sister Andrea, her husband, Davie and their two boys and we all just had a ball.

On my return from holiday I played the new modified Wentworth course with Ewan Murray and Robert Lee. I think the course is absolutely fantastic and at least three shots tougher than it was before the alterations were made. The changes are dramatic and have made the course a great deal tougher which is just perfect for the European Tour’s flagship event.

I then went off to play in the Open de Espana in Seville, where I was a bit rusty to start off with but did ok on the Friday and shot 69 to finish on level par. Anyway, I had a chat with Chub and the decision was made that level would definitely miss the cut so I managed to get a flight home from Seville to London. Upon landing in London I discovered there was a chance of making the cut so I then drove to Gatwick to try and get another flight back to Seville. So when I’d got there I then got a call from Gordon, my caddy, who told me that I’d missed the cut. At that stage I turned round to go home and was sitting nose to tail on the M25 when I received another call from the European Tour saying that I had made the cut – at this stage I was on the wrong side of the M25 so I couldn’t get back to Gatwick! I then went home again and did our utmost to find a plane to get back to Seville. I eventually found one that could take me from Oxford to Malaga so I took that and upon arrival had a two hour drive to Seville. So all in all it was a pretty exciting day and in the space of a few hours I was in Seville, Heathrow, home, Oxford and Malaga. It was worth it though as I managed to finish in a tie for 30th!

When I eventually returned from Seville on Sunday night I managed to catch young Rory play the back nine at Quail Hollow, which he made look ridiculously easy, but it was great to see. It was no surprise to me and he’s just going to keep on getting better and better.

I’m now in Italy for the BMW Italian Open in Turin where it has been raining non-stop since I arrived here – unfortunately I’ve left my Wellingtons with spikes on at home! The course and the greens are fantastic and after the amount of rain that has fallen it’s unbelievable that we’re playing golf at all so great credit is due to the ground staff here.

The boys have had a golf lesson with Rob Watts, who coaches a lot of youngsters, over at Castle Royal Golf Club near Maidenhead where they were put on video so that was cause of great excitement for them. He’s given them physical exercises to work on for their golf too – I certainly wasn’t do any of that when I was 11 and 9 but I guess that this is the way things have progressed since I was a lad!

Things are progressing with my move back home, albeit slowly, although the date is coming quite quickly, so that’s causing excitement and a bit of apprehension for me, but it’s the right long-term decision.

Bye for now, Darren.