It had been a tough few months for Fredrik From. Last season on The Gecko Tour he accumulated some excellent scores without being able to convert them into victories, and he also secured three top 10s on the Mena Tour (in the Middle East) earlier this year.
The “last straw”, however, came in Marbella during the third Gecko event of the new season. A 17th hole bogey destroyed his chances of a win, and he was consumed by frustration. Then, three days later, all the pain dissipated in the fourth leg at Westin La Quinta Golf & Country Club – albeit with a couple of wobbles towards the end.
The 27-year-old arrived at the 16th with a four-shot advantage but a bogey there and a double bogey on the 17th meant he headed to the last just one ahead of the field. He settled his nerves, secured his par on the 18th and beat Briton Mark Young by one shot with a nine-under total for the two days. And his first words? “Relieved!”
“I’m really happy. I can finally breathe easy. I’ve come close to winning many times these past weeks and because of one thing or another it ended up slipping away from me... It wasn’t easy to digest. But I finally got there. I played really well from tee to green. I think the longest putt I made all week was three and a half metres, so that gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”
His next objectives are to return to the Mena Tour, compete on the Sunshine Tour (South Africa) and try for his PGA Tour China Series card at the qualifying school.
Without forgetting The Gecko, of course. “It’s a great tour and a wonderful place to live and work. The most important part is that people make you feel welcome and that’s amazing.”
The fifth tournament of The Gecko Tour is being held today and tomorrow (28-29 November) at the Parador in Málaga.
