David Law feels 'huge positive' from wedge work in Ras Al Khaimah

Aberdonian happy to be playing at weekend rather than having to practice in UAE

David Law has been pleased with his opening two rounds in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship at Al Hamra Golf Club. Picture: Jan Kruger/Getty Images.

David Law is delighted to still be actively involved in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship this weekend rather than just practising at Al Hamra Golf Club after finding a “huge positive” over the opening two days.

The 32-year-old Aberdonian followed a first-round 68 with a birdie-birdie finish for a 69 on Friday to sit on seven-under-par, seven shots behind the halfway leaders, Dane Rasmus Hojgaard and Spaniard Manuel Elvira.

Law’s promising performance so far in the third leg of the DP World Tour’s desert swing – Ewen Ferguson sits a shot ahead of him after a second-day 66 – is in stark contrast to a disappointing missed cut in last week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

“Yeah, it’s been a good couple of days, really,” he said. “I’ve obviously not been playing well for the last six or seven months probably and then last week wasn’t very good at all. My iron play has been really poor and my wedge play has been poor. But we changed some stuff this week and it’s been a huge positive.

“I finished there with two birdies from two wedge shots that we’d really worked hard on, which in the recent past I wouldn’t have hit. I’d just have hit something full and wouldn’r have controlled the spin very well, so it was a good way to finish.”

Law has a good record in this event, having given himself a chance of winning it in 2022 before ending up in a tie for seventh then finishing just outside the top ten 12 months ago. “It’s been a good two days and I’ve now got another two days to keep what I’m doing and keep practising the new swing with the new move that I’ve been working on,” he added.

“It’s just been a change of technique. My coach, Alan McCloskey, was out in Dubai last week and my iron play was really poor and we thought we needed to change it up. So he gave me a couple of numbers to look at on Trackman. So myself and Max [Bill], my caddie, have been working really hard on that this week. Hitting a lot of balls and a lot of wedges. I don’t really tend to hit a lot of balls, especially in a tournament week. But we’ve been putting the time in and it’s been night and day, to be honest.

“Hopefully I can keep that going and there have been enough signs there to say that we are doing the right thing. It’s nice to do it on Trackman as well as I’ve alway got facts and numbers there that I can work off, which has worked really well with my driving in the past, so it’s nice to have something like that for the irons as well.”

As he bids to add to his breakthrough win in the ISPS Handa Vic Open just under five years ago, Law spoke of the importance of simply making cuts, especially at events thousands of miles from home. “When we are in Europe, I don’t feel I am under pressure to do that because, if I miss the cut, I go home and I see my family. It’s fine, so I’m disappointed but never that disappointed,” he said.

“But, when you are out here, you are here for the next week and you are out practising at the weekend and that’s never great. The next week never feels like a fresh week. It’s a long time to wait from Friday to Thursday again when it’s not when you finish on a Sunday and go again on a Thursday. I always tend to have runs where I make a lot of cuts in a row or I have runs where I’m not that great. I’ll miss a few or be around the cut mark.

“Psychologically, there’s probably something in that. The less time I have to think about things probably helps and the more time I have to think about things doesn’t help. So I’m happy to be playing the weekend in decent shape and have another couple of days to really go at it.”