Tom McKibbin is feeling confident ahead of this week’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship as he tees it up for the third week in succession on the DP World Tour.
It will be McKibbin’s seventh start this season meaning he has played in every event possible of his rookie season thus far having made four out of four cuts to end 2022.
The 20-year-old from Holywood Golf Club was due to get 2023 underway at Al Hamra Golf Club on Thursday but was fortunate to get into the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as a reserve before earning a sponsor’s invite to the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last week.
After three top-20 finishes in his first three starts got his rookie campaign off to an encouraging start, McKibbin has quickly been exposed to the other side of the game after some tough lessons during the Middle East swing so far.
The Newtownabbey man completed sixteen holes of his second round in Abu Dhabi before darkness suspended play. He then returned to Yas Links to double-bogey the 18th to miss the cut by one.
It was another unfortunate experience for McKibbin in Dubai who reeled off four successive birdies to soar to the top of the leaderboard before three bogeys in a row and a triple saw him tumble out of contention and eventually miss the cut.
“I learned a few things over the last few weeks, feel like my game is sort of there and good enough. It’s just putting it all together at the one time. I had a couple of weeks off over Christmas so I’ve probably been a bit rusty.
“It was a good experience (the two Rolex Series events) and hopefully I can take some of those tough lessons into the next few weeks.”
Twelve months ago McKibbin was plying his trade on the Challenge Tour before being invited to the Ras Al Khaimah Championship – where he missed the cut.
“I remember that last year, the course was pretty scoreable, scores were good. Playing the practice rounds this year it’s much tougher, the rough is a bit thicker and there are a few new tees.
“It was a great event last year, should be the same this year. It’s a lovely golf course, should be fun.”
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