As Stuart Appleby prepared for this week’s WGC-CA Championship at Doral Spa and Resort near Miami, he looked back at what has been a very successful start to the year on the PGA Tour and ahead to the Masters and beyond. He spoke in a teleconference organised by Golf Australia this morning.

After recording five consecutive top tens in his first five events of 2008 before missing the cut last week at Bay Hill, Appleby, now in his 13th year on the PGA Tour, has produced one of his best starts to a season.

“Considering I didn’t get to start off the year in Kapalua or at the Sony, a period of the year that I always expected to kick off – so without those two weeks there was a question mark as to how it would go on the west coast but to get off to the start I have in those first five weeks was great. I was playing at the right end of the field for five weeks straight, which is something that I have never really done before.”

The missed cut at Bay Hill was a hiccup although Appleby indicated that his good start to 2008 might not have been as good as it appeared on paper.

“The week at Tampa I did not really play all that well despite a top ten there. I had the most birdies for the week but I also had the most bogeys so the good stuff was still there but I wasn’t driving the ball all that well but I have worked on a couple of things the last few days I think will sort me out. It’s nothing serious and I am sure I will steer it back on the road.”

This week he plays Doral for the eighth time and despite it being a course that he feels should suit him he has not finished any higher than 30th in that time.

“It’s the right type of course for me, the type of greens are right, it’s a demanding course, pretty windy probably around 20k each day, so I am very much looking forward to bouncing back after a short week last week and proving to myself that we have the right bit of mojo going and that I am back on track.”

Clearly with this sort of form leading into the first major of the year in three weeks time at Augusta National he has one eye on what lies ahead there.

Last year Appleby took a one shot lead over Tiger Woods into the final day at Augusta but a double bogey at the very first hole was hardly the way to start when playing with Woods in the final round. He fought back and was still in touch when he reached the par three 12th where an 8 iron found the water and his winning chance was gone. Still, for him, the 7th placing was, by far, his best performance at Augusta National.

Appleby puts down a couple of reasons for his improvement at the Masters in 2007 compared to his previous best (T19) in 2006.

“The conditions were very tough last year – probably the toughest overall for the week we have ever had and secondly I went into the tournament making a special effort mentally of not expecting too much.”

“When you don’t do something well for a number of years the tendency is to want to do it better but last year I took a step back and went out and relaxed and emotionally I was a lot more relaxed and a bit more casual about the whole thing and to some extent that is how I have been playing this year. I tried to befriend Augusta more than I had previously. To gain control you sometimes have to give up control.”

When asked if he had learnt anything from the final round last year where the shaky start got him onto the back foot, Appleby responded, “I took a lot away from that. I guess I won’t really know until that situation arises again but even with my mistakes on Sunday I really felt like I hung in there and clawed away and that I was not going to change the mental plan I had all week.”

“It was a good tournament and I learnt a lot – the question will be how much I learnt and what level I need to adjust my game physically or perhaps mentally as in majors the mental side is the biggest test. If you control your mind you control your swing. I would like to think that a year after I had a chance to win Augusta I win it and then I can tell you all about it (what he learnt from last year). What I can tell you I learnt is that what I did last year was so much closer to what I need to do every tournament let alone just Augusta namely to expect less and focus on what I am trying to do and let the ball find its way to the hole.”

When asked what advice Appleby would give another Australian playing Augusta the first time such as Richard Green and John Senden who will make their debuts in 2008 he responded; “I would treat Augusta similar to the way you would treat the top courses in Australian such as Royal Melbourne. Treat it with respect and be wary of where you need to miss the green. It is not only preferable to miss the green on the fat side – it is a must! In many ways I think the Australians should be the most comfortable with first time appearances as Augusta has that penal type of character to it if you make mistakes. I think the best year I had at Augusta until last year was in my first year.”

Appleby’s comments are further emphasised by the impressive debuts of Australians Rod Pampling and Mark Hensby who finished in a share of fifth in their first visit in 2005. Only Fuzzy Zoeller (1979) has won it on debut other than the very first winner of the event in 1934 but then of course the whole field were debutantes.

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