Tournament: Q School, Final Stage, Marrakech.
Date: 13th - 17th December
   Just hours after flying from Dubai, I flew straight back out of Gatwick and off to Morocco. No time to wash my clothes and no time to fix my game. I wasn't at all happy about returning to Q School but I didn't have a choice. At least the weather was going to be better than at home! 
   Once I arrived and met up with my caddy for the week, I got my brain in gear and started preparations for the week ahead. There were 2 courses to learn, Al Maaden the newer of the two and a lot more forgiving and Amelkis, which was more mature and had a lot more character. Both courses had stunning views of the snow capped Atlas Mountains, it was quite a picture.
   The first round at Al Maaden was hard work. I had been struggling with my Driver and had no confidence to use it, so for the most part I survived with just my 3 wood. I limited the damage to 73 (tied 72nd) but the course was there for the taking and that's exactly what the majority of the field had done. 
   Amelkis: Round 2 started well. I teed off the 10th and made a birdie. I had a bit of a wobble on 12  and 14 where I found the waste land but I managed to salvage my par. The back 9 was where it got exciting, my putter was on fire and I had 7 consecutive single putts. I finished with an unfortunate 3 putt for bogey but 67 put me right back in the game (now tied for 19th).
   Continuing with just my 3 wood off the tee, the 3rd round was back at Al Maaden. I came a little unstuck on the 8th where I left myself an unusually long 2nd shot into the green but apart from that I was playing sensibly and managing my game well. Finishing -2 for the day and -6 for the tournament.
   Back at Amelkis for the 4th round before a cut was made for the top 60 and ties. Despite starting with a 3 putt I was playing steady golf. A very poor swing on 16 meant that I had to reload and I ended up with a horrible double. It was frustrating to have undone all the hard work at this stage but I quickly refocused and made a birdie 2 on the next. My aim at the start of the day was to shoot under par, I was very happy to have done just that. 71 put me at -7 for the tournament and tied 23rd.
   I wasn't quite sure how I'd managed to be 7 under par the way I was hitting it but I certainly wasn't complaining. My putter had definitely been my saving grace so far this week, I was just hoping that it had one more day of magic to give.
   That evening I thought it would be a good idea to take my mind off golf and experience the real Marrakech. We visited the market square, a crazy bustling place where lots of weird and wonderful things were going on. Snake Charmers, camels, monkeys, and hundreds of stalls all selling the same counterfeit goods. You couldn't move an inch without being coaxed in.  
    I had a bit of a sleepless night on Sunday. I couldn't imagine not having another full year on the tour, especially now I've had a taste of it. 
   After a slightly shaky start, I thought of all the poor people watching the live scoring back home, so I told myself to pull my finger out. The moment I holed a putt for birdie on 6, I started to believe. I then holed a 20 footer on 7 followed by a 90 footer on 9. Now that's what I'm talking about! I got into my stride on the back 9, hitting my irons in close and converting the putts. With 3 holes to play I was just looking to coast in without any drama. Well, apart from short siding myself in a bunker on 16, thats exactly what I did. I was so relieved. I wasn't aware of my position, but I hoped that my 68 (-4) was going to be good enough to secure my card.
   I later learned that I'd jumped up the leaderboard to finish 9th! I was absolutely thrilled. A huge relief, I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present. 

   The experiences I've had and the lessons I've learned in my first year on tour have helped me enormously to become a more rounded golfer. I am already looking forward to tackling next year with the knowledge I've gained. 
   Thank you to all who have supported me this year and followed my progress. I hope you've enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a fantastic 2013.

Tournament: Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, Emirates Golf Club
Date: 5th - 8th December 2012
  I'd been looking forward to this event since the start of the season. I was barely 5 minutes in Dubai and I already loved the place, even the airport was impressive. I arrived at midnight to see the city landscape illuminated with mesmerising lights and colours. It's such a clean and organised place and the climate was just perfect. I was talking to my taxi driver who says it gets up to 50 degrees in the summer! I can't imagine doing anything in that heat. 
   Unusually, the tournament starts on a Wednesday so I only had 2 days to prepare. Thankfully I had Neil with me, so making a game plan was easier. I needed to ensure a high finish this week, in order to avoid going back to Q School, so I needed all the help I could get. 
   We arrived at The Emirates golf club after a good nights sleep. It was just like you see on TV when the men have their event in January. A real treat. You were made to feel very welcome, I even had my own locker with my name on. I walked onto the range to warm up, moments later a flight of 6 flamingos flew above our heads, I turned to my room mate Jess and said "Am I dreaming?!" It was quite breathtaking.
   One of the unusual elements of this particular event is the live coverage. They had live streaming on screens all over the complex. Listening to Maureen commentating on a tournament I was involved in was quite bizarre. Another occasion where I had to pinch myself was when I was on the putting green, I look up, up a bit more and Michelle Wie's lofty frame is towering over me. It's so overwhelming to be competing with the big names of the golfing world. I just have to keep reminding myself that they too are just another golfer playing the same silly game.
   The course was fantastic and beautifully presented and the greens were pure too. That 9th hole is even more terrifying in reality, a great golf hole but it doesn't half get the nerves jangling!
   Tuesday morning, Jess, Neil and I decided to do the tourist bit and took the metro to visit the Burj Khalifa (worlds tallest building). We were taken to the top as well,124 floors up! 360 degrees of outstanding views as far as the eye could see. As you can imagine, I took lots of photographs.
I had planned to practice in the afternoon as the course was closed for the Pro-Am. However, the 'heartburn' I thought I had from the night before was still causing me discomfort, to cut a long story short, I spent the rest of the afternoon in a very nice Dubai Hospital. Thankfully everything was fine and it turned out to be a couple of stubborn ribs but it did mean that I missed out on any practice before the first round. 
   It didn't do me any harm, I shot 70 (-2) without a blemish. I can't ever remember doing that before! I was delighted and just the start I needed. After 2 rounds I was in a good position to climb the leaderboard. Sadly, the next couple of rounds weren't quite as plain sailing. I didn't get the result I was anticipating and it meant that I had to make arrangements for Morocco for the final stage of Q School. 
   Despite a disappointing end to the season, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it was an incredible week and a wonderful experience.

Tournament: Hero Indian Ladies Open, DLF Country Club, New Delhi
Date: 30th November - 2nd December 2012 
India, well where do I start! This has to be one of the craziest, most unique places I've ever visited. It truly is a fascinating place. The best way I can describe it is, if you imagine there has been a natural disaster but all the infrastructure is still standing. In amongst all the rubbish and rubble there are the odd makeshift stalls all selling the same snacks.
My only real taste of India was the shuttle to and from the golf club. An entertaining experience. I couldn't understand how we were managing to avoid having a terrible accident everyday. Yaks with their huge horns just roaming about, cyclists and Tuk Tuks not necessarily travelling in the right direction, pigs, dogs, children and then there are the other cars! They have these huge highways, probably about 5-6 lanes wide, except they don't have lanes, they use their horns instead! Apparently they buy their cars based on how loud the horn is!
Once you do eventually arrive at the golf club, you can start to relax. A green oasis in the middle of the dusty city. On one side of the golf course, there are monkeys which live behind the boundary fence. Smartly dressed men with big wooden sticks are employed to make sure the monkeys stay where they belong. Monkey security guards if you like!
DLF City Country Club is a relatively short golf course protected by large undulating greens made even more difficult by the coarse grain. Most of the players hired local caddies as they knew the greens inside out. I certainly wouldn't have coped alone, you just had to trust your caddy and hit it. He would say, " This much right M'aam, medium slow." It took a bit of getting used to, but it worked. I putted quite well.
The one thing I found very difficult to cope with was the food. Everything was spicy, even the fruit at breakfast! Not wanting to risk getting 'Delhi belly', I was being very cautious. So much so, I felt very hungry for most of the week. Not ideal when your spending hours on the golf course low on energy. I managed to make the cut despite not swinging particularly well, but I wasn't able to capitalise as I had hoped to.
One week in India was quite enough, by the end of the week I was ready to move onto Dubai. Where I could look forward to more conventional food and less stressful car journeys!