Danny's Diary

Well I did warn last week that, although I finished fourth in Johannesburg, I wasn't terribly happy with my game.

Unfortunately I was proved right when I missed the cut by miles in Abu Dhabi. A horrible 77 in the first round gave me next to no chance of making the weekend on a course where birdies were dropping in all over the place.

I got off to an okay start in the second round and picked up two shots in the first four holes but when I bogeyed the fifth I knew it was over.

I have to admit I don't have the best attitude once I know I have little chance of qualifying. All I could think about was getting finished as quickly as possible. I'd been pulling my pitches and then leaking them out to the right to the point where I didn't know which way they were going to go.

And I had a bit of a nightmare on the greens on day one when I had 34 putts which any pro will tell you is about six too many.

But I had a good weekend working on various parts of the game with my coach Graham while I also did a bit in the gym.

To be honest, if you are going to miss the cut, there are worse places to do it than Abu Dhabi. I was staying in a fantastic seven star hotel with a lovely pool which certainly eased the pain. And I stopped feeling sorry for myself altogether after a couple of afternoons on the sun lounger soaking up the rays.

Anyway it's time to forget Abu Dhabi and get focused on Qatar this week. It's early days on this year's Tour and I've got to keep smiling.

There is a psychologist I work with called Brian Hemmings who helps get me in the right frame of mind but I realise that the way I approach the game is mostly down to me. I expect a lot and don't give myself much of a break. As I've said before I'm a perfectionist and find it very difficult to deal with when things go wrong. I get in my own way if that makes sense.

It's a Catch 22 really because you always have to be striving to be better but you have to accept that you will fail from time to time. One day I'll get the balance right but I haven't done it yet.