Esther de Schiffart - Yet another string to her bow
Esther de Schiffart is one of the greatest lady players ever to grace the sport of Pitch and Putt. The Dutch player added further lustre to he amazing record with victory at the 2024 World Strokeplay championship in Vigo. Here is Esther's immediate reaction.
Did you like the Vigo course? How much preparation did you do on the course?
We didn't do a lot of preparation on the course. We had an early flight to Porto on Thursday morning so we were on the course in Vigo around 1pm. We did two practice rounds on Thursday, but the second one I was quite tired from the travel day. We also played a practice round on Friday morning and then the tournament started almost immediately.
I understood that the course is relatively new (two years old) but is in fantastic condition. The course is well maintained. The holes themselves, with the exception of a few, are in principle, not that difficult to play as long as you hit your distances. However, the greens are very difficult to read and that was mainly the difficulty of the course.
Is it similar to the courses in the Netherlands?
The distances were quite comparable to the courses in the Netherlands. There were only two holes longer than 70 metres. However, the greens in Spain are always much larger than on the Pitch & Putt courses in the Netherlands. But since I also play golf, I don't find that very annoying.
What aspects of your game pleased you the most?
The aspect of my game that I liked most were my recovery strokes and putting. In addition, I am always happy with my mental state at these types of tournaments; I actually stayed really calm, even after some bad shots.
You led pretty much from start to finish. Were there any crisis points during the weekend?
Multiple crisis points for myself! I had about 2 shanks/sockets every round; it was a ‘72 hole rollercoaster’ in terms of playing. A few shots perfect, then another shank/socket, then you pull a ball to the left to prevent that and then have multiple good shots again; it went like that all weekend. In retrospect, you see Saturday evening that the difference was 7 strokes and that is a lot with 18 holes to go on Sunday. I had decided to focus on my own game on Sunday to try to get the victory and it has worked!
A few words about Kim Kuijsters and Ailish Sexton?
In the Netherlands I play the national competition with the men, so I rarely play final flights with Kim, for example. So only at international tournaments; I played with Kim in the finals of the last Catalan Open and International Gelders Open. That's always fun, even though we are each other's competitors. We both want to win but respect each other. Last Catalan Open, I also had the pleasure of playing 36 holes on Saturday with Ailish and I always find that very pleasant. She is nice, plays steady and always a pleasure to play with!
The World Strokeplay is a marathon. Did you have difficulty maintain concentration for the four rounds?
I didn't have much trouble concentrating because of the 4 rounds. You play 18 holes on Friday, 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday again; so that's doable. I mainly had problems with my own game from time to time and sometimes made things very difficult for myself.
What's next Pitch and Putt wise for Esther de Schiffart?
You never know what the future will bring, but I hope to enjoy, with Maurits, this beautiful game for a long time to come. Hopefully there will be many 'nexts' for me. We are playing many international tournaments this year and we certainly want to continue to do so in the future as long as we can.
You wish to thank a few people?
Once again, many thanks to the organizers. Special thanks to Víctor Rodríguez and Maria Escudero Docampo for their help during the weekend and running the competition. Supporters in the Netherlands were able to follow the game well thanks to the live scoring system, so that was really well organized! And many thanks to my traveling companions Maurits Rangkouw, Jop Verheggen, Maurice Möller and Rene Jan Bloem. I forgot to thank you during the speech so I hope I made it up to you this way...!
