Oliver Wilson is hoping to hit a perfectly-timed hot streak of form as the former Ryder Cup player arrives at this week\u2019s Kharkov Superior Cup looking to better his runner-up finish in Northern Ireland two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The Englishman was defeated in a play-off by young Dutchman Daan Huizing at the Northern Ireland Open Challenge Presented by Clannah and XJET, but it was nevertheless his best finish on the Challenge Tour since 2004.<\/p>\n
It marks a return to the kind of form which earned him a place in Nick Faldo\u2019s 2008 Ryder Cup team and with this week\u2019s \u20ac200,000 event in Ukraine followed by the lucrative Kazakhstan Open next week, it may have come at the most opportune time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a week\u2019s break after Northern Ireland and did a bit of work with my coach,\u201d said the 32 year old. \u201cThere is a lot of positive stuff to take from the last event. It was nice to play well again and I just want to try and continue that this week, keep doing what I’ve been doing and see what happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be a good two-week trip and it\u2019s a big two weeks, approaching the end of the season and I need to play well obviously. But my game is in good shape so I’m looking forward to the week and hopefully I can do well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last two years have been a struggle for Wilson after losing his European Tour card in 2012 for the first time since earning it via the Challenge Tour in 2004, but he fed off the energy of the big crowds in Northern Ireland and feels like he has plenty of support from golf fans hoping to see him back to his best.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of people following me and pulling for me which helped,\u201d he said. \u201cI have been playing well for the last two months but not getting much from it. Maybe my confidence needed building.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really nice after Ireland, how many messages of support I got. When you \u2018fall off the planet\u2019 as I did, I just work away and nothing changes there but the outside influences disappear a little bit and you don\u2019t hear from a lot of people because they haven\u2019t got a lot to congratulate you on. To have a week like that and see how many people got in touch, it was really nice and meant a lot. That gives you confidence too, to know that people are still out there supporting you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson and Huizing both join a very strong field at the Superior Golf and Spa Resort in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov as the race for the season-ending Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final hosted by Al Badia Golf Club intensifies.<\/p>\n
Andrea Pavan is chasing a third Challenge Tour victory of the season, which would secure the Italian\u2019s automatic path to The European Tour, after his runaway victory at the Open Blue Green C\u00f4tes d’Armor Bretagne last week.<\/p>\n
Fran\u00e7ois Calmels is also chasing a third win of 2013 while nine more 2013 winners on the Challenge Tour schedule are present for the first major professional golf tournament in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Andriy Shevchenko, the former AC Milan and Chelsea striker, is one of the main attractions this week as he makes his Challenge Tour debut on home soil after making the switch from football to golf.<\/p>\n
The former European Player of the Year, who plays off a handicap of two, is joined by another Eastern European sporting legend in Russia\u2019s Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the former World Number One tennis player who is a member at Superior Golf and Spa Resort.<\/p>\n
Photo: Andreas Meier\/freshfocus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oliver Wilson is hoping to hit a perfectly-timed hot streak of form as the former Ryder Cup player arrives at this week\u2019s Kharkov Superior Cup looking to better his runner-up finish in Northern Ireland two weeks ago. The Englishman was defeated in a play-off by young Dutchman Daan Huizing at the Northern Ireland Open Challenge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t