Tournament: D+D REAL Czech Challenge
Venue: Royal Beroun Golf Club, Beroun, Czechia
Hashtag: #CzechChallenge
D+D REAL Czech Challenge preview
Julian Perico is hoping a newfound approach will benefit him when he tees it up at this week’s D+D REAL Czech Challenge at Royal Beroun Golf Club.
The Peruvian, who currently sits 65th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, arrives in Czechia fresh off finishing in a tie for tenth at the Interwetten Open, having been firmly in contention for much of the week at Schladming-Dachstein Golf Club.
Perico posted four rounds in the 60s in Austria, and believes a fresh perspective could help him heading into the latter stages of the HotelPlanner Tour season.
“I had a nice time last week, but it was the processes which set me up for success,” he said.
“A couple of things happened last week which allowed me to gain a better perspective towards this profession, so I am taking it a little bit more lightly, which is fun.
“My grandpa passed away last week so it was weird to be playing golf whilst my family back home were dealing with all of that, but I just had fun and wanted to play for him and, honestly, it lightened me up a lot.
“I understood that there’s so much more than this game and sometimes I go a little too overboard with it. I just decided to turn up and do my job to the best of my ability and not to care about the result.”
Perico will play Royal Beroun Golf Club for the first time this week, and the 25-year-old believes the D+D REAL Czech Challenge will provide a stern test, despite Benjamin Follett-Smith sealing a 28 under par victory 12 months ago.
“A lot of guys like to check what the scores were last year but if the wind blows, it’s going to be a good test,” Perico added.
“My practice rounds have been in some tough weather and today it was blowing 30mph. I think it’s a good golf course and the back nine is a lot of fun.
“It’s a good track with a couple of stretches where you can take advantage and it’s going to be about navigating those well.”
Along with his newfound approach, Perico has been in regular contact with his mental coach as he seeks to become comfortable contending at the top end of the leaderboard.
“My coach always encourages me to let go and I was at the top of the leaderboard the whole week,” he added.
“I just kept telling myself that this is where you want to be, if you keep doing your processes everything will take care of itself.
“I told my mental coach the whole point of this is to not put emphasis on the result. He told me the results shouldn’t give you confidence, it’s the processes and the days you stack up together.”
Perico joins a strong field at Royal Beroun this week that includes Road to Mallorca Number One Renato Paratore, Interwetten Open victor Max Steinlechner and two-time DP World Tour winner, Oliver Wilson.
The first round of the D+D REAL Czech Challenge gets underway at 7:30am local time, with Perico teeing off at 9:00am alongside Irishman Liam Nolan and Swede Ollie Jacobsson.
