After a one-week break from golf Chiara Tamburlini is feeling refreshed and ready to go in her home event at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
The 24-year-old rookie tees up as the domestic favourite at Golfpark Holzhäusern sitting fourth in the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit.
Taking last week off to rest and recuperate ahead of the tournament, Tamburlini – winner of this year’s Joburg Ladies Open – is now excited for the challenge as she looks to kick on with the remainder of the season.
She explained: “I had a week off last week. Kind of resting my wrist and my mind to be honest. It was really good to be home for a full week. I honestly took a lot of time away from golf. I think I took five or six days away which was a first this year. But it really helped me and I feel like I’m excited to get back on the golf course. With it being a home event as well, excitement all around!
“I went to a gym quite a lot. My sister graduated high school. So that was a big thing. I went to the hairdressers and got my hair done. We had a party for my sister. And then my boyfriend finished military school on Thursday after six months and came to Switzerland on Friday morning. So I was able to spend some time with him.
“My boyfriend is caddying for me this week and next [at ATS – London]. So that’s going to be good. My parents are coming. Unfortunately none of my sisters can come. But I have a lot of people from my home club [OSGC Niederbüren] coming either Saturday or Sunday as well. So there should hopefully be a lot of people out here.”
The break came after Tamburlini missed three cuts in a row at the Swedish double-header and Ladies Italian Open.
Prior to that, the Swiss star had enjoyed a magnificent start to her debut season winning in South Africa, finishing runner-up at the Jabra Ladies Open, and registering two more top-10s to climb to the top of the rookie standings.
“I’m feeling quite good after my week off,“ Tamburlini said. “The game feels good. I feel like it’s important to know when to take time off. You don’t necessarily get worse when you take time off. Especially the way I’ve been feeling the last couple of weeks. I feel like my issue was not my swing or my putting stroke, it was more my brain. My mind was not in the right spot but after taking some time off, it has healed itself.”
While Tamburlini also feels a weight has been lifted off her shoulders after weeks of talk about the 2024 Olympic Games, where the rookie fell just short following a wonderful month from compatriot Morgane Metraux.
“I honestly think it is [a relief], it’s kind of refreshing,” Tamburlini said. “I was talking to one of my coaches, and he said if you were to write down all the things that already went well this season, you would be quite surprised. Changing into that mindset was honestly quite helpful. I still have a lot of really cool events to come. I get to play in Evian [at The Amundi Evian Championship]. I get to play the AIG Women’s Open, the Scottish Open, Aramcos. There’s a lot of fun events to come and it’s definitely exciting.
“I guess I performed pretty poorly the past few weeks but Morgane [Metraux] played extremely well. She deserved it. She had a rough start to the year which I don’t wish on anybody because it just sucks when it doesn’t go so well. So she really deserved it, she played great golf. That makes it easier to know she really stepped up!”
As this for this week, Tamburlini tees up as one of 14 Swiss players in the field, where all eyes will be on her as her nation’s highest ranked player in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (World No 159).
On the expectations, the rookie said: “This is Elena [Moosmann]’s home course so I think you need to go speak to her! Obviously it’s fairly close to my home but I try not to think about [being the home favourite] it too much. Everybody in this field can win. So I just need to try and bring my A-Game and produce a good finish this week.”
Tamburlini gets underway in her home event on Friday at 9:50am playing alongside South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace and England’s Rosie Davies.
Follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame | #SwissLadiesOpen
