Positive approach should serve Eddie Pepperell well at British Masters Masters

England's Eddie Pepperell gestures on the third tee during day three of the British Masters at Walton Heath Golf Club, Surrey. Picture: Steven Paston/PA

Pepperell finished third in the prestigious Players Championship at Sawgrass and also made the cut on his Masters debut at Augusta National but is happy to be back home for his first European Tour title defence at Hillside.

“It was a good experience to be out there but I was more than ready to get home. My body was a bit beaten up from the travel,“ said the world No 37, who missed out on trying to retain his Qatar Masters title in March as he contested the Arnold Palmer Invitational instead.

“The one thing I realised when I spend a lot of time over there is how much I love Europe, all the places we travel to. Listen, the events were brilliant and I really enjoyed testing myself in that environment on those courses.

Eddie Pepperell speaks to the media during the Pro-Am of the Betfred British Masters at Hillside Golf Club, Southport. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA

“I found it challenging, and that was nice. I felt like I was ready for that at this point in my career. So there’s certain aspects of it that I really loved and I felt were valuable for my game.

“But it was just nice to come home and eat proper veg and proper meat and just the things that we have over here that maybe we don’t have over there.

“I’m looking forward to the week, and I’ve a good draw playing with Tommy (Fleetwood) and Stephen Gallacher.”

Pepperell, who won the British Masters at Walton Heath last year with the aid of a spectacular hole-in-one during the first round, feels his game is in better shape now than it was in October.

“It feels pretty close in practice,” Pepperell added. “It certainly feels closer than it did on the Wednesday of the British Masters last year. That was terrible that day.

“The way things can change I never like to feel too confident on a Wednesday because it doesn’t last. I know there’s a bit of weakness at the moment in there somewhere.

“But I feel like around this course with the conditions, I can skirt my way around that and manage to shoot four good scores.

“This week I’m quietly confident, I guess you could say, but I don’t feel like I’ve played well at all this year. I haven’t swung the club as well as I have last year and the year before that.

“So to have done what I’ve been able to do so far over the span of a year, I’ve made the most of it, and that’s a positive.”