Hartlepool's Graeme Storm relishing '˜home' British Masters challenge, but plays down expectations

Despite the Northumberland course being on the Hartlepool golfer’s doorstep, he admits he should not be considered one of the championship favourites.

His reasoning is simple - he’s not played the course half as many times as the public may think.

“People keep saying to me that they expect me to do well, because I must know the course like the back of my hand,” said Storm.

“That’s definitely not the case.
“The truth is the course might only be 45 minutes away but it is not somewhere I have played all that often.

“People might take one look and think ‘he’s from the North East, so should do well there’.

“While I hope to perform in the tournament to the best of my ability I am not saying I am one of the favourites or will be challenging.

“There is an outstanding field, made even better with the likes of Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy playing, which is a brilliant spectacle for golf fans of the North East.”

He might not see himself as one of the favourites, but there are some positives to having a tournament take place just around the corner.

“It is great not to have to jump on a plane this time. All I have to do is roll out of bed,” joked Storm, who despite his re-emergence with a win in the SA Open in January this year, still lives with his family in Hartlepool.

“All I can do is hope to play well and we will see where that takes me. I am hoping for a good weekend.”

Storm is coming off the back of a positive result in his last outing.

The 39-year-old finished joint third in the Portugal Masters recently, shooting a four-round -15 for a share of the spoils.

And he hopes to take confidence from that performance, and covert that into a solid show at Close House.

“After six or seven weeks injured it was a really positive result,” he said.

“Hopefully I can reproduce that.”