I've been far and wide since the last time I spoke to you, but nowhere more eventful than Korea, a very interesting place to say the least.

It wasn't so much what happened after I got there that made the trip so memorable, but before we even touched down... and we had three attempts before the wheels touched the tarmac... and then it was in Seoul rather than our intended landing on Jeju Island.

Ours was the only plane to attempt a landing on the afternoon we flew in and after two abortive attempts - which to me were both near-death experiences - we finally opted for Seoul as a safer place to enter the country.

I'd never known conditions like them - cross winds of up to 60mph taking the plane into some angles I'd never been in so close to the ground. I'd never known anything like it and definitely the worst I'd encountered with the engines screaming at one stage. There were one or two on board who felt the same. Hopefully it was my first and last experience of such a nature.

Things were definitely safer on the ground although the wind made golf almost impossible one day. It was a pleasure to make new friends through my UPS connections and I also did a couple of meet and greet exercises for them during the week. The highlight was definitely receiving a big birthday cake from them which I had to work off in the gym.

Since then I've had a couple of days in London watching England beat the West Indies and a lot of practice at home.

Now I'm ready for a busy summer starting in Ireland this week. It seems like I've brought the Korean winds with me so it's not going to be easy.

Finally, I have a new man at my side. Billy Foster, my good friend Darren Clarke's long-time caddie and more recently Sergio Garcia's, has accepted my offer of a job and hopefully we'll have a long and successful partnership.