Martina Gillen's Diary:Even for someone with a full card, opportunities are limited on the tour

Having dealt with the disappointment of not making the Ladies European Tour event in Italy at the beginning of last week, it suddenly transpired that I might be required to make a last minute dash to the tournament.

I had started the week, the second in succession, as fourth reserve for the event and with little prospect of making the field in another big money tournament. There are not too many voluntary casualties when there is a substantial prize fund.

However, by the Tuesday evening I was down to second reserve and spent a few hours scrambling around to see if I could get a flight out on the Wednesday morning and still make the tournament, which started the same day.

As it transpired I wasn't required to grab that 6.30am flight and as a baggage handlers' dispute in Italy was delaying flights up to eight hours, it was definitely a blessing in disguise.

I simply wouldn't have made it in time so Claire Coughlan and Rebecca Coakley made up the Irish representation.

Claire managed to pile into a taxi with four other competitors to make the 40-minute journey from the airport to the course and hotel. She didn't make the cut despite the presence of her dad on the bag and, because of flight constraints, didn't get back to Cork until Saturday night. This meant a couple of days practice using the tournament facilities.

Rebecca did brilliantly, particularly her opening and closing rounds and her top 10 finish saw her rocket up the LET standings. She has the happy knack of improving at the weekends and her golf since the start of the season has been very solid.

I've quickly become used to not playing in every tournament on the LET.

At the start of the season I thought I would be able to get into about 17 or 18 events but the reality is that I might only be able to tee it up in 11 events as things stand; this is someone with a full card.

There was some good news in that a new tournament (in Portugal) has been added to the schedule next month and I should get in there. Last week I spent a day up at the Quinn Direct Pro-Am using the practice facilities and then on the Thursday and Friday took myself up to Templepatrick, home of this week's LET tournament.

I like the golf course and believe that it suits my game. It's flat with big greens and it definitely suits my eye. The two rounds were played in the cold and rain so it's probably ideal preparation for this week. There are a couple of things that I needed to work on in terms of my game and without wishing to bore anyone, it's to do with my swing plane.

I've worked hard to correct the fault and thanks to many hours of practice my putting is back on an even keel.

There is an obvious pressure there to make the cut but to be honest I'm not really thinking about that.

What I'm more concerned with is just playing golf representative of the ability I have and knowing that it will be good enough to contend.

Not being able to play in tournaments consistently denies you a competitive edge.

It's not an excuse, just a realisation that it's one more obstacle that I am going to have to get over. Because the tournament is in Ireland, Claire and myself have a shot of playing in the Pro-Am, which would be a good thing.

This week I'll have my brother Wayne (two handicap) on my bag, which will be nice. He knows my game, and perhaps more importantly me, very well and we're comfortable on the golf course together.

He'll be able to read the warning signs if I'm annoyed as he's had years of experience.

I'd love to kick-start my season this week but have the small consolation of knowing that I'm already in the field for next week's event in Holland.

Also on the horizon is the pre-qualifying for the Ladies British Open, a one-round, turkey shoot at the Berkshire GC that looks like offering 15 to 20 places to final qualifying.

With the British Open being staged at St Andrews, on the Old Course for the first time, every one wants to be in that field.

That's further down the track, though, as my thoughts and hopes are focused on Templepatrick and making that first cut.