DANIEL Brooks has admitted that he needs to improve over the final two rounds in the new year.

The Basildon-born professional golfer finished in joint-30th place at the PGA European Tour’s Joburg Open, which was the final event of 2017.

However, Brooks is looking to show progress in 2018 and has noticed his form drops in the final two rounds of courses.

Brooks said: “I need to start performing a bit better at the weekend.

“I have noticed that I sometimes make the cut and then play not so well on the Saturday and Sunday in rounds three and four.

“I need to get up there and keep myself in contention more often.

“In terms of looking ahead to next year, it is a case of trying to get into the top 60.”

The 30-year-old finished the Joburg Open on eight under par, but it could have been so much better for Brooks were it not for a disappointing third round on the South African course.

Brooks required 66 and 67 shots to finish rounds one and two respectively. As a result, Brooks was able to make the cut.

However, 77 strokes were needed for Brooks to complete round three and 69 efforts was what it took for the Basildon man to complete the fourth and final round.

Brooks ended on 279 shots and he was disappointed not to finish higher on the leaderboard after making such a promising start in Johannesburg.

“I’m not really pleased with where I finished,” admitted Brooks.

“I was doing a lot better in rounds one and two but I am disappointed with my performance in round three.

“Finishing 30th was OK but, having done so well early on, it was not great.

“There was a bigger field than usual as there were 240 competitors there.

“It was played over two courses at Randpark Golf Club and both of the courses were good.

“You had to hit it in the right place off the tee and they were two good courses to compete on.”

Brooks is expecting to return to South Africa for the BMW SA Open next month.

And due to the freezing conditions in south Essex, Brooks is set to spend more time in the gym rather than on the course in preparation for the latest European Tour event.

Brooks added: “I won’t be doing much on the course over Christmas because of the weather.

“I might go to the range once or twice and I’ll play a little bit of golf but I’ll be spending quite a bit of time in the gym.”