10-18-10
On the second day, he (Terry) did not play as well, but he ended up in a playoff for the President’s Cup (low net score) with Paul (last name). Paul won with a birdie to Terry’s par on hole #10. I wanted Terry to win. That would have helped me out because he would have been “taken out” of the flight I was in for playing so well. I stuck around to watch the playoff, and I also stuck around to see where I ended up. I could have left and found out later, but I was curious to see it all right up to the very end...
C.J. did not do too badly. He wished he could have played better, but he shot very close to his handicap with a 91 on the first day and an 89 on the second. I’ve heard that shooting close to your handicap is a good goal for any tournament, so not bad at all for his first stroke play tournament ever!
I was most displeased with my front nine scores on both days. This tournament was such a contradiction for me. As I wrote earlier, I played really well, and I played terribly. A great example of my bad play happened on hole #11 on the first day. I had a nice drive, but my approach was hit so thin it rolled more than it flew, but it ended up on the green. I got a par.
#12 was another example of ugly. I was way right, over near the teeing ground for #9. My pitch was hit thin again and my ball ended up on the left side of the green. Then I had one of the worst shots of the tournament, an awful contact that looked as if my ball whipped around my clubface, but it staggered up the hill and ended up on the green. Thankfully, I didn’t double chip it, but it was clunky. I got a double (which was better than Bruce’s eight on that same hole on the same day), but I made the comment to my fellow players that I did not want to “ugly lucky” my way around the golf course the entire round.
I didn’t. I played really well on the back where my play was more like it should be, breaking 40 for the first time in a long time, and just doing my best to hang close to Terry. Before I brag about my play on the back, though, let me enter my one birdie that came on the front.
Hidden Valley-Hole #6-Birdie #22 of 2010
I used my 7-iron. I thought it was going to go in the hole; it was that well struck, and it was on line the entire flight. I didn’t see it land, though, and neither did my playing partners. When we got down there, I figured out why I didn’t see it land; I found my ball plugged in the muddy grass directly behind the flag, but just off the green. I asked for and took my fullest amount of relief (incorrectly, but okay with my playing partners), dropping my ball a good fifteen or twenty feet away from where it had plugged since it was muddy and wet all along the back left side. Mickey said I should thank him for this birdie since he had been watering so much there. I did. Terry was very nice about making sure I got the full relief I was entitled to. I had about twenty feet to cover for my second shot from off the green, and I chose to use my putter. I left the flag in, and I thought in my head (like I usually do when I leave the flagstick in), “Hit the stick! Hit the stick! Hit that stick!” I hit it. I got a birdie, and it really helped considering my next three scores were awful.
They really were. I went triple, double, double. The double on #9 included the ball in the ditch I mentioned earlier. I shot a 45 on the front. Boooooo!
The back nine was sweet, though. I hit five fairways out of seven. I hit six greens in regulation. I used up only 18 putts, with only one triple-putt on #18, and that was from the left side of the green on the back all the way to the front side on the right, and my first putt almost hit the hole! I earned six pars, two bogeys, and one double. This was a “What did I just do?” kind of round when it was over. It was wonderful to wake up on the other side and find out I had played so well, or at least play like I am capable of playing every time I go out there.
Next time I write I’ll recount day two with some more detail. Until next time…
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