Patriotic Tournament Winners

7-7-12

    I have great news!  Chris (last name) and I won a golf tournament today.  It was called the Independence or Red, White, and Blue Tournament, and it was very patriotic.  It was red, white, and blue because we played from all three teeing grounds.  The first six holes were a scramble from the blue tees.  The next six were a best ball format from the white tees.  The final six were from the red tees, and those were all alternating shot.  What a great format!  What fun!  Of course, it helped that we won.
    We started on #18 where we...

alternated shots for a bogey.  Then we headed over to #1 for the scramble section from the blue tees where we went par, par, bogey, par, birdie, bogey.  The highlights were my tee shot on #2 (a high 8-iron that landed on the green), Chris’s par on #4, and our birdie on #5.  Chris played all three shots on #4 where he missed the green, but he made a good chip and nailed the putt from about twelve feet.  I didn’t even have to putt on that hole; it was all Chris.  Then he got us just below the hole about that same distance on #5 with three great shots.  I got to putt first that time, and we earned our first birdie.
    For the best ball section of holes, our net scores were birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, eagle.  I got a par on #7, and Chris got a bogey, but we shared the best score with our pops; I got one pop and he got two.  On #8, my par got us a net birdie.  On #9, Chris went from getting a 13 in a tournament last weekend to a birdie, a net eagle!  He was on in two with an 8-iron that drew around the trees to the left side of the green.  He almost eagled it with his putt that came across the green from the left side to the right, but it stopped just two feet above the hole.  From there, he just put his ball on the right line to make his four.  Awesome! 
    I got a par for a net two on #10.  I got another par on #11 for a net birdie.  On that one, my ball fell backwards into the hole after an uphill putt.  It was as if I had put it right on the edge on the front side where it lost its balance and then fell in backwards.  We all laughed.  Then Chris got a bogey for a net par on the difficult #12.
    For the last of the alternate shot holes, we played well enough.  Chris and I struggled with the alternate shot section years ago in a Memorial Day tournament, but we have since improved.  We make a great team taking turns and helping each other out with good shots now.  Chris said he had heard another golfer say that during an alternate shot tournament, players will often hear, “Whack!  Shoot!  Sorry!” 
    On #13, my drive put us right of the hole.  His pitch put us just off the green on the right side.  I chipped it on, and Chris made the putt for par.  We had our worst hole, a double bogey, on the easy par five #14.  Then we got a bogey on #15 when Chris’s putt rolled just past the hole on the left side.  We then got two pars in a row on our final two holes.  We finished strong again, and this time it paid off. 
    We had both earned $25.00 in cash, and I still need to go pick mine up.  We only gained $5.00 since the tournament cost $20.00, but we both don’t care; we won.  Winning golf tournaments is a rare and wonderful thing.  We beat out nine other teams in a small, fun tournament.  Thank you, Chris.  What a great day.