I blew it. I can’t blame a brain tumor on this one.
Yesterday, Bruce called to ask me to play. I took him up on it immediately. I wanted to play; I was not sick anymore, and I had worked at my school on Friday to begin to get caught up since practice was reduced to film watching for varsity due to so many sick girls on the team, including my daughter. Also, my JV team’s season had ended on Thursday with their last regular season match. We ended up 9-7 on the season. Not bad!
It was the usual gang: Bruce, Reilly, C.J. and me. We chose...
best ball match play, one of my favorites, and it was C.J. and I vs. the father-son team. What a fun match! What incredibly splendid weather for this time of year. I mentioned that it didn’t seem like the beginning of November.
Reilly, we all agreed, would get one pop per hole. He had just had a “line” removed to assist him with his C.F. He was better now, but the last time he played he only did short game while Bruce did all the long shots. We tied on the first hole, but they took the lead on the second. They kept the lead on the third, but we tied it up on the fourth. On the toughest hole, they took a par to our bogey, so they were one up again, but C.J. and I both got pars on #6 to get it back to even again.
On #7, I made a scrambling par after missing both the fairway and the green in regulation, but it became moot when Reilly rolled in a slow downhill par/birdie putt to help their team take the lead once more.
On #8, I practically gave the match to them. I thought it was over when we tied, but it wasn’t over because we still had one hole left to even things up. I was ready to shake hands and everything. I don’t know why I lost so much focus; I was the only one who remembered that Reilly had hit his first shot out of bounds back on #6.
So, it all came down to #9. We had a chance to tie it up, and they had a chance to put it away. If we tied on this hole, they would be the winners.
My drive was excellent, a corner cutter that landed my ball a sand wedge’s distance away. My approach was superb! It flew high over the last tree before the green, landed on the green on the top of the hill and slowly rolled down to less than fifteen feet above the hole, a certain two-putt birdie distance for me.
Bruce struggled. C.J. struggled at the end after two fine first shots. I thought Reilly was struggling, too, and that’s where I really blew it. Before I made my eagle attempt, Bruce missed his putt for a seven, so I conceded his putt for an eight. Then Reilly putted his ball from off the green past the hole a good eight to ten feet. I thought that putt was his sixth shot or so, so I conceded that putt, too. I was being extremely generous with my concessions; I figured there was no way I would not birdie this hole anyway. Even Bruce told him to pick it up.
Well, my eagle attempt missed on the high side by less than an inch. I still gave myself some work for birdie, though. The putt would move to the left, but I did not put enough speed on it. I gasped when it missed below the hole. I still had some work for my par after that with a two-footer that would move to the right. Thankfully, I made that, but it didn’t matter.
It turned out that the putt I had conceded for Reilly was his bogey putt. With his pop, he had earned a par, so we had tied. What a dolt! I had just given the match away. C.J. was in shock. He had already walked off the green thinking it was over. I apologized profusely. I hope he’s still not mad. I will send him an apology e-mail soon.
Yesterday, Bruce called to ask me to play. I took him up on it immediately. I wanted to play; I was not sick anymore, and I had worked at my school on Friday to begin to get caught up since practice was reduced to film watching for varsity due to so many sick girls on the team, including my daughter. Also, my JV team’s season had ended on Thursday with their last regular season match. We ended up 9-7 on the season. Not bad!
It was the usual gang: Bruce, Reilly, C.J. and me. We chose...
best ball match play, one of my favorites, and it was C.J. and I vs. the father-son team. What a fun match! What incredibly splendid weather for this time of year. I mentioned that it didn’t seem like the beginning of November.
Reilly, we all agreed, would get one pop per hole. He had just had a “line” removed to assist him with his C.F. He was better now, but the last time he played he only did short game while Bruce did all the long shots. We tied on the first hole, but they took the lead on the second. They kept the lead on the third, but we tied it up on the fourth. On the toughest hole, they took a par to our bogey, so they were one up again, but C.J. and I both got pars on #6 to get it back to even again.
On #7, I made a scrambling par after missing both the fairway and the green in regulation, but it became moot when Reilly rolled in a slow downhill par/birdie putt to help their team take the lead once more.
On #8, I practically gave the match to them. I thought it was over when we tied, but it wasn’t over because we still had one hole left to even things up. I was ready to shake hands and everything. I don’t know why I lost so much focus; I was the only one who remembered that Reilly had hit his first shot out of bounds back on #6.
So, it all came down to #9. We had a chance to tie it up, and they had a chance to put it away. If we tied on this hole, they would be the winners.
My drive was excellent, a corner cutter that landed my ball a sand wedge’s distance away. My approach was superb! It flew high over the last tree before the green, landed on the green on the top of the hill and slowly rolled down to less than fifteen feet above the hole, a certain two-putt birdie distance for me.
Bruce struggled. C.J. struggled at the end after two fine first shots. I thought Reilly was struggling, too, and that’s where I really blew it. Before I made my eagle attempt, Bruce missed his putt for a seven, so I conceded his putt for an eight. Then Reilly putted his ball from off the green past the hole a good eight to ten feet. I thought that putt was his sixth shot or so, so I conceded that putt, too. I was being extremely generous with my concessions; I figured there was no way I would not birdie this hole anyway. Even Bruce told him to pick it up.
Well, my eagle attempt missed on the high side by less than an inch. I still gave myself some work for birdie, though. The putt would move to the left, but I did not put enough speed on it. I gasped when it missed below the hole. I still had some work for my par after that with a two-footer that would move to the right. Thankfully, I made that, but it didn’t matter.
It turned out that the putt I had conceded for Reilly was his bogey putt. With his pop, he had earned a par, so we had tied. What a dolt! I had just given the match away. C.J. was in shock. He had already walked off the green thinking it was over. I apologized profusely. I hope he’s still not mad. I will send him an apology e-mail soon.
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