Sunday, September 28, 2014

Ray Torres Fundraiser-The Conclusion

Written on 9-24-14.

I stopped last time at hole #14, so what follows are the final holes.

#15-We had two drives that ended up on the higher and farther tier of this fairway.  One of them was mine, but that was not my intended target.  I was going for the green, but my tee shot curved from left to right instead, a monster of a slice.  From the fairway, Damon and I had decent shots.  They both ended up on the green, but Damon’s approach left us with the best chance for a birdie.  I am uncertain as to who made the putt.  I think it was me.  It doesn’t matter.  We got another one.  Eight under.

#16-Nothing exciting here.  We were on the green, but nobody made the putt for birdie.  Still eight under.

#17-I was telling everyone how Bruce plays this hole every time.  I was certain Dan could get a tee shot up there, but I wasn’t so sure Ron or Damon could.  Anyway, after telling them about how Bruce gets a par or a birdie consistently on this hole by driving it between the first set of trees and then over the second set, I...

gave it a go myself.  I have definitely been fading and/or slicing my tee shots consistently lately, and this was a sweet, high fade.  Halfway there, though, I saw Randy, the owner of Rubio’s walking near the green with his playing partners, two of which were adolescent boys.  I screamed, “Fore!”
    Then I shouted, “Sorry!” but I could see from his body language as he walked over and bent down to look at my ball that he was miffed.  We had no idea anyone was up there.  We were fairly certain they had left to go on to #18, but they hadn’t. 
    I joked that I would be the only one who would not get the included “free” dinner without paying extra now.  Randy had generously donated a steak and potato dinner from his restaurant for the post-tournament meal.  I spoke to him after it was over and apologized again.  He accepted my apology and let me have the included meal without paying extra, though.  Phew.
    Damon made an excellent pitch to about a foot, but then Ron one-upped him with a pitch that got within a few inches.  My drive had ended up just off the green on the front right side.  The pitches were from about 20 feet to a pin that was on the front and in the middle.  Nine under.

#18-My drive was just off the fairway on #3, and we had barely enough room to slip our approach past the left side of the trees from over there.  Damon had the best approach, a high fade that put us on the green in two shots.  I made two eagle putts during this tournament, and this downhill putt from around 40 feet was #2.  We had eagled two of the par fives after this hole, and we went from nine under to 11 under in one hole.

#1-Dan had the longest drive again.  Man, that kid could get his ball to fly far when he made good contact.  Damon got us on the green, but on the far right side, so we chose to use my approach instead.  My approach was just off the green on the left side, and that was where the hole was cut.  We all felt confident with our pitching, and this pitch was closer than Damon’s putt; it ended up being a great call.  Dan pitched one in for our third and final eagle.  We had just earned back to back eagles!  Thirteen under now, but we had one last hole to play.

#2-My tee shot was the only one that ended up on the green.  The hole was in a sucker pin location down on the bottom left.  My ball was in the middle of the green, but it was closer to the bottom than the top.  After three putts, none of us could get the downhill left-to-righter to go in…until Dan gave it a go.  Our final putt fell in for our total score of 14 under.  Dan, who had taken a mental vacation for a portion of the tournament came back when we needed him. 

    I was confident our score would get us to place, and I was feeling even more confident that we might even win the whole thing, but it wasn’t meant to be. Bob Pollock and his team came in at 15 under.  Wow!  Another terrific score!  For a team that was just put together, we did really well and had a fantastic time!  I would play with those guys again any day.  I still have $75.00 waiting for me in the pro shop.  I have no idea what I will get.
    In other news, Belinda and I leave in two days to go visit our children.  Wish it was tomorrow. 

Until next time…

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