Written on 7-20-19.
The dog is in the backyard. The sprinkler guy is working on our sprinklers in the front yard. The television and the Chromecast are working. Moving day at The Open at Royal Portrush is commencing. The laptop is on my lap, and life is good.
Eric didn’t play yesterday. Craig is not improving, so he told me they were looking at hospice care. Sigh. Taking Eric’s place was a new guy named Davis. Shawn invited him to join us when he found out Eric couldn’t play. More about him later.
Back to the round a 1757…
Hole #10-The group that caught us passed us up when we stopped at the cafe for lunch at the turn. For the rest of the round, an older gentleman followed us, but he never pushed us and he even stopped at one hole to practice and that let us get even farther ahead. That helped our round be even more relaxing and just better. It was just the two of us and the course.
On another note, Guy remembered this course as having very little shade (he played it once before), but we discovered it had plenty. It was stinking hot, but we found places to park or stand in the shade on most holes.
Guy’s tee shot went right and into a swampy area again. Mine went left and into a forest. I teed it up again, and my second shot went farther left and into the forest (okay, maybe second shots aren’t always better) again, so it was not a great start on the back nine.
My tee shot ended up...
in a hazard, so it reminded me of when Eric and I played in Cancun. Instead of out of bounds or a lost ball, it was only a one stroke penalty, so I took my drop and went for the green with my utility club. That didn’t work, though, because the grass was thick and the ball was above my feet, so it ended up being a low, pitiful lay-up. I left my approach from the fairway short, so I had to hit a high, floppy shot onto the green to avoid a bunker that protected a front pin. My flop shot worked well, but my ball rolled away from the flag and to the left. I made that 25 to 20 foot putt, however, to save a bogey. A great part of this round was the avoidance of really big numbers, and this hole felt wonderful for not getting a double when I easily could have gotten one, especially after the lousy tee shot.
Hole #11-Using my 3-wood or 5-wood to tee off on most holes worked well, but only because I was aiming way out to the right and hitting draws. This one was no different. It probably drew around 50-75 yards, but it ended up right in the fairway. My 8-iron pushed my ball to the bunker on the right side of the green. I chose to putt out of there, but the distance was not right, so I ended up with another bogey. Guy struggled off the tee again, and the mower guy had to wait until he got his ball eventually to the fairway before he could keep going.
Hole #12-For this short par four, I chose to go for it with my driver. I did my best to get my hands away from my body to prevent another pull, and it worked. My ball was on a great line, and it was drawing towards the left side of the green. Sadly, Guy struggled again by hitting it out of bounds first and then into a patch of knee-high tall grass after that.
My ball ended up in a left side bunker, but it was nearly pin high. I was able to splash it out onto the green, though, and I had a 20 foot putt for birdie. I missed, but I got another par.
Hole #13-This is the longest par four on the entire course, and it’s the second toughest, too, but I managed a bogey with another pulled tee shot, a long approach with my utility club, a pitch from out of the rough with my sand wedge, and a chip with that same wedge to less than three feet. According to the info on the app, “a bogey would feel like a par on this hole,” so I was so pleased to manage a bogey here. It really did feel like a par.
Hole #14-I hit the green on this short par three with my 9-iron, and Guy and I both managed to get a par. Sweet. I was glad to see Guy have some success with the different irons.
Hole #15-My tee shot didn’t look bad. It swerved to the left, but it went past the water over there, and I presumed it would stay dry. We never found it, though, so I took a drop and then struggled to a double bogey, my only high score and double bogey of the entire round.
Hole #16-On this longer par three, my tee shot found the green again, but I was way out on the right side of the green. My first putt was long, and I had been consistently short by around three feet or more on most putts, but this one stopped at a tap-in range right next to the hole.
This hole was also memorable because of a huge, dead, mostly black-colored dragonfly that was near the hole. It was around four to seven inches long and shadowy black. Fascinating.
Hole #17-My 3-wood drew my ball to the fairway one final time, and I had a short approach that required my sand wedge. It came up short, and so did my first putt again, but I made that final putt for yet another par.
Hole #18-This was a hard green to miss; it used to be the practice green, but I took nothing for granted. I chose my approach wedge, and my ball landed left and then rolled left, too, stopping farther from the hole from where it landed. In typical fashion, I left that first putt short again, but I made the four to five-footer for my par with a putt that rolled right over the center of the hole.
Sweet! I finished with a par, and I knew I would have a great score, but I didn’t know what it was yet, because I had entered all of my scores on the app. I was just three over on the front and five over on the back for a 78.
After our round, we hung out in the pro shop, and I did some shopping for Eric and myself. I chose two Oakley hats with the same design, but different colors. We wanted Eric to have something for watching Kody, and he liked it very much and was super appreciative, even though he said loved watching our “loving and sweet dog.”
Because we had free appetizers through the 1757 app, we cooled off and slurped on two draft beers. I had my brother all to myself for an entire morning and part of an afternoon (so selfish), and we discussed a separate trip where we could meet and play golf somewhere else someday.
They messed up the order for the appetizer somehow. It was free rice balls with a spaghetti-type sauce, and we ordered only one, but we ended up with four? I ate two from my order, and Guy had three from one of the extra orders, and then we boxed up the rest for Guy to take home. They were delicious, but I had finished eating my lunch just about an hour before, so I wasn’t super hungry. I wonder if they ate the rest for dinner one night before heading to Europe for ShyShay for her baseball team trip.
That’s it for now. Shane Lowry had the round of his life today at The Open at Royal Portrush, shooting a 63. J.B. Holmes ended with a birdie to get back to ten under for the tournament, but Shane has a commanding four stroke lead heading into Sunday. I want to play like that.
Next time I write, I’ll go over the round at Pinon Hills yesterday where Shawn, C.J., and I took on Davis. If that sounds unfair, it was.
Until next time…
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