Written on 6-5-22.
I am watching the U.S. Women’s Open this Sunday, and it’s Minjee Lee leading by…a lot. She is 13 under, and the next player is at nine under. Minjee just hit a marvelous draw off the tee on #10. I am on our bed, resting and catching up on some writing. I’ve been doing that often on Sundays, and it’s a super habit to have.
I must write that our Bisti Writing Project wrote its final chapter in its 18-year story yesterday at Wines of the San Juan. Our leadership team gathered one last time to reminisce, reflect, eat (of course), celebrate, and share our hopes for the future. I will write a post of gratitude soon. BWP has had such a tremendous and positive impact on my teaching career, and it dynamically changed the way I saw myself as a writer. I know many others would say the same thing.
On to golf…
We played again at Riverview this past Thursday, and the weather was incredible. Sunny, breezy, and just a beautiful summer day. I finished up my work at McCoy on Wednesday, so I felt the summer...
freedom, and it was a wonderful feeling. Eric and I drove together, and C.J. met us. I am free. Done. Yeah! Bruce and Melton bowed out, so it was only the three of us.Eric and I went to the range for more than a half-hour before our round, and we chose to ride this time. I thought why not. This is the first round of summer, so let’s enjoy the ride. I’ve earned it.
We chose the Reverse Handicap Game this time, but we added five-point bonuses for the longest drives in the fairway on the par fives and closest to the pins on the par threes. We gave C.J. three strokes a side on the top three hardest holes, and he played from the whites. It was C.J. who made it hard for me to get any points on the front nine.
We tied on the first two holes, and he won the third with his only birdie of the day. That was worth eight points for him. I won the first bonus on the par five #4, but Eric tied my par, so I still didn’t win a hole after getting two pars and a bogey. It wasn’t until the next hole that I won my first points without a bonus, and it was with a birdie of my own.
Riverview Golf Course-Hole #5-Birdie #6 of 2022
I scuffed my driver a bit against the ground on the tee shot with my Wishon driver, so I didn’t get the most out of my distance. I chose to bring the “white knight” just to switch things up, and I wanted to see if it performed better than my Ping. Rather, I wanted to see if I performed better with my other driver. I did on some holes.
My ball ended up behind the 150-yard marker by a couple of yards, but I chose my 6-iron instead of my 7-iron, because the pin was near the back of the green. I remember Eric and C.J. ended up short, so they had longer putts, but mine ended up more towards the middle on the right side.
The putt was still 30 feet or more, but I made it. It just kept rolling and rolling until it went in the hole, kerplunk.
I tied C.J. again on the next hole, and then Eric on the one after that, but I did win some points on the last par five on the front with another bonus and a par.
C.J. and I both had matching 44’s (net 41 for him) on the front. Eric struggled again with a 50.
On the back nine, I won the first hole, and that really helped my score. I got a bogey, but C.J. had some tee trouble, and Eric had an iron swing malfunction and nearly missed the ball completely after a long drive. Since it was the #2 handicap hole, I earned 17 points there, and I continued to earn points up until the last two holes. The final scores were Pat: 61, C.J.: 24, and Eric: 23.
I finally played hole #13 better by staying right this time and out of trouble. I got a bogey, but I was so happy with it.
I lost my tee shot on hole #7, so that was a blow-up hole for me. Then I found the ball on the next hole when we went out to find Eric’s drive. My ball ended up much farther back from where I was looking the first time. The group behind came up all of a sudden, so I chose to just keep moving.
The last two holes were a mystery. I felt tired, but not that tired. If I had scored bogeys on all three of those holes, I would have scored an 84. Ugh. Instead, I got a 96, good enough to beat Eric and C.J., but not good enough for the way I have been playing lately. I wish I had been steady and finished stronger.
Overall, I am so happy with my game right now. I have six birdies, and I didn’t have any at the beginning of the season last year. I have already broken 90 twice, and one time was in gusty conditions.
Coming up, we are playing at Hillcrest on Tuesday with Greg and Mike, and then we have the Robbie Ward on Saturday. James, Kyle, Becca, and Matt will be here, but I will attend the party (Becca and Matt’s belated birthday party) that night. We are planning to see the new Top Gun movie on Friday, and I am looking forward to that as well.
Minjee Lee, not surprisingly, won the U.S. Womens’ Open.
Until next time…
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