I drew an unfortunate tee-time for my latest event on the GTA Amateur Tour. Playing the much-admired Heathlands course at Osprey Valley, I teed off at 7:40 am in the second group of the day. At that particular time, the course was being pelted by rain. Literally two seconds after putting my umbrella down, my club, glove, and everything else was soaked. A stiff wind was driving the cold rain horizontally against my back. It was also very dark. Any shot off the fairway would surely be lost, if not due to darkness then certainly due to the gnarly fescue that covers most of the Heathlands course. Sure enough, I topped my tee shot, sending the ball just past the teeing ground. On a downhill lie in wet rough, with water between me and the fairway, all I could do was chip the ball a few yards ahead to the forward teeing area. From there, I hit a nice 5-wood to the fairway, followed by a good 4-iron and equally good 9-iron to the green. On the water-logged green, I did well to three-putt and escape with a triple-bogey.
At this point, a Tour official notified us that play was being suspended momentarily to allow the rain to pass through. Ten minutes later, the rain stopped and weather was beautiful for the rest of the day. Had they suspended play 20 minutes earlier, my group and the one ahead of me would have teed off under good conditions. As it was, we played a hole under ridiculous circumstances, while everybody behind us escaped completely unscathed. Luck is definitely a factor in golf, and the first two groups got a huge dose of the bad variety on this particular occasion.
After the rain, I settled into a nice groove over the next six holes. The stretch included three pars, two bogeys and one double-bogey. The double came on a par-5 after my approach from 110 yards finished left of the green. I tried a putt through a long stretch of fringe and barely got on the green. Unfortunately, I took three putts to hole out from that position. Overall, my driver was working well and the rest of my game was satisfactory. Given that the driver was working well, I had no hesitation pulling it out on hole #8, a par-4 measuring 372 yards. It ended up being the wrong decision, as I promptly sliced two drives into the trees right of the fairway. For a hole of that length, I could certainly use a 3-wood or 5-wood off the tee, perhaps even a 3-iron. As it was, I tallied a grim total of 10 for the hole.
On the back nine, I played well enough to salvage a respectable score overall. A birdie on hole #10 helped greatly. After hitting the fairway with a 5-wood, I attacked the green with a 9-iron. I caught the ball a tad thin, but it cozied up nicely to within five feet of the pin. I recovered well on hole #14 after losing my tee shot in the right fescue. Hitting three from the tee, I put another ball in the fescue on the opposite side of the fairway. Luckily, I was able to find it. I hit a good out to get the ball back in the fairway, but the final approach from 190 yards was the one that helped me save triple-bogey. I hit the green and made two putts to hole out. The hole could have been much worse.
Pars on a couple of par-3 holes helped me close out strong. After hitting the green on hole #16, a 111-yard carry entirely over water, my birdie putt just missed, leaving an easy tap-in. Hole #18 is also a carry entirely over water, though a little longer at 138 yards. The flag was on the lower tier of the green, a small segment at the very front of the putting surface. My tee shot rolled just past the cup, but climbed the ridge and ended up on the upper tier. I made a very nice birdie attempt on the hard breaker, missing the cup by mere inches. The easy tap-in was a nice way to earn par.
This could have been a good round, if not for the 10 on hole #8. Still, I enjoyed myself and the result was satisfactory.
Score: 95
Par: 71
Putts: 38
Fairways: 6
Greens: 6
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