My latest GTA Amateur Tour event was a major held at Copetown Woods Golf Club. Fifty percent more points are available at majors, so I was keen to do well in order to improve my position in the Order of Merit standings.
Things went quite well through the first eight holes. I hit a nice drive on the first hole from the unfamiliar back tees. I nearly chipped in for birdie on the second hole, then made a very nice putt for par. On the third hole, I played well out of the greenside bunker to salvage bogey. I hit a terrible tee shot on hole #4, a short par-3. A solid pitch shot and a great putt helped me save bogey. I duffed a bunker shot on hole #5, then followed it up with a beauty to get up and down for another bogey. My second shot on hole #6 was from a waste bunker and I did fairly well to get near the green. Sure, I was now in a greenside bunker, but I was able to get another bogey from there. Hole #7 resulted in par and it came in textbook fashion. I hit the green on this par-3, then lagged a putt near the hole and tapped in to finish. After another bogey on the eighth hole, I was in good position at seven over par.
Unfortunately, the ninth hole was a disaster. I pulled my drive straight off the tee and watched it bounce repeatedly along the driveway parallel to the fairway. I managed to find the ball in some long fescue, 300 yards from the teeing ground, but it was a gnarly lie and I decided to declare the ball unplayable. I was able to drop in a good spot after the penalty, but I had a blind shot to the green and was very unsure about the distance. I figured an 80% sand wedge would get me there. In hindsight, 90% would have been better, as I was a yard short of carrying a bunker fronting the left side of the green. I barely got out of the bunker, then mis-hit a tricky chip shot to a mound that carried my ball away from the hole. When all was said and done, I scored an 8 for the hole. Terrible!
The back nine started well, with a bogey from the back tees on hole #10, followed by two more bogeys and a par on holes #11 through #13. By this time, my group had been given a red card and put on the clock, since we had fallen off pace a bit. While rushing to make up time, I turned in a triple-bogey on hole #14 and a double-bogey on #15. After #15 we were taken off the clock and I settled down with a bogey on hole #16, a par-5. Lousy putting led to a double-bogey on hole #17, a very short par-3. I finished nicely with a bogey on the final hole.
Except when I was rushing, I played fairly well. Unfortunately for me, the rest of the field played very well. Two players managed to score 79, which is extremely good for the flight I play in (13.2 handicap and above). There were quite a few players in the low and mid 80's, and a whole group bunched together at 90. When the field goes that low, a 95 simply doesn't cut it.
Score: 95
Par: 72
Putts: 36
Fairways: 8
Greens: 3
No comments:
Post a Comment