The final round of the 2016 Deepwoods Championship was played at Grand Niagara, a lovely Rees Jones design. I was already out of contention for the championship, so I was just aiming to have a good round. If you look at my final score of 97, you might think I had a pretty rough day. Actually, it wasn't so. Once again, score was not reflective of the type of round that I had. In fact, I had a lot of positive feelings about the day. There were relatively few bad shots, though they were very penal when they occurred. I hit many more great shots, so I'll try to focus more on those.
I hit only three bad tee shots, all with the driver. The worst of these was the very first shot of the day, which I caught with the heel of the club, sending a dribbler left and into the lake. On hole #13, I caught one solidly, but pulled it well left into the forest. On hole #16, I did the exact same thing. On all three occasions, I had to hit my third shot from the tee. Essentially, I just gave away six strokes.
Aside from those, I was really drilling some beauties off the tee. On hole #4, it was a 260-yard gem that left 150 yards into the green of this par-4. I nailed the green and 2-putt for my first par of the day. On hole #9, it was a 240-yard poke that once again found the centre of the fairway. The best of the bunch may have been on the last hole of the day, a par-5. I'm not sure what the length on that one was, but it was dead straight, with a pretty trajectory. When I had to re-tee, the subsequent drives were also very good. It's a bit frustrating, because you wonder why you didn't pull it off on the first attempt, but alas.
I was also hitting nice irons off the tee. On hole #5, a par-3, I hit a gorgeous 7-iron to the back pin location. Par was the result. On hole #11, a shorter par-3, I hit a pitching wedge close. I was unfortunate that I struck the top of a ridge on the green, sending my ball backwards about 10 feet. Putting up the ridge, I just missed the birdie, sending the ball well past the hole. I burned the edge again on the par putt, settling for a 3-putt bogey.
On hole #14, a short but challenging par-4, I pumped a 3-iron straight into the fairway, leaving me in perfect position to attack the green. My approach found a deep bunker short and left of the green, but a fantastic sand save earned a nice par. The 3-iron also served me well off the tee on hole #17. Perhaps the best iron off the tee came on hole #15, a 170-yard par-3. I hit an absolutely pure 6-iron as straight as can be. I could just feel the ball compressing and exploding on my intended line. I left a great uphill chance for birdie, but had to tap in for par.
For the most part, I avoided the short iron trouble that I had experienced in my previous round at Silver Lakes. There were, however, two notable exceptions. On hole #8, a 510-yard par-5, I found myself just 130 yards from the back, left pin position after two shots. I had split the fairway with driver, then advanced perfectly with the 4-iron. I aimed to the fat of the green with the pitching wedge, but pulled it slightly. The ball hit the slope just left of the green and kicked down and across a deep bunker. I had one foot in the bunker and one out, but the worst part was that I was short sided. I tried to just get on the green, but rolled straight across the other side. My subsequent chip hit the flagstick, but it had too much pace and finished far from the hole. I lipped out the bogey putt, taking a double.
On hole #9, a 370-yard par-4, I was once again 130 yards from the pin in the middle of the fairway after my drive. I grabbed hold of the pitching wedge and this time pulled it severely, landing in the lake. This was the same lake I hit with my first shot of the day and come to think of it, the spot I landed in was very close to where my first ball went in. Spooky! Even with the penalty stroke, I should have finished with no worse than a double-bogey, but perhaps out of frustration, I missed a 3-foot putt and took a triple.
As for my short game, I have no complaints. I managed five 1-putts, largely due to very good chip shots. Unfortunately, these were offset by five 3-putts. Three of these resulted in bogeys after I had reached the greens in regulation. On hole #7 and hole #18 they weren't bad 3-putts – it's just that I was a long way from the cup and curling the lag putts down some steep ridges. The 3-putt on hole #11 was disappointing, as I've already described. Likewise for those on holes #9 and #16.
Score: 97
Putts: 36
Fairways: 7
Greens: 6
Penalties: 6
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