Hope springs eternal, as the saying goes, and I had plenty of it entering Round 3 of the Deepwoods Golf Association championship. This, despite having to play at Blue Springs Golf Club, which was the scene of my worst round of golf in 2018. I've been playing well recently, so last year's inaugural visit to Blue Springs was long forgotten.
My tee shots on the first two holes were absolutely abysmal. Driver on hole 1 was a smothered pull that found long fescue and interfering trees. 5-wood on hole 2 was topped off the heel and the ball failed to clear a naturalized area in front of the teeing ground. A great pitch, 8-iron and 2-putt from distance saved bogey on the first hole, but hitting my third from the tee on hole 2 meant I would finish with a triple-bogey.
I wasn't worried, and immediately started playing better. A perfect 3-iron, sand wedge combo gave me a birdie look on hole 3. I just missed, settling for par. Driver, 8-iron, gap wedge led me safely to the green on hole 4, a par-5. My birdie putt was lengthy and I judged the speed incorrectly, finishing well past the hole. I gave the par putt a chance, but finished with a 3-putt bogey. Hole 5 is a short par-3. A lovely gap wedge set up another good birdie look that just missed. It was another tap-in par.
Hole 6 was played decently, but I had trouble with my current nemesis: bunkers. My driver found a fairway bunker on the right, with my ball fairly close to the lip. Fairway bunkers are not really my problem. I hit a sand wedge clean out of there that looked to be the perfect distance. Unfortunately, the ball came to rest in a front left greenside bunker. These are the ones that kill me. I just tried to get the ball on the green, but thinned it 20 yards past. It's unbelievable. I made a great pitch back through some tree branches to a green falling away from me, leaving a chance to salvage bogey. Sadly, I burned the edge of the cup, finishing with a double.
Good play continued with par on hole 7, a tough par-4. I went conservative off the tee, using 5-wood. I found the left centre of the fairway, but had 170 yards remaining to the green. A gnarly penalty area spreads out on the left side, extending right up to the green. There are bunkers and woods to the right, and a hill in behind. I opted for 6-iron and hit a beauty directly at the flag. The ball released, finishing about ten feet behind the cup. I made a really good putt for birdie, but it just failed to drop. I had to be content with another par.
Hole 8 is the toughest hole on the course, but almost all the trouble is on the tee shot. It's through a chute of trees and there is a long forced carry over water to an angled fairway. It's easy to go right in the water or left through the fairway into thick woods. I missed the fairway left, but stopped short of the woods. I was blocked out from attacking the green, so I just pitched the ball to the centre of the fairway 90 yards from the green. These were good shots and good decisions.
All I needed to do now was hit the lob wedge on the green and 2-putt for bogey. Inexplicably, my lob shot came up short, landing in a front bunker. Like I said, this is my nemesis. I unwillingly picked another ball clean, overshooting the green. There is a big dropoff behind this green, so the comeback shot was not easy. I put it on the green, but was very far from the hole. After a 3-putt, I took a score of 8 on this par-4. Wow, it should have been no worse than a 5.
After bogey on hole 9, I made the turn with a score of 48. Nevertheless, I was feeling good. I just had a couple of unfortunate breaks, so if I continued right along, I felt like some good breaks would balance everything out. Driver, 8-iron worked like a charm on hole 10, a tough par-4. A 2-putt par was the result. A good 7-iron found the green in regulation on hole 11, a par-3. Unfortunately, my long lag putt was short, and I needed two more to finish with a bogey. I had the same result on hole 12, a par-5, where I really only made one slight mistake. Driver, 8-iron started things perfectly, but I thinned a lob wedge shot from an uneven lie to left of the green. A good chip gave me a chance for par, but my attempt burned the edge of the cup.
I made par on four of the next five holes, the only exception being a bogey on hole 15, a par-5. That bogey was actually well earned, as my drive was sharply pulled into the trees left and I was forced to take an unplayable. After a drop, my third shot was a perfect pitching wedge to the 150-yard stick. A nearly perfect 8-iron nestled in the rough a yard left of the green, but then I chipped to within a foot and tapped in.
The pars were attributable to good drives and good approach shots. Not always spectacular, mind you, but just good enough. On hole 13, a drive to the right fairway left me with a gap wedge into the green. A fantastic 2-putt was the real highlight. On hole 14, an impressive 6-iron from the left rough got flag high at the back of the green. I had an outside chance at birdie on this one, but par it was. On hole 16, driver followed by sand wedge set up another birdie look, but I blew the birdie putt way past the hole. I had a longer putt coming back, but this one was uphill and I drained it for a nice save. Hole 17 is a par-3 from an elevated tee and my 8-iron was spot on, stopping below the hole at its back pin position. Another birdie chance came close, but tap-in pars are okay too.
I messed up hole 18 by 3-putting for double-bogey, but after adding up my score, I was delighted to have broken 90. I tallied 37 points in the Deepwoods championship – better than all competitors and 7 points better than the closest of the bunch. I'm currently second in the season standings, so I still have a chance to win the title.
Score: 89
Putts: 38
Fairways: 6
Greens: 10
Penalties: 2
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