I was anxious to play the latest Deepwoods event at Blue Springs, since I had never played the course before. On top of that, I was coming off my worst performance of the year at Dragon's Fire just two days earlier. My anxiety was well founded, as I went on to establish a new season worst. It didn't really hurt me in the Deepwoods standings, as everybody struggled to score well at Blue Springs. Nevertheless, it left a bad taste in my mouth.
I had plenty of decent holes over the course of the round. The problem was that my bad holes were blowups. I collected a pair of triple-bogeys and a trio of quadruple-bogeys. The first of these was a quad on hole 2, a 185-yard par-3. I pulled my tee shot and the terrain kicked the ball further left into a lateral hazard. After a penalty stroke and drop, I pitched one on the green. I made a good lag, then added three more putts from within four feet. The greens at Blue Springs have a lot of slope and many pins were located in tough areas.
The next quad was on hole 7, a 381-yard par-4. I hit a perfect 5-wood off the tee, finishing middle of the fairway, 140 yards from the green. Unfortunately, I had a big side hill lie, with the ball well above my feet. I duffed a 9-iron and it finished inside the margin of a gnarly water hazard. The ball was almost waist high when I took my stance, but I thought I could make decent contact. Nope, as the ball travelled five yards and stayed inside the hazard. I decided to take a penalty and attack the green with my fifth shot. On a super sloped green, I made an excellent lag putt, only to then miss from three feet because there was still quite a bit of break remaining.
The last quad was on hole 14, a 366-yard par-4. After a miss hit off the tee, 5-wood wasn't enough to reach the green. My pitch from 60 yards then rolled off the back of the green. I duffed a chip, then went well past the hole. I already knew I wasn't collecting any useful Deepwoods points, so I quickly 3-putt just to get out of there.
As I mentioned earlier, I had many decent holes. Unfortunately, none of them produced par – they were all bogeys. I made a bad stroke on just about every one of them, but recovered with some nice shots as well. On hole 1, I missed the green from the fairway, 140 yards away. Then again, I splashed out beautifully from the greenside bunker. On hole 3, I smacked a tree with my 5-wood off the tee. Then again, I followed up with two well placed wedge shots to have a putt for par. On hole 5, a 146-yard par-3, I hooked a wedge into a pond left. After a penalty and drop, I made a great up and down.
On hole 6, I 3-putt from about 10 feet. However, I hit a great drive and wedge to set up a good birdie chance. On hole 8, I hit a shaky drive and a long iron that smacked a tree trunk and came backwards, stopping beside the 150-yard stick. Facing danger near the green, I hit a great 8-iron toward the flag tucked in the back left portion. On hole 9, a double dogleg par-5, I couldn't get up and down from pin high just off the green. Then again, I played a nice aggressive drive off the tee to cut the first corner. It worked well, considering I had never played the hole before.
On hole 10, I duffed a 3-iron off the tee. I also hit a brilliant approach from 150 yards over a rock outcropping and pond at the front of the green. On hole 13, with lots of room left, I hit a 5-wood into a water hazard right. After pitching safely out, I hit a solid approach and a massive breaking lag putt to within two feet. On hole 16, I hit a brutal bunker shot into the lip, but got lucky when it rolled forward very near the hole. The hole started with one of my better drives of the day. On the last hole, I needed two shots to get out of a bunker. On the other hand, I had a great drive and decent approach.
So that's the way it went. I had an opportunity to put a stranglehold on the Deepwoods championship. Now I'll have to fight the next round, which is at another course I've never played – Heron Point.
Score: 105
Putts: 41
Fairways: 6
Greens: 2
Penalties: 4
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