New Career Low

[Fairway_CY]

So, today was the qualifier for the Club Championships. It's divided into 4 flights:

Championship = 0 - 5.9
A Flight = 6.0 - 9.9
B Flight = 10.0 - 15.9
C Flight = 16.0 and Above

My handicap, as seen to the left, is 26.2 so that would place me in the C Flight. I'm over 10 handicap strokes above the 16.0 lower limit for the flight... so I was worried that I may not do very well, but... that's besides the point.

Upon arriving at the course, I find out there are only 12 entries in our flight. That means that they'll have 4 bye's and then it'll be 8, 8, 4, 2 for the next few rounds. So, I get lucky and get paired with one of the guys I played with a few weeks ago in the first round of our county tournament, so I'm a little more comfortable.

Things start out okay, a nice drive down the middle, leaving me maybe 260 to the green (par 5 - uphill all the way). I lay up with a 5 iron and leave myself maybe 100 yards. My pitching wedge goes off the INSIDE of the hosel and I advance it only about 40 yards and dead left. My sand wedge comes up just to the right of the green... I putt on and then 2 putt for an early double. I then settled down and got into a decent groove. Heading to the 9th tee, I'm at 40 for the front... and I figure if I can bogey, I'll have myself a good front side. (The hole typically plays 340 but it was set up to play about 300) Instead, I tee off with my 3 hybrid and top it 30 yards and to the left. I recovered nicely with a 5 iron to about 40 yards from the green... but I flew my sand wedge a bit too far and ended up in the back bunker. I blasted out and 3 putted for an ugly 7 to go out in 47. Not bad for me... but could have been better.

The back started out pretty ugly. My drive on 10 went right... then my 7 iron also went right... about 15 yards to the right, but pin high. I flubbed my pitch... then hit a GOOD pitch, but it got caught by the top of the rough just before it hit the fringe... I then putted on and 1 putted for a double. Tee shot on 11 went dead right into a fairway bunker... then I blasted out with a 5 iron, but it caught a tree. From there, I SORTA settled down. 4 iron and a pitch followed by 2 putts for a bogey... and then the only luck I had all round... my tee shot went left, but I heard it clip trees and then click off the cart path, but nobody saw it. I hit a provisional (dead center - of course... provisional) but when we got up to my provisional, up about 30 yards was my initial tee shot. Got lucky there... and went on to make par. Closed out the round going bogey - par - bogey - bogey - bogey - bogey for a 44 coming in.

47 - 44 = 91

My new career best. Previous career low was 92... also on this course, but nearly 10 years ago.

So - in the '2009 Goals' thread, I said I wanted to play an entire round without making anything about a 7... and I did that today. Only two 7's on my card (1 and 9) otherwise nothing above a 6.

Although I didn't list this as a goal, I finally accomplished playing an entire round with a single ball (Callaway Warbird Plus). So... yeah, I'm pretty happy.

I have to wait until Tuesday when the tournament chairman posts the scores to see if I've earned a bye or who I'll have to play next week... but - I really hope I have the bye. We're supposed to go to Albany for Giants training camp and I don't want to have to forfeit.

Thanks for listening to me (reading my) ramble.

CY

[wedge player]

47 - 44 = 91

congrats man good playing.

[Fairway_CY]

So anyway... I earned the #4 seed in the tournament and that gave me a first round bye. Second round began Sunday and can be played any time between Sunday and Saturday... so my opponent and I agreed to play yesterday afternoon.

It wasn't quite as good a round as I had the previous time out... but I did manage to play fairly well. I began the match 3 up after 3 holes. I had that same lead going into the 7th hole... but I hit a bad tee shot there and my opponent took advantage with a bogey to win the hole. We halved the 8th and then on the 9th, he holed a 25-35 foot putt for par with me sitting 15-20 feet out for my par... I missed my putt and we made the turn with me 1 up.

I choked on the 10th hole... giving him his putt for bogey when I was laying in the bunker hitting my 9th. On the 11th he dropped another bomb for par, taking a 1 up lead on me. I hit a very poor tee shot on the 12th and he scrambled for a bogey while I made double. He was 2 up at that point.

I got 1 back on the 13th hole and then squared the match on the 14th with a par. My tee shot on the 15th ended up in the greenside bunker, and after getting out, I had a 10-12 footer for par which I missed, giving me a bogey. My opponent put his birdie putt to within 2 feet and earned the win on that hole.

16th hole was a tough one as we both hit good tee shots, but his approach ended up on the back of the green, giving him 80+ feet for birdie. My approach landed on the fringe and I lagged it up nicely for my par while he left his birdie attempt 30 feet (give or take) away and then missed the downhill par attempt.

I gave away 17 when my tee shot and the provisional went into the woods, never to be seen again. His tee ball hit the woods on the left and kicked out into the middle of the fairway... so I conceded the hole then. I went to the last hole 1 down in the match.

The 18th is a 340 yard, dog leg left par 4 with a pond down the left side. He pulled his driver and I was hoping for an opening, but he put it down the middle and left himself only about 125 to the hole. I played an aggressive line with a safe club, hitting my 5 iron down the left side of the fairway and leaving me 110 to the pin. His approach hit the green but bounced off the back, so I played a soft pitching wedge, but I pushed it a bit into the greenside trap. My shot out got lucky and hit the rough just in front of the fringe then rolled out to about 12 feet. He fluffed his chip with his hybrid from behind the green and then hit his next chip to about 4 feet. I knew I'd need to make the 12 footer, and I put a firm stroke on it and drained it in the middle to force the match to sudden death.

Back to the first... and he teed off first (more on that in a minute). His ball split the fairway again, giving him about 135 to the hole. My 3 wood found the left side of the fairway and left me about 125 to the hole. He pushed his approach about 7 yards right of the green... and I put mine on the green, but maybe 25 feet below the hole. His chip left him a tough 15-20 foot downhill putt that broke right to left pretty hard. I put my birdie attempt 5-6 feet below the hole and he missed his par attempt, giving himself about 5 feet for bogey. I made my par putt and closed out the match.

It was tough to lose a large lead like that early, but I'd never played match play before and when he started dropping those putts... it put me off a bit. I'm happy with how I came back in the end.

I have a question, though, about match play procedure. We went to sudden death and just like when we teed off... a tee was tossed in the air to determine honor on the 19th. It went in his favor... but I wasn't sure that was the correct procedure since it was a continuation of the final hole which I won... I felt I should have had the honor on the 19th. Any idea on if we played that hole correctly or... ?

Thanks...

CY

[kris]

I'm not sure about match play procedure there but it really doesn't matter now. It sounds like a pretty epic match play you had there and it must feel great to win a match like that. Well done.

[Fairway_CY]

I'm not sure about match play procedure there but it really doesn't matter now. It sounds like a pretty epic match play you had there and it must feel great to win a match like that. Well done.

Thank you! I was very pleased with myself all evening yesterday... making two straight pars is not very common for me. Making them under that pressure lets me know that my handicap can and SHOULD come down. Either way, now I'm focused on the semi-finals.

You're right about it not mattering now... I was just curious for if it should happen again in the future. I hope it doesn't have to come down to sudden death again because it's nerve wracking, but... who knows. CY

[iacas]

I have a question, though, about match play procedure. We went to sudden death and just like when we teed off... a tee was tossed in the air to determine honor on the 19th.

You played out of order. You had honors.

[Fairway_CY]

You played out of order. You had honors.

That's what I figured. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

CY