The TST Member Tournament Play Thread

[billchao]

I won the net division of the match play tournament. Yesterday was the semifinals and my opponent conceded the round to me on the 2nd hole because he knew he would be unavailable for the final today. I got lucky there and got a bye into the finals. We did end up playing our match as an exhibition and I would have lost. It was the worst round of the tournament for me and I think knowing that the match didn't matter might have been a factor. I'll write up a blog post about the whole experience at some point.

Today I won, 3&1. My opponent and I halved the first three holes much to his credit. I was striping it and he just kept scrambling and hanging in there. We both blew up on the par 3 4th hole but I ended up taking that one by holing an 8-footer for double bogey. I went up 2 after he put two in the penalty area on #5 and promptly gave that hole back by putting my tee shot into the penalty area on #6 by a foot. It's important to note that most of the penalty areas on this course are deemed environmentally sensitive areas and we are not allowed to enter or play shots out of them. So even though I physically was able to play a shot from where I was on #6, I could not, by rule. I followed that by winning #7, making a 25' birdie putt and finished the front 9 3 up after he had some bunker trouble on #9.

I went up 4 by winning #11 (we both sucked on that hole but he missed the putt to halve). On #12 we both hit the green with our tee shots. He hit his first putt past the hole and I lagged mine inside of 4' with an uphill putt for par. His putt for par was too long again, just inside of mine but definitely outside of gimme range. I gave him that one for bogey. I felt at the time, being 4 up, that I didn't want to win the hole because he ends up missing a 3-footer and fourputted or something. I wanted to win the hole by making my par putt. I did not. He probably would have made the putt anyway (he's not me after all, and he made everything in that range all day) but it seemed like the sporting thing to do at the time. He was genuinely surprised I gave it to him, butI felt good about it. Then it almost bit me in the ass as he started to mount a comeback. We halved #13 after he made a great up & down and he took #14 with a long par putt. He also won #15 with a 5' birdie putt. We halved #16 with a pair of bogeys after he put his tee shot in the water and I missed a 4-footer for the win. We got to #17 and I was still 2 up. He hit his tee shot just off the back of the green to an extended apron area short of the back bunker and I put mine on the green pin high but 30' away. He was actually closer so I played first and hit it within a foot for par. He didn't hole out for birdie which sealed the match and ended up making bogey on the hole.

With the pressure off, we both played the par 5 #18 well. He played it as a three shot hole like a normal person and hit it to 8' and two-putted for par. I striped my drive and ended up with a downhill lie to an uphill approach like 180 yards out and gave myself the green light to go for it in two. Thin hooked it into thick rough to the left of the green with a bunker in between and hit a high flop to 4', probably my best shot of the day. Made the birdie putt.