thehooded4-44

I have an interesting similar story. I was playing in the championship flight of this two day tournament, the biggest tournament of the year for me personally because of the high level of scratch golfers and low handicappers, who were very capable of firing low rounds themselves. There is a high dollar Calcutta on Saturday night for the top ten and ties and that was my goal, as I had never made the board before. I am playing in a foursome with some very laid back beer drinking five handicappers, great atmosphere for me. I'm not a big fan of the tightly wound low handicapper's whose overly serious nature is a mismatch for their talent. You know the type I'm sure. So we are all having a great time and I am playing extremely well with the exception of a few stray putts. I am +2 through nine and birdie the short par 5 tenth hole, so I am gaining momentum and leading my group by two. We get to the 14th tee and one of the five handicappers, a jovial Fred Funk type, hits a shot into the junk on the right after ricocheting off a tree 30 yards in front of the tips. So we decided to go look for his ball while he re-teed a provisional to save time. We were twenty yards in front of the tree, in the rough, starting our search, which was fifty yards from the tee-box. All I heard was fo-- and i was down. I wasn't quite out but I was knocked silly. My sunglasses and the brim of my hat saved me from taking one to the temple from a rocket at 50 yards. We had a doctor on the course, so when I finally convinced everyone, including myself, I was okay we drove toward the clubhouse to find what hole he was on and ran into him on 18 which was adjacent to the 14th, the hole I was playing. He did the follow my finger test and told me I would definitely need stitches, but, determined not to let the first round in ten years at this particular tournament go to waste, I went back to my ball, a small gallery in tow, including the pro, for safety sake. They were concerned and I was appreciative. So we get back to my ball on the short 410 yd. par four where i had just under 100 yards left. It was foggy but I knocked it stiff to about 8 feet. It was enough to ease the concern of the worried. Fortunately they didn't stick around for my three- putt. I went on from there with a blood covered shirt and hat and walked up the eighteenth fairway to a birdie putt in front of a nice sized little gallery. It was quite an experience to say the least. I made the Calcutta board for the first time ever and the grey golf hat is mounted on the wall reminding me that, don't let your head get in the way of a good round. Golf is 95% mental.