Friday, July 9, 2010

Two rounds are in the books at St. Albans CC.  I am extremely fortunate to be playing the final round after posting a pair of 4 over 74s.  My game has been rough the past two days with every club in the bag.  My longest putt I have holed has been from 4 feet.  My only three birdies have come from two putting after reaching the green in two on a pair of par 5s and driving the green on a par 4.  One of the great things about playing at home is that my Dad got to caddy for me today on my back nine.  We were finishing the round today when we were on hole 15.  It was a par 5 and I had 283 to the hole with my second.  My dialogue to him was the only way I am making birdie is by getting a 3 wood on the green and two putting.  It was that bad with the putter.  Well I hit probably the best 3 wood of 2010 on that shot and set up an easy birdie.  It is little things like this that I have to take away from rounds in times when I am struggling.  As I sat in the middle of the fairway on my last hole of the day thinking I needed to make birdie to make the cut, I told myself to breathe and just think about a rhythmic tempo.  The scary thing was as I got over the ball, I was completely unsure where the ball was going to go.  Left, right, high, low?  It sure as heck didnt fly straight.  I ended up blocking it short right in a bunker and made bogey from there.  Due to the lack of quality in the field this week, I somehow still made the cut at 8 over.  If this was a Hooters event I would have missed the cut by a half dozen, so I'm not going to allow myself to pat myself on the back just for making the cut.  What this does allow me to do tomorrow is get another round under my belt competitively.  That is exactly what I need right now.  I can pinpoint my weaknesses under the gun.  That's the best place to do it.  Golf has been a hard game for me here of late and I have been slightly stubborn not allowing it to get under my skin.  This is the nature of what I am doing.  There will be highs and there will be lows.  My absolute worst golf, which was on display the first two days, still allows me to at least salvage something and that is reassuring and proves I'm improving.  I am anxious soon to prove to myself that my best golf allows me to win on the highest level.  Sunday I leave for Cincinnati, Ohio for a Nationwide qualifier.  There are 80 guys at my course for 7 spots.  This is as good an opportunity numbers wise you can ask for in a Monday Qualifier.  I am determined to have a great day tomorrow to springboard me onto a very successful Monday.  If you were to give me the option to win this event this week and fail at the Nationwide Monday qualifier or play poorly this week and successfully qualify for the Nationwide event, I would take the latter every time.  Hopefully I can peak Monday and run the tables next week.  That's what great about golf.  One bad week means absolutely nothing.  The next week could be the best of your life and there are no reprecussions as there would be from a win/loss standings standpoint in other sports.  Good night.

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