The Blue Moon Championship - CC-B Spoilers
Jan 1, 2016 7:10:09 GMT -5
roblandon and dh-nufc like this
Post by hmammoth on Jan 1, 2016 7:10:09 GMT -5
I got off to a perfect start on round four, middle of fairway, middle of green, middle of cup to go two under after one. It felt great to start with a eagle but I needed to put that completely out of my mind. There is a long way to go yet, and with the Sunday setup, errors are likely to follow. The smart plan of action would be to play safe, to make sure of par and hopefully pick up birdie along the way. Easier said than done, I know temptation will get in the way at some stage and mistakes will follow. Still, it's a good start. The first mistake came on the very next hole when I found the bunker with my approach, I was not plugged though so I did have a shot, what I did not expect was that shot to drop in for birdie, three under par. I pushed my luck to far on the third, again failing to find the green, a poor chip left me with a long par putt, it went close but not close enough, two under par. My first par of the round came on the fourth, again a poor approach,I did have a birdie putt but left it short, a disappointing hole to be honest, I left a stroke behind there. My luck had officially deserted me, for the second hole in a row, one ball rotation short of dropping. These shots could end up proving very costly. I finally pulled one back on the sixth, a good approach left me with a make able putt, although a scary one, a miss might have traveled a good distance away, thankfully it dropped. I went four under on the seventh, a tricky midrange putt, I got the line spot on, again I hit it to hard so a miss might have been disastrous but it dropped. The next hole was the exact same, same distance putt, same ammount of break, same result, five under. The front nine finished with par, a par I was grateful to take after a couple of poor shots. A exciting front nine, I could have been a couple of shots better or a couple of shots worse, but more than happy with five under.
While I had a dream start to the front nine, it was a nightmare start to the back nine. It should not have been, I just had brain freeze, my par putt was not hard, I can't explain what I done, it was like i was a spectator watching bad golf, it was simply just terrible play and two dropped shots. I have to admit, it shook me to the core, on the next hole I started second guessing every shot, the result, a par when birdie was possible. That top ten was slipping away. I lost all focus, I was fighting just to make par now, a fight I lost on thirteen, down to two under. The battle continued over the next couple of holes with my trying to force myself into birdie positions and the course throwing up what it could to stop me, longer than expected roll outs, greens breaking more than I thought. I got a blow in on the sixteenth to go three under but the course was winning. After the final bell rang we both came out punching on the eighteenth, I wanted to find the fairway, the course wanted to stop me. The second shot turned out to be the key shot and it came down to a couple of inches, my ball cleared the fairway bunker by the smallest possible margin and set me up with a eighty yard pitch. The pitch shot was good, the birdie putt straight, four under par. It was not the knockout blow I would have liked but I think we tied on the judges score card.
And this my friends is why I like to see fast and firm on the challenge circuit from time to time. It was exciting, it brought out all the emotions. Despite my great start, I had to fight not to collapse, it was challenging, it brought out the best and worst from me but damn it was fun. Will it give me a top ten, well time will tell. I might be close, it all depends on how others finish up but what ever happens, I enjoyed this week immensely, what more could I ask for.
While I had a dream start to the front nine, it was a nightmare start to the back nine. It should not have been, I just had brain freeze, my par putt was not hard, I can't explain what I done, it was like i was a spectator watching bad golf, it was simply just terrible play and two dropped shots. I have to admit, it shook me to the core, on the next hole I started second guessing every shot, the result, a par when birdie was possible. That top ten was slipping away. I lost all focus, I was fighting just to make par now, a fight I lost on thirteen, down to two under. The battle continued over the next couple of holes with my trying to force myself into birdie positions and the course throwing up what it could to stop me, longer than expected roll outs, greens breaking more than I thought. I got a blow in on the sixteenth to go three under but the course was winning. After the final bell rang we both came out punching on the eighteenth, I wanted to find the fairway, the course wanted to stop me. The second shot turned out to be the key shot and it came down to a couple of inches, my ball cleared the fairway bunker by the smallest possible margin and set me up with a eighty yard pitch. The pitch shot was good, the birdie putt straight, four under par. It was not the knockout blow I would have liked but I think we tied on the judges score card.
And this my friends is why I like to see fast and firm on the challenge circuit from time to time. It was exciting, it brought out all the emotions. Despite my great start, I had to fight not to collapse, it was challenging, it brought out the best and worst from me but damn it was fun. Will it give me a top ten, well time will tell. I might be close, it all depends on how others finish up but what ever happens, I enjoyed this week immensely, what more could I ask for.