The Club Championship, 2009
I haven't exactly been playing that well this year. I'm about a solid 4 handicap right now so I shoot something between 75-82 on a pretty consistent basis.
At our club, the Championship is a pretty cool event. They naturally have flights of golfers like all clubs do and we the lower handicappers have the 'open' flight in which to do battle. We also have a few really good players in Open Flight so it's nearly always competitive. That said, the same guy has won it the last 3 years (I think) and he's awfully good and consistent. Mike is a level above in terms of his play, truly. So effectively one of us 'low' handicappers has to play his ass off to beat this guy.
We play the Championship as a 3-round event over a long weekend, and we get lots of players out to play typically. It's a great event, very well supported and very fun. It's not often hackers like myself have people watching us play but people do follow the open flight in this tourney and coming in to the 18th on the final day in front of what seemed like 100+ people is certainly an experience.
Round 1 I started off badly getting to +4 thru 5 but held on to finish 40, then had an OK back nine to shoot 38 total 78. This had me in T2 position -- it was a tough day for the field except for Mike of course who shot 72. The pins were sick today, absolutely tough and it proved to be a struggle to get down in 2 putts most of the day.
Round 2 I played with Matty and Mike, again starting off badly on the front shooting a 42 but got it back a bit with a 37 back nine for a 79. This left me in T4th, way behind Mike but within 5 of second and 1 ahead of Matt :) We got poured on for at least half the round, totally soaked.
Round 3 I again played with Matt and Jamie K. in the 2nd to last group of the event. I AGAIN struggled on the front nine with a 43 (UGH!) and could only manage a 39 on the back to shoot 82. The pins were pretty tough and the wind was insanely tough. It seemed like every hole was playing directly into a 2-club wind or 2-club cross wind. Insane!
All in all, I played my usual lackluster (this year) game, made very few birdies, fewer putts and struck the ball OK. It was quite unimpressive but good enough for 5th spot alone for the Championship.
As for our usual crew, Matt finished one back of me and Harry shot a very respectable 77 on his final day -- he JUST squeezed inside the cut to make the last day as well which is pretty cool. It's good to have the three of us all making the cut for once. Harry was 3rd lowest score on the final day which is very solid considering the caliber of other players and conditions.
Well that's about it. Again I just beat the other 2 amigos in the clubs but none of us challenged to win it this year. This really is a special golf tournament. I really hope one year I can pull it all together and win it -- it would mean a lot to put my name up on the board with 100+ years of other champions.
At our club, the Championship is a pretty cool event. They naturally have flights of golfers like all clubs do and we the lower handicappers have the 'open' flight in which to do battle. We also have a few really good players in Open Flight so it's nearly always competitive. That said, the same guy has won it the last 3 years (I think) and he's awfully good and consistent. Mike is a level above in terms of his play, truly. So effectively one of us 'low' handicappers has to play his ass off to beat this guy.
We play the Championship as a 3-round event over a long weekend, and we get lots of players out to play typically. It's a great event, very well supported and very fun. It's not often hackers like myself have people watching us play but people do follow the open flight in this tourney and coming in to the 18th on the final day in front of what seemed like 100+ people is certainly an experience.
Round 1 I started off badly getting to +4 thru 5 but held on to finish 40, then had an OK back nine to shoot 38 total 78. This had me in T2 position -- it was a tough day for the field except for Mike of course who shot 72. The pins were sick today, absolutely tough and it proved to be a struggle to get down in 2 putts most of the day.
Round 2 I played with Matty and Mike, again starting off badly on the front shooting a 42 but got it back a bit with a 37 back nine for a 79. This left me in T4th, way behind Mike but within 5 of second and 1 ahead of Matt :) We got poured on for at least half the round, totally soaked.
Round 3 I again played with Matt and Jamie K. in the 2nd to last group of the event. I AGAIN struggled on the front nine with a 43 (UGH!) and could only manage a 39 on the back to shoot 82. The pins were pretty tough and the wind was insanely tough. It seemed like every hole was playing directly into a 2-club wind or 2-club cross wind. Insane!
All in all, I played my usual lackluster (this year) game, made very few birdies, fewer putts and struck the ball OK. It was quite unimpressive but good enough for 5th spot alone for the Championship.
As for our usual crew, Matt finished one back of me and Harry shot a very respectable 77 on his final day -- he JUST squeezed inside the cut to make the last day as well which is pretty cool. It's good to have the three of us all making the cut for once. Harry was 3rd lowest score on the final day which is very solid considering the caliber of other players and conditions.
Well that's about it. Again I just beat the other 2 amigos in the clubs but none of us challenged to win it this year. This really is a special golf tournament. I really hope one year I can pull it all together and win it -- it would mean a lot to put my name up on the board with 100+ years of other champions.
Comments
Hopefully one day I can beat matt too. I bet it feels soooooo good.