Hi all, I completed my final round at the Cabarrus Classic yesterday so I thought it would be time for an update.
I finished t29th after rounds of 72, 69, 70. (-5) for the week including 12 birdies.
The 69 was a good round, -5 through 12 I really had it going. I let it slip a little over the closing holes but used good course management to limit the damage to ensure making the cut.
To summarise, I had a decent week but nothing special. I wasn't quite sharp enough on the greens, averaging 30.6 putts for the rounds which is a couple higher than in recent weeks. I had some difficulty adjusting to the Bermuda greens, which I found tricky to read consistently.
Nonetheless my confidence is growing, I am definitely more comfortable on the golf course. I hit the ball better, hitting 80% of the greens in regulation - a big improvement from last week, especially with a sore neck in round 3 (dodgy pillows!). I know I keep mentioning a breakthrough, but with the way I'm feeling, I have to believe it will be sooner rather than later.
So again, an encouraging week overall. I am moving in the right direction for qualification into the Million Dollar Championship Series (A 4 event series totalling $1M in prize money). How many events I will be able to play is yet to be determined, but probably the first and the last of the 4. First place in the final event is $50,000. That would be nice, but ultimately the goal is to stay in the process of what is controllable by me and let other things work themselves out.
My next event will be the Spring Creek Classic, Virginia. 30 July- 1 August.
Thanks for following.
Saturday, 19 July 2014
Thursday, 10 July 2014
Irish Creek
Just finished my second round at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, NC. Thought I would update the blog while it's still fresh in the mind.
Overall a slight feeling of flatness but at the same time optimism coming off a 73 (+2) & 71 (E) this week for the Southern Open. I played well in parts but 3 double-bogeys over the course of the 2 rounds halted my progress.
Again, conditions were pretty favourable, apart from some rain in the second round. Soft greens and little wind made for relatively good scoring.
Teeing off the 10th, I started round 1 with a couple of nice swings and 3 pars on the first 3 holes. I made a mistake on the par 5 13th hitting my 3 wood 2nd shot into the trees left, punched out from there but couldn't save par. I bounced back well with a birdie at the next (30 yard bunker shot to 5ft). But then, my first double of the day came at the par 3 - 15th. After finding the bunker from the tee, I caught too much ball (yes a bit thin!) and found myself in a tricky position putting severely downhill. I left the first short, and missed the next one to walk off with an ugly 5.
I started to fight back on the back 9. I birdied the first after a nice wedge shot, and same again on 4. But then the round came unravelled for the second time at the nearly-driveable par 4 - 5th. I didn't hit the best of tee shots, a little left (blind from the tee) but I thought, along with the members of my group it would be fine. We got down there and unfortunately never found it. I had to go back to the tee and play another and ended up with another damn double! Anyway, I finished with 4 pars and posted a 73. Just a couple of errant shots and costly mistakes at the wrong time. I sat a long way down the leaderboard so I knew I needed something low in round 2 to make the cut.
I was first off at 7:30am this morning which was nice, no wind and fresh greens. I started pretty solid. I birdied the 2nd and the 5th (got revenge!), but bogeyed the par 3 4th. I added a birdie at 7 after a good approach shot and putt to move to -2. Unfortunately this round was to lose momentum on the 9th tee. My tee shot was slightly pulled down the left, actually heading for the left edge of the fairway but caught a tree that overhangs and kicked left down into the water hazard! To be quite honest, not sure how that happened but I had to accept it and move on. Which I did pretty well, but couldn't prevent the double that ensued. After that, I birdied the 10th which I think is a sign of good character and then a string of pars followed for the rest of the back 9, including one bogey at the dreaded 15th!
So all in all this week was a bit of a disappointment but I'm still not far away. +2 for the week with 3 doubles isn't disastrous. I have some more work to do on the long game and if I can keep my putting up to the level it has been, I will get ever closer to that breakthrough that we are all anticipating.
Cheers for reading
Lee
Overall a slight feeling of flatness but at the same time optimism coming off a 73 (+2) & 71 (E) this week for the Southern Open. I played well in parts but 3 double-bogeys over the course of the 2 rounds halted my progress.
Again, conditions were pretty favourable, apart from some rain in the second round. Soft greens and little wind made for relatively good scoring.
Teeing off the 10th, I started round 1 with a couple of nice swings and 3 pars on the first 3 holes. I made a mistake on the par 5 13th hitting my 3 wood 2nd shot into the trees left, punched out from there but couldn't save par. I bounced back well with a birdie at the next (30 yard bunker shot to 5ft). But then, my first double of the day came at the par 3 - 15th. After finding the bunker from the tee, I caught too much ball (yes a bit thin!) and found myself in a tricky position putting severely downhill. I left the first short, and missed the next one to walk off with an ugly 5.
I started to fight back on the back 9. I birdied the first after a nice wedge shot, and same again on 4. But then the round came unravelled for the second time at the nearly-driveable par 4 - 5th. I didn't hit the best of tee shots, a little left (blind from the tee) but I thought, along with the members of my group it would be fine. We got down there and unfortunately never found it. I had to go back to the tee and play another and ended up with another damn double! Anyway, I finished with 4 pars and posted a 73. Just a couple of errant shots and costly mistakes at the wrong time. I sat a long way down the leaderboard so I knew I needed something low in round 2 to make the cut.
I was first off at 7:30am this morning which was nice, no wind and fresh greens. I started pretty solid. I birdied the 2nd and the 5th (got revenge!), but bogeyed the par 3 4th. I added a birdie at 7 after a good approach shot and putt to move to -2. Unfortunately this round was to lose momentum on the 9th tee. My tee shot was slightly pulled down the left, actually heading for the left edge of the fairway but caught a tree that overhangs and kicked left down into the water hazard! To be quite honest, not sure how that happened but I had to accept it and move on. Which I did pretty well, but couldn't prevent the double that ensued. After that, I birdied the 10th which I think is a sign of good character and then a string of pars followed for the rest of the back 9, including one bogey at the dreaded 15th!
So all in all this week was a bit of a disappointment but I'm still not far away. +2 for the week with 3 doubles isn't disastrous. I have some more work to do on the long game and if I can keep my putting up to the level it has been, I will get ever closer to that breakthrough that we are all anticipating.
Cheers for reading
Lee
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
The breakthrough is coming..
Hi all...
Since my last post, I have played in the pre-Qualifier for the Greenbrier Classic (PGA Tour event) and the Monday qualifier (2nd stage if you will) in West Virginia. Course: Resort at Glade Springs - Robert Cobb design, par 71. All bent grass, with a mix of po annua grass on the greens.
The first 18 I played well. I birdied my first hole, after a good wedge to 5 feet. I then birdied the par 5 5th hole, chipping it close on my third shot. A little run of alternating bogeys and birdies left me at -2 through 13 holes. Wedges were the key to my scoring in the pre qualifier, setting myself up with pretty short birdie opportunities all day. I saved a great par at 14 after I pulled my 3 wood in to the trees off the tee. A great wedge to 2 feet at the next hole set up a birdie to move to -3, and then a 15 foot putt at 16 dropped to put me at -4. I made 2 solid pars at the last 2 holes to finish off a 67 (-4). I finished t4th out of 105 competitors and was happy with my days work. So, onto Monday (the final qualifier).
I had a great feeling going into the Monday qualifier. There were only 75 players, and 4 spots available for a place in the Greenbrier Classic. Although a strong field, with a mix of a US Open champion, and several former PGA tour players I fancied my chances given my latest form.
I got off to a slow start, not hitting my best shots. I bogeyed the second after finding trouble right off the tee. But, soon found my rhythm and birdied 4, 5 and 6 to get my round on track. I then hit a great 9 iron to 4 feet at the 9th and was -3 at the turn. In Monday qualifier, you have to remain aggressive. I knew that there were going to be some low scores but I did a good job of staying in the present and not thinking too much about the end result - something everybody has a tendency to do.
I hit a really poor tee shot on 10, but got lucky....could have gone out of bounds but instead I was able to hit a hooked-round-the-trees recovery to the green and made a par. I made another par saver to remain at -3 at the 11th after my wedge went a little too far. Over the last 7 holes, my putter eluded me. I missed great opportunities at 12 & 14 and failed to save par at 15 which put me back to -2. The last 3 holes, I was trying to birdie all of them and post as low as possible but couldn't quite do it. I 3 putted the last for par after hitting the green in 2 on the uphill 550 yard par 5 which put a bit of a dampener on the round.
I finished in a tie for 11th place, 3 shots off the qualifying number at -5. Not the finish I wanted but nonetheless a really good effort and I am happy the way I went about my business. I have now shot 6 consecutive rounds in the 60's in tournament play so I am definitely on the right track.
My next event is next week, back on the egolf tour for the Southern Open. Top 60 on the money list at the end of the season will qualify for the 'Million Dollar Championship Series' I currently sit in 56th position and will look to improve upon that next week.
Thanks for following.
Lee
Since my last post, I have played in the pre-Qualifier for the Greenbrier Classic (PGA Tour event) and the Monday qualifier (2nd stage if you will) in West Virginia. Course: Resort at Glade Springs - Robert Cobb design, par 71. All bent grass, with a mix of po annua grass on the greens.
The first 18 I played well. I birdied my first hole, after a good wedge to 5 feet. I then birdied the par 5 5th hole, chipping it close on my third shot. A little run of alternating bogeys and birdies left me at -2 through 13 holes. Wedges were the key to my scoring in the pre qualifier, setting myself up with pretty short birdie opportunities all day. I saved a great par at 14 after I pulled my 3 wood in to the trees off the tee. A great wedge to 2 feet at the next hole set up a birdie to move to -3, and then a 15 foot putt at 16 dropped to put me at -4. I made 2 solid pars at the last 2 holes to finish off a 67 (-4). I finished t4th out of 105 competitors and was happy with my days work. So, onto Monday (the final qualifier).
I had a great feeling going into the Monday qualifier. There were only 75 players, and 4 spots available for a place in the Greenbrier Classic. Although a strong field, with a mix of a US Open champion, and several former PGA tour players I fancied my chances given my latest form.
I got off to a slow start, not hitting my best shots. I bogeyed the second after finding trouble right off the tee. But, soon found my rhythm and birdied 4, 5 and 6 to get my round on track. I then hit a great 9 iron to 4 feet at the 9th and was -3 at the turn. In Monday qualifier, you have to remain aggressive. I knew that there were going to be some low scores but I did a good job of staying in the present and not thinking too much about the end result - something everybody has a tendency to do.
I hit a really poor tee shot on 10, but got lucky....could have gone out of bounds but instead I was able to hit a hooked-round-the-trees recovery to the green and made a par. I made another par saver to remain at -3 at the 11th after my wedge went a little too far. Over the last 7 holes, my putter eluded me. I missed great opportunities at 12 & 14 and failed to save par at 15 which put me back to -2. The last 3 holes, I was trying to birdie all of them and post as low as possible but couldn't quite do it. I 3 putted the last for par after hitting the green in 2 on the uphill 550 yard par 5 which put a bit of a dampener on the round.
I finished in a tie for 11th place, 3 shots off the qualifying number at -5. Not the finish I wanted but nonetheless a really good effort and I am happy the way I went about my business. I have now shot 6 consecutive rounds in the 60's in tournament play so I am definitely on the right track.
My next event is next week, back on the egolf tour for the Southern Open. Top 60 on the money list at the end of the season will qualify for the 'Million Dollar Championship Series' I currently sit in 56th position and will look to improve upon that next week.
Thanks for following.
Lee
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