The first round was brutally hot and humid, and I teed off at 10am, which put me in the middle of it. We were scheduled to play the Woods then the Meadows. My favorite side is the Lakes, which wasn't being played on day 1, and the Woods is by far my least favorite, given several holes that make playing a draw like I do very difficult. My playing partners was a very young employee of the course, and a middle aged guy who just seemed happy to be golfing. On the first hole, I piped a drive down the middle, and hit a sand wedge to about 4 feet. I missed the putt but got an easy par to start things off. I was 2 over after 6 holes before 3 putting the par 3 7th for double, and then bogeying 8 and 9, both from the middle of the fairway. So I went out in 42, after playing what I felt was very good (with 20 putts on the front). The back 9 started off bogey, par, then I made a triple on the par 5 3rd (my 12th hole). I had 115 in for my second shot and missed the green by about a yard to the left, which in turn kicked into a wooded area where I had to take an unplayable lie. Then I chili-dipped a chip, and 2 putted for 8. I alternated pars and bogies coming in until the par 5 9th. I smoked a drive down the left hand side, and only had 185 in from the fairway bunker. The shot was straight uphill so I went with my hybrid and hit it very flush, but a bit right of the green. It proceeded to hit the cart path and kick into what I later found out was a hazard. Before I knew it was a hazard I went through the debacle of playing a provisional from the bunker, where my drop plugged. When all was said and done I had carded an 86, which was complete with 39 putts and 2 penalty strokes. I had amazingly not 1 putted a single green. The reality was that I hit the ball fairly well, hitting 9 of 14 fairways, and 10 of 18 greens. I figured this kind of round ensured I wouldn't make championship flight.
The next morning when I arrived at the course, I found out that the pro put me in championship flight, as the last player out of 10. This immediately made me think I would have to shoot low, this being a 1 day shootout and all. Then I found out the scoring was cumulative, which demoralized me. I was 12 strokes behind the leader, and 3 strokes behind even 9th place. This was amazingly frustrating to me, and I played like it, shooting 42 on the Woods side again, which included some really bad play, and also a 4 putt. Despite this, I was still beating my playing companions, who had all shot 83 the first day. Heading into the Lakes side I just decided to have some fun, and try to shoot a good score on a side I really enjoy. I parred 1, made a good up and down for par on the long par 5 2nd (my first 1 putt in 29 holes). Then I rolled in a 15 footer for birdie on 3. After bogeying 4 and 6 (both long par 3's), I was 1 over on the side. I then parred the difficult 7th, which the rest of my playing partners totally butchered off of the tee. On 8, which is the par 4 with the super elevated tee and the water on the left, I made sure to not hit the water, and aimed way right, shooting my ball into some trees behind a hill. According to the GPS I had 114 to the hole. But it was a difficult shot as I had to go over the hill, and under a tree, on a blind shot. I decided on hitting a very easy 7 iron, and hit a beauty, landing it 10 feet short of the hole and rolling 15 feet by. I rolled in the putt for a fantastic birdie and after parring the 9th, I had closed with a 36 on the very difficult Lakes side. The rest of my group shot an 84, 91, and 117 (I know, how did he shoot an 83 the 1st round??? Makes you wonder). So I had beaten everyone in my group for the 2 day tournament, but I had no illusions about the rest of the field.
The other 2 groups were following me in, and the scores surprised me. In the end I had passed 7 players to finish in 3rd place, and had the low round of the day by 5 strokes!!! For my work I got a $40 gift certificate, which meant I paid $60 for 2 rounds of tournament golf, not terrible at all.
The tourney taught a pretty valuable lesson, one which you would think I would already know. The first was the importance of managing your game throughout a tournament. I know there were 4-5 strokes that I left out there just by being careless with a few shots. The second is to make sure you understand the tournament format from the beginning, and to make sure you speak to the right people to ensure your information is adequate.
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