Bummer Ending; Great Golf

I executed almost perfectly today. I hit only two shots that did not follow the vision that I drew in my head. Unfortunately, the second of those two shots was a slightly hooked 3-wood off of the 17th tee which led to a double bogey which has left me one shot short of playing the weekend. I was six under par through 12 holes today, but unfortunately only posted a three-under-par 69, and my one-over-par total of 145 will not get to play the weekend.

Technically, I made the cut this week, but a questionable Egolf Tour rule says that if the cut falls in such a way that the total number of people making the cut is higher than 78, those tied at the bottom do not get to play the weekend and split last place money. This means that I will technically get credited with a made-cut, but don't get to play the last two rounds and will only win something like 70 bucks. The rule is very strange. I understand not wanting such a big field for the weekend, but telling me that I made the cut yet don't get to play is frustrating.

The blame for my frustrations, though, must fall on my cold putter of yesterday and inability to finish the good round I had going today. With that said, I played awesome golf today! I striped my tee shots all day, hit a lot of great iron and wedge shots, and really putted nicely. I played aggressively, but with a great deal of patience and intelligence. I had a chance to shoot a really good score today, but just didn't finish strong. I feel better about my game right now than I have all year.

Here is a cool story from my round today. After opening with two solid holes where I missed a pair of twenty foot birdie putts, I hit what looked like a perfect drive on the par-five 3rd hole. The hole is a dog leg right that requires a fade if I'm going to hit driver. I hit the exact shot for which the hole calls: a busted fade around the corner that should land on the left-to-right sloping fairway and roll in the direction of the hole. My ball however, decided to land on that left-to-right sloped fairway with cut spin and bounce LEFT! When I walked down the fairway, I found my ball just in the edge of a fairway bunker on the left side of the fairway. I was determined get the hole back for that bad break it gave me... and I did! I smoked a hybrid over the lip of the bunker 228 yards to about two feet and made eagle!

Even though I played the last six holes in three over par and will miss out on the chance to play the weekend by a single shot, I can honestly say that I still executed well all day. The bad swing I made on 17 that lead to my double bogey was not good, but other than that, I played great. My other bogey was actually the result of a misjudged yardage on a par three that left me dumbfounded when my ball bounced off the back of the green after flying right over the flag.

My game is definitely in good shape. It's not "close to good shape" as I've been saying for a while; it's there. I just need to get over the hump mentally, and I will be winning tournamentS soon. I get another chance next week on the Tarheel Tour!

I'll give more details and a practice report soon.