Winner Winner!

I didn't make it terribly easy on myself, but I played some great golf today and captured my first winner's check. Flawless ball-striking through the first seven holes gave way to a few erratic shots in the next eleven holes, but my attitude was great and I managed to hit more good shots than bad on my way to a five-under-par final-round 66, which was good enough to capture the Nebraska Open by one shot.

My first bad shot of the day came at the par-three 8th hole where I pulled a five iron into a pond left of the green. I swung momentum in my corner, however, when I calmly dropped on the side of the pond's bank and got up and down for a bogey. I then birdied holes 10 and 13 to carry a two-shot lead into the last five holes. That's where I made things adventurous. While I felt confident and really did trust my routine, I missed the fairway on each remaining hole with the exception of the par-three 17th. Playing from the rough or trees, I scrambled my way to a bunch or pars and even managed a birdie from the trees on the reachable par-five 15th. My scrambling saved me during that stretch of holes, and I iced the victory with a long chip from short and right of the 18th green which I cozied within inches of the back left hole location.

I am very pleased with the way things went today. I felt some nerves but handled them fairly well. I definitely have some work to do as I did hit a few wayward shots, but I feel like I'm really managing my game nicely right now. I'm very excited moving forward.

It's time to keep getting better and go get win number two!