I never shared the story of the final round from this past week's Egolf event at Star Fort Golf Club in Ninety-six, SC. That's a sad deal, too, because it is a pretty good story. By virtue of the fact that I made the cut right on the number, I earned the privilege to be in Friday's first group off the tee. Playing at 8:00 a.m. in a group with just one other competitor, I had a feeling it might be a good day. Despite a strangely poor warm-up session, I felt great all morning, and even though my opening tee shot missed the fairway wide right, it didn't take me long to settle into a solid final round. I missed some greens in the early going, but my short game was spot on, and I even chipped in for an eagle on the par-5 second hole. Though I never had any great looks for birdie the rest of the front nine, I was able to neatly tap in for par on almost every hole. I made my only bogey of the final two rounds with a sloppy three-putt on the tenth hole, but then came alive and birdied four of the last eight holes for a final-round score of 67 (-5). That round moved me up to a tie for 15th place. It felt great to post a good score and move up the leaderboard a little bit!
The most important take-home point that I will remember from last week's tournament is the great birdie that I was able to make on the 36th hole knowing that my chances of playing the weekend were likely hanging in the balance. I try not to let the cut line or other distractions affect my focus heading into each shot, but of course I felt a little more pressure knowing that I was right around the cut line. In addition to that clutch birdie, I'm excited about the way that my new routine is feeling. I did a great job this week of trusting it, and though I definitely took an extra look at my target a few times and still fidgeted a bit more than I would like to, I made great progress and am encouraged by my effort.
I had a good week of practice during the tournament as well. Star Fort featured beautiful bermuda grass greens that were in fantastic shape. I do that vast majority of my playing and practicing on bent grass greens but will play all three stages of Q-school on bermuda this fall, so it was important to me to have a good week of practice on and around the putting surfaces. I definitely did just that. I nailed all of my putting drills this week and completed all of my short game work quite efficiently as well. My short game work and putting drills are definitely doing their job. I
feel like my game on and around the greens is good right now and is
continuing to improve. My ball-striking was a bit off this week and has continued to be through some weekend practice sessions, but I know that I will get that back, so I am very excited about the state of my game and the direction in which I feel like it is going.
I did all of my fitness work this week, too, so I completed all of my process goals. I even went for a couple of runs this week, which is something I hadn't done since hurting my foot three weeks ago, and I'm pleased to say that everything is feeling good on that front. My fitness level is holding steady at a high level. It was a solid week of work, and I am feeling great.
I was scheduled to play this Monday-Tuesday on the Carolinas Pro Tour, but that event has been cancelled due to a lack of player interest. That is just as well because I can now turn my attention fully to the Egolf Tour event this week at Cabarrus Country Club. The event is Wednesday-Friday, and I now have two full days to prepare for it. I'm already excited to play, and you can bet that I'll be ready by Wednesday. Keep it here for all the news throughout the week! Thank you for following me!
No comments:
Post a Comment