Stressful Solid Day in Round 2

I told myself that I wasn't going to worry about the cut as I played the second round of this week's Egolf event at Star Fort Golf Club in Ninety-six, South Carolina. I began the day at even par, but had a fantastic morning heading into my 1:10 tee time for the second round. "Just relaxed play and commitment to my new routine," I urged myself heading into the round. I started on the back nine and birdied holes 11 and 12 after on opening par on the 10th. Maybe it was going to be an easy day I thought. Wrong. After my hot start, I parred the next 14 holes. Many of the pars were of the routine kind as I actually did play quite solidly, but on a few occasions, I had to work hard and convert some important putts in the 5-8 foot range to keep my scorecard blemish free. Even though I was able to keep the bogeys off the card, I couldn't help but know as I played my final hole of the day that another par was not going to be good enough to make the cut. Facing a dogleg right par four with thick rough and a stand of pines on both sides of the fairway, I carved a nice faded driver into the fairway and proceeded to hit a hard pitching wedge to six feet. I was directly above the hole and faced a scary looking putt. I had completed my six-footer drill during my morning practice session, and I drew from that experience to calmly (somewhat calmly, anyway) roll the putt right into the middle of the hole. The closing birdie gave me a three-under-par round of 69 and allowed me to make the cut right on the number.

Obviously making cuts is not my goal. I expect to be in contention and winning Egolf events, but I am proud of the way that I finished today and know that I can draw on that experience in positive ways moving forward.

The fall events on the Egolf Tour (of which this is the first) are all 54-hole events, so tomorrow will be the final round. I really like this golf course and feel like I'm ready to play a very good round on it, so maybe I will post a good number and shoot up the final-day leaderboard. I know that I will continue to have a good mindset and work on ingraining my new pre-shot routine. Things are feeling good! Come back for a final-round report in the evening. Thank you for keeping up with me!