I guess there is more bad news than good to report right now, but that is hard to believe given how great I feel. I am coming off of a week where I feel like I had a good chance to win an NGA Tour event on a great golf course. I followed up that performance with a head-scratchingly poor day at the Monday Qualifier for this week's Web.com Tour event in Athens, Georgia. Now I'm heading to McCormick, South Carolina, for one of the NGA Tour's "Majors". Good stuff is coming!
It has been well-documented how difficult Cross Creek Plantation Golf Club was for last week's NGA Tour event. After grinding my way to opening round scores of 72, 73, I sat right around 20th place in the field. The course was winning. I got that sucker on Saturday, though. It helps tremendously that I warmed up with the putter in the early-going of the third round, but mostly it was very good driving of the golf ball, solid (at times brilliant) iron play, and a dynamite short game that allowed me to post my third-round score of 66 (-5). That round vaulted me back into contention. I was in the final group for Sunday's final round and just two shots behind the leader. Unfortunately, I never got any closer than that. I had a great warm-up session in the rain Sunday morning, but about 15 minutes before my tee time, play was suspended because the course was too saturated. The rain wouldn't relent, and play never resumed. I was left in a three-way tie for second place. That is my best finish of the year so far, and I am excited about it, but I sure wanted a chance to play for the win. I am still quite pleased, though, with the way my game improved throughout the week and with my nice finish.
Last week's good tournament result is fitting because I had one of the very best weeks of work that I have had all year. I had great practice sessions in all facets of the game. I was especially proud of the way I worked through some frustrating short game sessions and made real strides around the greens. That work showed tremendously during Saturday's round as I converted some high quality up-and-downs. I completed all of my work goals last week, and it felt great. I am going to keep doing that.
The quality of last week's work and play makes my results in this week's Monday Qualifier a bit mysterious. I felt good heading into my 7:40 tee time at the Georgia Club, but my ball-striking was woeful most of the day. I hit a number of un-solid iron shots and never really got much going. I made four birdies and four bogies on a relatively benign track. It was certainly a disappointing performance and a bum result, but I'm not going to let it thwart my momentum.
I am heading on to this week's NGA Tour event--the Savannah Lakes Classic in McCormick, SC. You've never heard of McCormick? Me either, but I hear this event is something special. I am excited for it. I am going to have another great week of work, and hopefully, I can continue my recent trend on the NGA Tour. My last two NGA Tour starts have resulted in a 3rd place finish and a 2nd place finish. I think it's time to continue that pattern! Keep it here for updates from McCormick, SC. Thank you for following me and for your support!
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