This has been an incredibly productive week for me. A thirty-six hole day on Monday, two days of travel, and some summer thunder storms have caused a little bit of a time cramp in terms of getting all of my work goals done, but with an efficient day of practice on Sunday, I can still do it. I have completed all of my fitness goals this week, and it that feels great. I didn’t let myself get “out of shape” or anything like that over the past three weeks, but I certainly feel much better when I keep to my full fitness routine. In addition to my fitness work, I had some great practice sessions and two very good friendly matches while back home in East Tennessee for a few days. I am now in Wichita, Kansas, where I will play the Monday Qualifier for next week’s Web.com Tour event. On Sunday I’ll have a great day of practice to wrap up a solid week, and I’ll be ready to qualify on Monday!
Here’s a cool story from this past week. I was playing a match at Holston Hills on Wednesday against a fellow named Eric Axley. Axley is a good guy with whom to play because he won on the PGA Tour five years ago, and he is getting his game back to that level, so he really pushes me. I really don’t like to lose to him, so our matches are usually pretty competitive. He got me on Wednesday at Holston Hills, but I was disappointed with the way things ended. I got off to a slow start and he hopped out to an early lead over me. I started playing solidly in the middle of the round and was creeping back into the match, but thunderstorms stopped our play for the day after the twelfth hole. After waiting on the stubborn storm for more than an hour, I conceded the front nine loss and we called it a day. The next day, we played again at a course called Fox Den. This time I got out to the fast start, but he matched me in the early going and opened a commanding lead with very solid play. When I bogeyed the 15th hole, I fell three shots back with three holes to play. But, after being bogey-free and five under par through 15 holes, Axley made a pivotal mistake on the 16th hole. Facing a 210 yard shot to a front pin over water on the par-3, Axley tried to be too aggressive and missed short in the water. With the door open, I charged through. I made par on the 16th and birdied the long par-4 17th to pull even with him. On the long par-5 18th, Axley and I both laid up near the 100 yard marker and faced similar wedge shots into the final green. He played first and hit a decent wedge shot about 12 feet behind the hole. I followed by two-hopping my wedge from 96 yards right in the hole for an eagle. It was a cool finish! I ended up shooting 67 (-5) to his 69. Though I wish I hadn’t needed his mistake on the 16th hole to get him, I’m pumped that I was able to play well enough down the stretch to make him pay for it.
My game is in good shape. I am excited to finish my work week with a thorough day on Sunday and then get after the Qualifier on Monday. I know that I am ready to compete at the Web.com Tour level, and I'm confident that my breakthrough to that Tour is coming soon.
Thank you for following me and for your support! Come back for a report from Sunday’s practice effort and from the Qualifier on Monday evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment