I felt great heading into the tournament. My long-term preparation had been great, and my on-site preparation was equally good. I knew that I was ready. Seven holes into Thursday's opening round, I walked off of the 16th green (my seventh hole of round one) grumbling to myself about what-in-the-world-is-going-on? I had just made a nervous stroke on a five-footer for par and missed to fall to three over par through seven holes. In truth, however, I had executed nearly every shot as planned. Twice, poor decision making (namely, club selection) had cost me shots and one nervy driver swing led to a bogey on my opening hole. As I reached the 17th tee, I analyzed my performance, confirmed that all was still great, and proceeded to play extremely solid golf for the remainder of the round. I made three birdies and zero bogies over my final 11 holes to post an even-par score of 70. It was a great recovery after the tough start, and I am feeling very good.
Though I didn't feel particularly sharp at all times, I was very proficient on the course today. I hit 13 of 18 greens in regulation and felt that all areas of my game were fairly solid. With the exception of the aforementioned nervous stroke early in the day, I putted well, but I didn't make any putts outside of the "should-make-it" range. If I can sharpen my ball-striking a little each day and start to get hot with the putter, I feel like I will do great things.
I have an afternoon tee time on Friday, and I am looking forward to continuing my solid play. Stay tuned for more post-round updates. Thank you for keeping up with me!
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