Well it was a new day and I went into it with a good feeling and confident it was going to be a good day. As I mentioned yesterday life is about the story of your life and I had great hope going into today. I shot 3 over which only puts me 12 behind the leader!! Funny stuff!! I can't believe anyone could shoot that sort of score around that course. He had one eagle and 7 birdies, one of which was a two putt birdie on a par four that I also birdied but hit a 2nd shot from 118m out. He drove the green!!! All I can say is the wind must have turned as we played it into the wind.
My day didn't start well, a trend I am not enjoying this year. My first shot of the day hit a tree on the corner of the dogleg and resulted in a lost ball....great start. Given it was the first hole of the day I wasn't too worried about it, made par with the second ball and moved on with a double bogie on my first hole. I played nicely even though I wasn't hitting driver straight enough to get many of the narrow fairways. 7 hole later and 3 birdies saw me 1 under playing the 9th. I hit another good drive I thought, but it found the rough. That is the problem with playing up here and the hope I have of qualifying through q school for next year, having one practice round is really tough. You get the wind of the day in your practice round and when it blows the opposite way in the tournament it is tough to get your lines right off the tee. I hit a few drives today that I thought were perfect only to see them finish in the rough for that very reason. I got a massive flyer out of a horrendous lie in the rough, and I had actually taken more club thinking it wasn't going to come out at all. That left an impossible chip shot and even though I played an amazing shot that had the gallery mesmerised, I missed the extremely fast 9 foot putt for par. I have to say that 3 unanswered bogies around the back nine were frustrating. The first was another flyer from the rough on the 12th after missing a golden chance on the tough 504 yard 11th where I hit a great 5iron to 5 foot. Two great hits on the par 5 13th saw me car the water with my 3 wood for my second shot only to see my ball land on the fringe and bounce into the rough only 5 metres from the pin. A real bad break saw the lie impossible and it only left me with one shot, to explode it out like a bunker shot. Putting for birdie from twice the distance I just was was incredibly frustrating. Par it was and off to the long 263yard par 3. I hit a great 3 wood into the heart of the green only to 3 putt it up the tier for a really soft 4 and move to two over. Two pars on the next two saw me at the tough par 3 17th 2 over. I hit a pretty good 4 iron onto the right fringe but failed to get it up and down across the width of the green, a second soft bogie of the tournament. I played a perfect final hole leaving about 20 foot for birdie up the slope with a little left to right. I hit a great putt only to see it lip out at 90 degrees to the right. As hard as I fought out there, not much went my way on the back nine. I am positive going into tomorrow. I feel I could shoot a low one around there, my wedge game is in great shape, just need to drive it a little better to give myself more opportunities. As I said yesterday I was going to enjoy doing what I do for a job, I was in the fight all day and will be again tomorrow. Learning all the time and will grow on what I learnt today. Tomorrow is my day I am going to own it and dominate the course. Patience and game plan execution will see it happen
2 Comments
Pat Clements
9/8/2011 12:16:36 pm
Hey Matt
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PG
9/8/2011 04:00:45 pm
As the firemen say... "Get down low and go, go, GO! Believe in ya mate - hang in there!
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