Received an email today confirming my 2nd Stage assignment. I'll be heading to Dallas, TX - TPC Craig Ranch. November 15th and 16th are practice rounds and the tournament begins on November 18th.
Thanks to everybody for all the emails and text messages congratulating me on my success in North Carolina. Thanks also for everybody continuing to follow this blog. It was a long week, but I was well prepared for the stress and tactfully managed the difficult golf course. I didn't play my best, but I did play a smart game. Until the last hole, I never forced myself to go for anything - be it a pin or a par 5 in two. Only when I knew I could reach a par 5 in two, did I go for it. Only when a pin was in an accessible spot, did I aim for it.
The course set-up really dictated my approach to each round. During round 1, I quickly noticed that all of the pins were tucked into a corner or placed on top of a shelf. I made the decision to avoid those tucked pins with extreme caution. If I went for them and missed the green - essentially short siding myself - I would be making a lot more bogies and flirting with some double bogies. Placing the ball in the middle of the greens meant I'd have several easy pars and by the end of the week, I figured I would've have rolled in some 20-30 foot birdie putts.
My management of the course helped me get through 4 rounds with no double bogies and get me to the 72nd hole until I had a penalty stroke. With so few birdie opportunities, double bogies would've been round killers. Trying to fight back and make 2 birdies would've forced me to get more aggressive, which would've forced me to aim at some of those tucked pins. One double bogey might have led to 2 or 3 more birdies a round, but most certainly would've led to more bogies and possibly more double bogies.
I played the par 3's 1-under par for the week, which again was due to my course management and club selection. Rarely was I aiming for the pin on a par three. I also rarely choose a club based upon the yardage to the pin. I found the spot on the green that I felt was best to hit it to in order to make an easy par or have a chance at birdie and calculated that yardage. Sometimes it was beyond the pin and sometimes it would be a yardage that would just get me to the front edge of the green - even it the pin was 10 yards onto the green. I ended up with 13 pars during the week and 12 of them were tap-ins. The only one that wasn't was during the 3rd round, on #7. After birding #6, I was first to hit on #7 and misjudged the wind. I forgot the wind was blowing to the right and my shot missed the green right and I had to make a 5 foot putt for par. Every other par was a simple 2 foot (or less) tap-in.
That's a lot of analysis for me.
Neil
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