Neil P. Johnson: August 2012

This story begins 3 weekends ago in Aberdeen, SD. I played two great rounds of golf and had a two shot lead going into the final round. I struggled throughout the last round and found myself one back on the 18th hole.

The leader was in the group in front of me and after my perfect drive on the reachable par-5, I watched his group finish. I saw him splash a bunker shot onto the green and miss the putt. He tapped in and I assumed he made a par – figured his 2nd shot went into the front bunker and he failed to get up and down for birdie. I hit my 5-iron right to the front fringe and had 30 feet uphill for an eagle. When I got to the green, the scoreboard was behind the green, and it was angled away from me. I glanced at it, saw Peterson on top, and truly thought it still had him at -9. I was at -8 with an eagle putt to get to -10. I got aggressive with my eagle putt and rolled it 6 feet past. I missed the birdie putt and tapped in thinking I had lost my chance at a playoff. Turns out all of my assumptions were wrong. Peterson had bogied #18 to fall back to -8 and all I needed to do was two putt from the front fringe for the win. I had totally focused to making the eagle for the win and made a mistake. After signing my scorecard I had a couple of minutes to wash my face and regroup for the 4 person playoff.

On the first playoff hole, Peterson was the first to hit his approach and he hit it to 6 inches. My approach landed right next to the hole, but bounced to 12 feet. On the green, I missed, and let Peterson tap in for the win. I was crushed.

Once the playoff was done, I realized how big of a mistake I made. To top things off, I had a 3 hour drive to Marshall, MN followed by another tournament the next day. During that drive, I talked to my Dad and my coach (Paul Meyer), but struggled to find cell phone service, which nearly drove me through the roof.

Wow, after 19 holes of golf i`ve got a 3 hour drive and i`ve got every emotion running through me. Anger, shock, sadness, pride, confusi ...
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 23, 2012

...confusion, lonliness, confidence, and doubt.This is one hell of a game i play. #lifeofprogolfer
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 23, 2012

To top things off, i`m driving through the worst cell service, every phone call gets lost. All i can do is text my awful thoughts to twitter
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 23, 2012

**Must not go on rant via twitter**...
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 23, 2012

In Marshall, I played all right and managed a t14th finish.

That weekend, I got off to a great start at Fox Run and had the 1st round lead – something I shared in Aberdeen. After a mediocre second round I was still tied for the lead – something I had solely in Aberdeen. In the final round I got off to a nice start, but stalled out around the turn and finished t4th. So if you’re keeping track, that’s 3 tournaments in 10 days, and I had or shared the lead for the entire weekend in Aberdeen and in Yankton – but I failed to win either event.

The second weekend in Yankton is our only 4-day event and it’s definitely a marathon. The first 3 rounds are with amateurs and then the pro’s get cut before the final round. My first round wasn’t anything special until I birdied 15, 16, and 17. I failed to birdie the driveable 18th, but managed a 3-under 69 without making any putts.

Day 2 is the round that saved my tournament. I bogied my first 2 holes (10 and 11), but battled all afternoon in the wind, and birdied my last hole (9) to finish with an even par 72.

My third round was early Saturday morning, but the wind began blowing early on my front nine. I turned at 1-under and the round started heating up with a 30-foot birdie putt on 12. On 15, I bombed my drive on the 530-yard par-5 to 195 yards. I hit my 7-iron to 20 feet and rolled that putt in for eagle. Two more pars and a birdie on 18 finished my round at 5-under, 67 – but I started feeling confidence in my putting and that was crucial for Sunday’s round.

The final round began with a 2-putt for birdie on #1 and making a 15-foot downhill putt on 2. Two more birdies on the front nine and no real difficulties for pars made me feel really comfortable and confident with my game going into the final nine holes. I’ll admit that I wasn’t thinking about winning, but instead I concentrated on making as many birdies as I could. Plus the final group was 3 holes behind us when we made the turn so I had no way of looking at their leaderboard to see how they were playing. I made another nice downhill putt on 14 for birdie – about 15-feet. I got up and down from the sand on 15 for another birdie and found myself 6-under for the day and -14 overall.

On the 16th green I had a difficult 2-putt, but this is when I found out the leader was at 17-under and 2nd place was 15-under. I started picturing a par, birdie, eagle finish – and that became my goal. I 2-putted on 16 and resisted the urge to hit driver on the awful 17th hole. (17 has a lake all up the right side and O.B. all up the left so everyday I hit 6-iron to stay short of the water and laid up with 5-wood – that left me with a wedge into the green) I misread my 15-foot birdie putt on 17 and settled for par, but immediately focused on making eagle on 18. This 312 yard 4 plays slightly uphill, but it’s great for me because I can hit a hard driver and it’s the perfect yardage. My drive just barely rolled off the right side of the green, but remained on the fringe.

When I got to the green, I walked over to the scoreboard and studied it for a couple of minutes. The other 2 players in my group were in the trees and that gave me the time to check all the scores. At that moment, I was in second at -14, but the lead was still -17. I felt an eagle would assure 2nd place and give me a chance at a playoff because the leader still had to play the difficult 16th and the weird 17th. My chip was about 30-feet, but the fringe was an uphill slope and the first 8-feet of the green sloped severely towards me. I would normally putt from the fringe, but with the slopes in front of my I needed to chip it over the slope. The chip came off perfect and when it got half way there I started a “Tiger stalk” and finished it off with the biggest fist pump of my life. I knew how huge that eagle was and I totally expressed my feelings. Unfortunately nobody got the fist pump on video or camera because nobody expected that shot to be the defining moment of the tournament. I guess the fist pump and reaction will have to live on in my memories.

I signed my scorecard, gave a couple golf balls to the kids helping the score keepers, and walked to the putting green to stay focused on a potential playoff. The putting green is only 30 yards from the 18th green so I figured I would have a up close look as the leader finished. Shortly after getting to the putting green, they announced that the leader had bogied 16 to fall into a tie with me. About 15 minutes later, he bogied 17 and I had a 1-shot lead. I watched him drive his ball just over the back of 18. At that point I went to the range to hit drivers because I knew the playoff would go back to 18. Metzger got up and down from behind to green to tie me at 16-under.

Metzger signed his scorecard as I continued to hit balls. Sometime between him tapping in on 18 and signing his card the head pro told him that there would be a playoff. This was a shock to him - he thought he had won it outright with his birdie on 18. Why? The leaderboard following his group didn’t have my score up to date. It still had me at -14. The scoreboard next to 18 green had me at -16, but nobody told the score keepers in the final group that I had made eagle. What’s really bad is that I made eagle when the final group was on 15 green. They heard a roar, but none of the 50 carts following that last group thought to check out what happened. Then 45 minutes passes by and nobody informs the last group that I finished at 16-under. That was a big mistake by the volunteers keeping score. They had plenty of time to get up to date scores. I also feel like Metzger made the same mistake I made at Aberdeen. He played the last hole great, but failed to have all the information. He thought his birdie was for the win and when he was told of the playoff, it must’ve felt like being punched in the gut. On the other hand, I was on the range staying loose, and telling my caddie, “There’s no freaking way we’re losing this playoff!” We went back to 18, I hit first, and pulled my tee shot just off the left side of the green, but hole high. Metzger pulled his tee shot further left and behind some trees. My ball was on a slight upslope with a great lie – his ball was on some dried up rough and blocked out by one tree. He had to play a bump and run through the rough, but it skidded across the green and into the rough. I chipped up to 4 feet. His birdie chip came out really fast and went to 8 feet, but he made the putt for par. I was left with a 4-foot birdie putt for the win.

All I said to my caddie was, “It’s inside left edge, right?”

“Yup” I went through my routine and knocked it in. What happened after that was somewhat of a blur. I remember hugging a bunch of friends as the emotions started waving over me. I saw my host family and gave them all hugs or high fives. Then came the awards presentation where I received my giant novelty check and got interviewed by a radio host. I don’t remember what he asked or what I answered, but it felt awesome to be holding that big check knowing how I finished my round. Comparing that feeling to what I had just 2 weeks prior while driving from Aberdeen to Marshall made it that much sweeter. That’s a really long recap of what has happened. I’ve played some really good golf, but the rollercoaster of emotions has been quite a challenge.

My next tournament is the Wisconsin State Open. That begins Monday, August 20th.

Neil