Minnesota State Open

Hello Friends,

This past weekend I played in the Minnestoa State Open and something amazing happened. I started the weekend off with a 2-under par 70. I played well during this round, but struggled on the back nine. My front nine consisted of three birdies and no bogies, but on the back nine I made a few to many bogies and I couldn't make birdies. Coming back Saturday morning I was in a good position to make a move. I started the day 2 shots off the lead and after 3 birdies in the first 7 holes I was making that move. Unfortunately after teeing off on the 8th hole the siren blew to get us off the golf course. After a 4 hour rain delay we went back out on the golf course. After the rain delay I was a different golfer on the course. I struggled with the driver and made a lot of mistakes the last 11 holes. I finished the second day with a 2-over par 74. This left me at even par through 2 rounds, 10 shots back of the leader. Due to the long rain delay, not everybody finished their second round so they had to come back early Sunday morning.

I got up not knowing my tee-time and when I got to the course I found out I probably had 2 hours until the final round started. I wasted sometime and when I teed off I didn't feel anything special about the day. Even through three holes, the round was very boring. I failed to birdie a short par 5 and walked to the fourth tee even par. The next shot turned on a switch and started a run of 10 birdies in my final 15 holes. The shot was a 2-iron on a 220 yard hole. I hit it to less than a foot. It was right at the pin the whole time and when it landed I had a feeling it might dissapear. I ended up about 10 inches right behind the hole. I then birdied the next two holes and finished the front nine with birdies on 8 and 9, good enough for a 31. On the back nine I birdied the first par 5 and then made a nice birdie on number 13 after hitting a fairway bunker shot to 10 feet. I then birdied the other par 5 on that side to get to 8 under. Number 15 was my only test for par all day. I hit a good drive, but it bounced two yards into the rough. I hit it to 20 feet above the hole from there. My first putt ran 5 feet by. I made the comeback and that was the only time I didn't make a birdie or tap in for par. I birdie 16, chipped it to a foot on 17, and walked to 18 tee 9-under par for the day. I hit a bad drive, but had a shot and put the gap wedge to 8 feet. The putt was the only time I was nervous all day. I hadn't thought about what I was shooting all day until I reached the 18th green. I wanted to end with one more birdie, but the putt I had was an eight footer that slid from left to right. Like I had done all day, I took a deep breathe and gather myself enough to roll in the putt. My reaction wasn't a fist pump or a cheer, but rather an exhausted sigh of relief. I finally did it, I finally went extremely low in a competitive tournament. Not only did I beat my career best 65 by three shots, I also beat my career comptetive best 66 by four shots. I had never had a round where you're "in the zone" for 15 holes. My group helped me with that. They didn't get in my way and certainly didn't jinx me by talking about how well I was playing. They simply left me alone and let me play golf.

I finished the day 2 shots back, but I was alone in second play and low amateur for the tournament. It was an amazing day that started off like nothing special, but one shot changed that and turned it into a day I'll never forget.