Where Did All The Sunshine Go?

I looked at the forecast on Friday night and had a hard time believing it would only get to 65 degrees the next day. Boy, was the forecast right. On Saturday, I teed off at 9:44 and I actually brought a pair of mittens onto the course because my hands were so cold. I also put on an extra layer, meaning I was wearing a mock-turtleneck, polo shirt, and wind-jacket. Just two days prior I was wearing shorts and a polo shirt. It was quite a change and a big adjustment was needed. Wearing that many extra layers restricts the golf swing and I never felt it more than on the first hole on Saturday. I didn't hit any balls to warm up, and my first tee shot was dead into the wind. I had stretched, I had swung clubs to warm up, but my first swing felt like it had been months since I last hit a ball. My shot was pulled left and hooked even farther left. My swing kind of felt like I was wearing a straight jacket.

After that crazy first shot, I warmed up quickly and got into a pretty good rhythm. I made a great birdie on the 14th hole and another one of the 16th. A few pars after that and I had a 70 in round one. That put me in a tie for first.

Sunday's weather was very similar except there were small patches of sprinkles making it feel even colder. I was in the last group and the whole group seemed to feel the pressure of being at the top of the leaderboard. I never really found a rhythm on Sunday. I lost a ball on #6, but managed to save a bogey. Later on #15, I had a one shot lead and I hit my drive in the river and made bogey. The next hole my birdie putt lipped out and my opponent made his birdie. It wasn't a bad stroke, I just miss read the putt. I had the exact same putt on #17 and got the same result. A good stroke with good speed that just didn't break as much as I thought it would and it lipped out. For the day, I ended with a 75 and lost by one shot.

After the weekend, there are a lot of positive and negative things I can take from both rounds. Let me list the negatives first, then I'll make myself feel better with the positives.

• Come Sunday, the swing I had on Saturday had disappeared and I was struggling to find a new one. All year, I've had a difficult time carrying momentum from one day to the next.
• My nerves were shot and I played like I've never been in the situation of leading a golf tournament. At least I wasn't the only one; my whole group was feeling the nerves and struggling to get into a comfortable rhythm.
• I failed to get up and down to save par on #17 despite being 5 feet off the green on the fringe and only 70 feet from the pin. That put me 2 behind with only one to go.

Now the positives:

• My round on Saturday included several quality up and down saves. I've been working hard the last few weeks on my short game and to see the improvement in competition felt great.
• After missing a 5 foot putt on #11 (on Saturday), I one putted 5 of the remaining 7 greens.
• On Sunday, I was 2/2 on sand saves. One was a short short of only 20 feet, but the other one was a long shot around 80 feet that required me to fly the ball at least 50 feet. Just like my short game, I've been working on my sand game and have seen improvement in practice and now in competition.
• I shot under par, which I haven't done in competition very much this year.

Next up: Nebraska State Open From there, I'll travel to Valdosta, GA. That will be an easy trip. Don't be surprised if there's another crazy trip into my mind and eventually Georgia.

Remington Ste Neil Johnson