Monthly Review: JULY

RESULTS
Cadott CVGA - 72 - T-2nd ($184)
South Dakota State Open - 76-68-69 - T-50th?
Westward Ho CC Pro-Am - 73 - T-30th?
Waterloo Open - 69-68 - T-20th ($599.22)
Marshall Dakotas Event - 70-73 - MC
Minnesota State Open - 69-68-73 - T-4th ($3125)
Wisconsin State Open Qualifier - 71 - 2nd (qualified)
Yankton Dakotas Event - 77 - (did not qualify)

Money Won: $3908.22
Stroke Average: 71.14
+/- Par: -10

Cummulative +/- Par: +5
Cummulative Stroke Avg: 71.78



Summer of Neil continued in July. From Memorial Day through July there are about 65 days. I estimate that I played 75 rounds in those 65 days. Most weekdays I would wake up before sunrise and drive from Minneapolis to River Falls. My tee time was usually 7:30 and Travis Meyer and Andy Rauscher were usually there to join me. The three of us had some great battles on the course, but we always finished by 11:00 am. I didn't want to drive back to Minneapolis so I always tried to find a second match, whether another one at River Falls or at Troy Burne. Lots of times I would finish the second round by 4 and drive home during rush hour. That means most people were working in an office while I was playing one or two rounds of golf. That's a fun day of work.

My tournaments throughout July were successful. I played very consistent golf throughout the entire month. Round 1 at the South Dakota State Open and the qualifying round for the Dakotas Tour event in Yankton were my two worst rounds of the year.

Round one at SD State Open was filled with too much apprehension. I had played so well for a month, but all of those confident thoughts disappeared during the round. My group had two amateurs and it was embarrassing to shoot 76 in front of the amateurs. The next day I redeemed myself and shot a 68. After being embarrassed one day, I felt great after day 2.

The other bad round of July came at the very end. I shot a 77 down in Yankton, SD and fell way short of qualify for the event. I hate to use excuses, but this qualifier was on a Tuesday. The weekend before I played in the Minnesota State Open. After the State Open I drove up to Hayward, WI and qualified for the WI State Open on Monday. Monday afternoon I drove from Hayward to Yankton. That meant from 5pm on Sunday to 9pm Monday I was driving for 11 hours, sleeping for 7, playing golf for 6, and probably eating/relaxing for the remaining 4. I was exhausted in Yankton and after a bad start on the first few holes, I didn't have the energy to recover.

Very disapointing that I failed to qualify for that Yankton event. Really bad news was that after my round I had to drive home to Minneapolis. I was already upset about my bad round, already exhausted, but I had a 6 hour drive home to stay awake for. I got home by 6:30 pm and immediately went to bed. I woke up Wednesday morning around 9am. From Sunday night until Tuesday night I drove approximately 1200 miles and played golf in northern Wisconsin and southern South Dakota. I enjoyed playing all over, but don't like the long travel affecting how I play.

Moving onto the positive rounds for July I have to start with the Minnesota State Open. Going into the weekend I was very excited to play Bunker Hills. It is one of my favorite public courses in the Twin Cities area. I've played it for conference championships and several rounds with my dad. I shot a 3-under par 69 on Friday, which was tied for first. On Saturday morning I was asked to do a radio interview on KFAN. It was my first radio interview and while the questions were that inquisitive, I found a way to make the interview fun. My roommate bet me $20 that I couldn't mention the Phil Segner Memorial Golf Tournament on air. The tough thing about that tournament is that it doesn't exist; in fact, one of my roommates is Phil Segner. I told "Common Man" that when I was 8, the very first tournament I played was the Phil Segner Memorial Golf Tournament.

On day two of the State Open I improved and shot a 4-under 68. That put me in the last group with Dave Tentis and Cane Hanson. Both Dave and Cane blasted the ball way by me on the final day. Both Dave and Cane had caddies carrying their bags. I was definitely an underdog on the final day. I finished tied for 4th because I couldn't hit my approach shots close enough to the hole. Trying to make 25-30 foot birdie putts all day was too much to hope for. Despite struggling for most of the final round, I made a long putt on #18 to tie Tentis and earn an extra $800.

One more highlight of the Minnesota State Open was autographing some golf balls for my cousins. They came out on the final day to watch and I gave each of them a ball that I used during the tournament.

My other good tournament was the Waterloo Open. This tournament has a cut after one day. 170 pros play one round and it gets cut down to the low 60 scores. I figured I would have to shoot 69 to make the cut and after bogeying the first two holes I knew I had some work to do. I birdied the par 5 5th hole and then got another one on the par 3 9th. I eagled the par 5 12th and then birdied the par 5 16th. As soon as I tapped in on #18 for a 69 I safely assumed I would make the cut because the wind was really starting to swirl. Sure enough the afternoon scores were higher and 70 was the cut. On day two I made up some ground with a 4-under 68. I had some wonderful up and down saves during this round and some near miraculous shots behind trees.

Neil