Several mental mistakes were my problem this week. After two great weekends in South Dakota I had a setback this weekend and failed to make the cut. I shot 74-75, but that was the worst I could’ve shot.
My first mistake was on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. After failing to qualify for the Nationwide event in Missouri on Monday I drove home and safely reached Minneapolis at 3am Tuesday morning. Despite being exhausted, I didn’t get much sleep because by 9am the sun was beaming into my room and keeping me awake. It didn’t help that my room was at a balmy 85 degrees. I took Tuesday off, didn’t even touch a golf club. I needed one, but I fully expected to get back on the course on Wednesday.
I tried sleeping in again on Wednesday with a little more success, but when I woke up I was too worn out to play a full round. I ended up practicing for about 2 hours and then I repacked my car for this weekend’s trip.
Thursday was a travel day. I arrived in Aberdeen at about 1pm, with a plan to play a practice round. Again, I was too tired to play a full round so I only practiced for an hour. I never even walked the course – and that cost me 2 or 3 shots on Friday.
I never felt comfortable on this golf course. It was 7100 yards with plenty of hazards to hit the ball into. If I had played a practice round, I would’ve known where those hazards were and I wouldn’t have made so many tentative/steered swings.
The final mistake I made was in the 2nd round, hole 15. I had just birdied #14 to get back to even par (+2 for the tournament). I needed to play the last 4 holes 3 under to make the cut, but that was very possible with a reachable par 5, short par 3, and one short par 4. On #15 (the short par 4) I had a gap wedge left to the pin and in the middle of my downswing another professional on an adjacent hole began talking. He was no more that 15 yards from me and it startled me – I hit the shot long and right of the green. The mistake wasn’t that shot, but the next three. On my chip, I was still upset about the pro talking in my swing and I stubbed my chip. Then on my 20 foot putt for par, I was STILL upset about was happened back in the fairway. Making bogey there pretty much eliminated all hopes of making the cut. I remained “on tilt” for the next two holes and bogied 16 and 17.
I’m disappointed that I missed the cut this weekend, but it seems pretty clear why. My preparation was not what it had been the previous two weekends. I was understandably tired after Missouri, but I needed to see this golf course before playing the tournament. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.
Monday I have a tournament in Marshall, MN. I have played that course before. Friday I have the MN State Open – a course that I have played before. Plus I have all day tomorrow to sleep in and get reenergized.
Neil
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