Egolf Tour Fall Series Event #3

I'm suppose to be playing this afternoon, but Southport, NC has had severe rains for 3 days and play has been "postponed" until Thursday.

The tournament has been shortened to 36 holes (from 54 holes) and we're scheduled to start at 8am Thursday morning. Unfortunately there are more storms in the forecast - most notably Tropical Storm Nicole. She's heading straight for us and is forecasted to hit us Thursday afternoon.

Until I get back on the course, you can check up my updated schedule/results for this past year. I received my Dakotas Tour bonus check last week, so I added that money to my yearly total. In the upper left hand corner of my schedule/results, you can clink the "stats" link to look at my various stroke averages and money total on each tour this year.

Neil

Nebraska State Open- Final Round

I made a great move the last day in Nebraska. My first two rounds were about as bad as I could've played. I hit the ball great in round 1 and round 2, but a few too many mistakes left me with a 1-under par 70 both Friday and Saturday.

On Sunday, things started to click. I still hit it as well as I did the first 2 days, but I made fewer mistakes - actually I only had one mistake (#14). My putter was solid all day, but I did have 3 or 4 putts burn the edge of the cup.

The highlight of Sunday was making back-to-back eagles on #12 and #13. I don't think I have ever made back-to-back eagles in my career. I know I'd never made them in a tournament.

#12 is a 330 yard par-4 which had a helping wind on Sunday. I felt confident with my drive so I aimed up along the o.b. on the left and let the wind drift the ball back to the right. I hit it to 10 feet and made the putt for eagle.

#13 is a 530 yard par-5 which also had a helping wind. I hit a great drive that left me 186 yards to the pin. From there I played an 8-iron safely to the center of the green. The pin was tucked 4 yards from the left edge of the green and anything left of the green would've bounced out of bounds - so playing to the middle of the green was conservative, but safe. I made the 30 footer for my second eagle in a row!

Those two holes weren't my only chances at eagles on Sunday. I had a 10 footer for eagle on #6. Then on #7, I drove it over the green and onto the fringe - resulting in a 60 foot putt for eagle. Finally, on #15 I hit an 8-iron to 20 feet and had my 5th chance at an eagle. The putt on #15 burned the edge, which means I was mere millimeters from having 3 eagles in 4 holes.

In all, Sunday was my an exciting ball-striking day. Considering that it was blowing 15-20 mph all day, makes it even better.

I've got two weeks off before my next event, but in the meantime I'll be moving to North Carolina. I drove to Charlotte immediately after Nebraska, but I have to travel to Arizona to retrieve my possessions that are stored in Phoenix.

Neil

Nebraska State Open Round 1

I made a lot of birdies today, but had too many bogies. Six birdies should result in a score lower than 1-under.

I three putted a few times and hit one drive out of bounds. For most of the day I hit it really well and I made some really nice putts - I just need to clean things up and avoid those simple mistakes.

Neil

Nebraska State Open

This weekend I'm playing in the Nebraska State Open. Follow results here.

Dakotas Tour Championship

We played 36 holes today and the final round of the 2010 Dakotas Tour will be Thursday morning. I shot even par 71 in the morning then made a nice move in the afternoon with a 5-under 66.

In the morning round the greens were extremely fast - we heard they stimped the greens at 14! Besides the speed of the greens, the pins were in difficult positions. Many of the pins were on top on mounds or placed on a knob.

In the afternoon we played with amateurs and they made the pins much more accessible, but the wind picked up. I survived the strong winds, and finished my round with 4 birdies on my last 6 holes. I started both rounds on #16.

There is a rumor that tomorrow the winds will be around 30 mph with gusts up to 50. If the winds blow anything close to that and the greens are anything close to 14 on the stimpmeter, we won't be able to play - the golf balls won't stay on the greens.

Leaderboard

Neil

Wisconsin State Open - 2nd Round

I have putted horribly for 2 days. I had 34 putts in the 2nd round and 33 in the first - that's 67 putts in two days. Through 36 holes I've had 5 three putts! It's pretty easy to figure out why I'm 10 shots behind the leader.

Tomorrow we play 36 holes so I've got plenty of holes to make up some ground.

Neil

Wisconsin State Open

Bad start, but it happened because of my bad attitude. I don't play golf well when I'm angry and frustrated, which I was during most of today's round. I'll need to have a better attitude tomorrow, but luckily I have 3 more rounds to catch up and get back into contention.

Unfortunately the course we're playing this year is not in very good shape. Severe floods tore through Milwaukee about a month ago and this golf course got hit hard. I heard that they completely lost the 17th green - it washed away with the floods! They have since re-sodded, but the green isn't much better than putting on a fairway. The rest of the course shows signs up over-saturation. Many fairways are scattered with brown spots and dead areas - ground under repair is somewhere on almost every hole. Everybody is playing the same course and under the same conditions, but it's disappointing to see mother nature still affecting this course weeks later.

Leaderboard

Neil

Arrowhead Pro-Am - Rapid City, SD

I don't have regular internet this week so here is a link to the leaderboard.

Also check my twitter page for updates.

Neil

Hillcrest Invite - Getting Caught Up

I'm six rounds behind and I'm going to do it alphabetically. Let's flashback to last Friday, July 30th:

Mitchell, SD -
Back-to-Back wins. I won last year in Mitchell, but I also won 2 straight events (Marshall and Mitchell) this year. This year in Mitchell I played lights out for 18 holes. I birdied my first hole - #6 - by making a 16 foot birdie putt. My birdies on 9, 11, 13, and 16 were all 5 foot putts or less. The real fun began on #1. I made a 40 foot birdie putt on 1, a 15 footer on 3, saved par with an 8 footer on 4. On #5, my final hole, I had an eagle putt that stayed on the lip. I tapped in for an "easy" 63.

Fox Run -
Fox Run is one of the easiest courses we play on the Dakotas Tour. It's wide open and they put a lot of the pins in the middle of the greens. My 69 on day 1 was not good. I played in the morning with very little wind and needed to shoot somewhere in the mid-60's. Day 2, I had to battle some wind but played much better. A 6-under 66 put me in a tie for 5th.

Hillcrest GC - (1st 3 rounds)
It's been a great first 3 days at Hillcrest. I've made a lot or birdies/eagles. Both of my eagles have come on #5.

The hole plays about 340 yards when you caught off the dogleg. On day 1, I had a little helping wind. I drove it on the green and made a 15 footer for eagle. On day 2, it was into the wind. I drove it left of the green and had about 52 yards to the hole. I flopped it over a tree, landed it just onto the green, and it just trickled in.

My scores for the first 3 days have earned me some funny money. Each day, this event pays out a little money to the daily low pro scores. I tied for the low round on day 1, then tied for 3rd on day 2. My pro-am team played great on day 2, so I won more funny money there.

Sunday is the final round. Pros begin playing around 1pm. I'll twitter results, but you can also follow them here.

Neil

Hillcrest Invitational - Yankton, SD

I've got some catching up to do - including a victory in Mitchell - but it's late and I have an early tee time. For now, I'm only going to post a link to this week's leaderboard.

I'm near the top after 2 rounds.

I play early Saturday morning and I'll try to update everything that's happened in the last week.

Neil