Weather - nearly perfect all week. Cold mornings during the practice round resulted in a couple of frost delays. Once the tournament started, the temps had warmed up to mid-70s and did not get much lower than mid-40s overnight. There wasn't much wind all week. Even the gusts of wind rarely reached 10 mph. Tons of sunshine all week - it was basically like playing golf in a "bubble", which I'm used to considering what the weather is like in Phoenix.
The greens were pretty consistent across both courses. Sometimes you'll get one course with much quicker green, but both the Nicklaus and Stadium courses were running close to 11. My only "complaint" with the condition of the golf courses was the speed of the greens. I'd prefer the greens to be faster than 11. During both 1st and 2nd stage, my courses had greens running near 13/14, which I loved. Combine the smooth surfaces with the average speed of the greens, it allowed a lot of people to become comfortable with making putts.
Now let's dive in to each round and I'll explain the memorable shots and quickly gloss over the bad ones. Follow along here.
ROUND 1 - Started on #10 of Nicklaus Tournament course and I struck the ball really solid throughout the first day. I was picking out palm trees, signs, edges of home as aim points and I was hitting them precisely. A nice stretch on #2, #3, and #4 gave me three straight birdies. I made a 20 foot putt on #2, chipped in on #3, and made about an 18 foot putt on #4. One more birdie on a the par-5 #7 and I finished with a solid 68 in the first round.
ROUND 2 - My solid ballstriking continued into the 2nd round. Through 13 holes of nearly flawless swings, I was only 2-under par. My birdie on #5 was a 2-putt (the picture above is of hole #5 from the green back). That par-5 has water all up the right side from 200 yards in. The pin was tucked back right and I hit a 3-wood from 250 right into the center of the green - right at the palm tree my caddie and I picked out as target. My birdie on #11 was a little more fun. I hit a bad drive into the thick left rough. I could only advance it about 170 yards, leaving me about 175 to an elevated green and has water left and slopes away on the right. I lasered a 7-iron to about 15 feet. I practiced a putt very similar to that one in a practice round so I knew that it would break right to left more than it looked. I trusted that read and it went in the center of the cup.
Things got really weird on #14 where my drive hit the railroad ties lining a fairway bunker and ricocheted straight right into the deep rough. It took us at least 4 1/2 minutes to find the ball (just under the 5 minute limit) and I had no shot, except to hack it back to fairway. I made bogey and tried my best to shrug off the bad bounce. Two holes later, I three putted #16 for bogey and then struggled to par #17 and #18 to complete my round. The last 90 minutes of that round were exhausting, stressful, and frustrating.
ROUND 3 - Right back out on the Stadium Course for round 3, I hoped to get some revenge for that tough finish to the second round. I hit the ball fantastic, but once again struggled to rack up birdies. However, finishing the third round with a birdie on #9 was a big boost to my confidence. At that point, the tournament was only half finished and I had total belief that I still hadn't played my best golf.
ROUND 4 - Similar story in round 4 as compared to round 2 and 3. I hit it great, but only made 2 birdies. Only made 1 putt outside of 10 feet, but luckily I only made one bogey.
ROUND 5 - Now we're getting into the interesting part of the tournament. My first 10 holes in the 5th round were a struggle. No birdies and I finally ran into a bad streak, which included 3 bogies and a double bogey in a 5 hole stretch. It happened very quick and in the span of about 90 minutes, I went from 5-under to even par with at least 100 golfers ahead of me. I wasn't happy walking from #1 to #2, but it was a long walk so I was able to release the anger and restart the round.
The final 8 holes were a necessary hot streak that got me back into the golf tournament. All week I was waiting for my game to heat up and for the birdies to start flowing. Funny that it took until I played my worst stretch of golf to finally open up and get aggressive.
#2, I hit a 3-wood about 280 yards, and knocked a lob wedge to 3 feet - birdie.
#3, I flagged a 6-iron that landed a foot from the hole, but it released just through the green. I chipped it up to a foot - par.
#4, right before I stepped into the shot I told myself to take dead-aim, and I did - hitting a 7-iron to 2 feet - birdie.
#5, I had 234 to the pin for my second shot (again, this is the hole in the picture above, but this time the pin is front right, hugging the water). I planned to hit a 4-iron at the front left corner of the green. That would leave me a hole-able chip. Instead of playing to the front left corner, I pushed my 4-iron right at the pin. It carried the water by a couple of feet, got a perfect hop and rolled right past the hole to 6 inches - tap in eagle!
#6, awful pulled tee shot, chip to 20 feet, but buried the par putt.
#7, lob wedge to about 8 feet and rolled the putt in - birdie
I had good looks for birdies on #8 and #9, but couldn't knock those in. That was ok because my confidence was back. I shot 32 on the back nine (with a bogey) and felt I would need 32-32 in the final round to earn a full card.
ROUND 6 - Finally I got off to a quick start in a round with a birdie on #10. They moved the tees up on #15 to entice people to go for green in two (it's an island green, surrounded by water). I hit a bad drive into the rough so I had to lay-up. Turned out that I was lucky because both of my playing competitors hit their 2nd shots into the water. I wedged my 3rd shot to 12 feet and made the putt. My putter warmed up more on the next hole with an 18 footer for another birdie. I made the turn with a 33 (just shy of my goal, 32). On #1 I hit one of my worst drives of the week, blocking it way right. My caddie talked me out of trying a miracle shot, instead punching a 6-iron to the front of the green. I punched it just short of the green and easily got up and down to save par. I owe my caddie one for that decision because the miracle shot would've lead to a bogey or double bogey pretty easily. A few holes later I had to lay up on another reachable par-5, but my wedges bailed me out. I hit a gap wedge to 10 inches from about 115 yards for my 4th birdie of the day. My only bogey of the day came on #6 when I pulled my approach into the greenside bunker. After that bogey, I had a sinking feeling that my chances of earning my card were very slime, but I knew every birdie would help me get better conditional status.
I finally hit a good drive on a par-5 and hit a 3-wood just through the green. A chip to 3 feet gave me a birdie and made up for the bogey on the previous hole. On #9, the final hole of the tournament I hit a perfect drive right in the middle. I had 154 yards to a front left pin (water was short of green and left of green) - it was a perfect 9-iron. It landed about 20 feet past the hole, in a slope, and spun back to about 15 feet. I'll give my caddie the due credit for a great read on the birdie putt. The entire slope of the green made me think it would slide left to right the whole way, but my caddie said it would only break for the first half of the putt.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS - They haven't released the schedule for 2014, but I can tell you that it begins in South America. Columbia, Chile, and Brasil are the first 3 events, then Panama and Louisiana. Since I have conditional status I will be on the bubble for all of those events. Whatever events I get into, the more money I make, the more my status will improve with each reshuffle. The reshuffle happens after every 4 events and you get ranked by the money list.
Whenever I do get in, I'll post an update.
Happy New Year,
Neil
Course Conditions - both courses were in great shape. They only overseeded the fairways/tees, leaving the rough dormant (turned brown during winter months). Playing from the fairway was a lot like hitting off of a mat. The only way to get a bad lie was to find a divot.
The greens were pretty consistent across both courses. Sometimes you'll get one course with much quicker green, but both the Nicklaus and Stadium courses were running close to 11. My only "complaint" with the condition of the golf courses was the speed of the greens. I'd prefer the greens to be faster than 11. During both 1st and 2nd stage, my courses had greens running near 13/14, which I loved. Combine the smooth surfaces with the average speed of the greens, it allowed a lot of people to become comfortable with making putts.
Now let's dive in to each round and I'll explain the memorable shots and quickly gloss over the bad ones. Follow along here.
ROUND 1 - Started on #10 of Nicklaus Tournament course and I struck the ball really solid throughout the first day. I was picking out palm trees, signs, edges of home as aim points and I was hitting them precisely. A nice stretch on #2, #3, and #4 gave me three straight birdies. I made a 20 foot putt on #2, chipped in on #3, and made about an 18 foot putt on #4. One more birdie on a the par-5 #7 and I finished with a solid 68 in the first round.
ROUND 2 - My solid ballstriking continued into the 2nd round. Through 13 holes of nearly flawless swings, I was only 2-under par. My birdie on #5 was a 2-putt (the picture above is of hole #5 from the green back). That par-5 has water all up the right side from 200 yards in. The pin was tucked back right and I hit a 3-wood from 250 right into the center of the green - right at the palm tree my caddie and I picked out as target. My birdie on #11 was a little more fun. I hit a bad drive into the thick left rough. I could only advance it about 170 yards, leaving me about 175 to an elevated green and has water left and slopes away on the right. I lasered a 7-iron to about 15 feet. I practiced a putt very similar to that one in a practice round so I knew that it would break right to left more than it looked. I trusted that read and it went in the center of the cup.
Things got really weird on #14 where my drive hit the railroad ties lining a fairway bunker and ricocheted straight right into the deep rough. It took us at least 4 1/2 minutes to find the ball (just under the 5 minute limit) and I had no shot, except to hack it back to fairway. I made bogey and tried my best to shrug off the bad bounce. Two holes later, I three putted #16 for bogey and then struggled to par #17 and #18 to complete my round. The last 90 minutes of that round were exhausting, stressful, and frustrating.
ROUND 3 - Right back out on the Stadium Course for round 3, I hoped to get some revenge for that tough finish to the second round. I hit the ball fantastic, but once again struggled to rack up birdies. However, finishing the third round with a birdie on #9 was a big boost to my confidence. At that point, the tournament was only half finished and I had total belief that I still hadn't played my best golf.
ROUND 4 - Similar story in round 4 as compared to round 2 and 3. I hit it great, but only made 2 birdies. Only made 1 putt outside of 10 feet, but luckily I only made one bogey.
ROUND 5 - Now we're getting into the interesting part of the tournament. My first 10 holes in the 5th round were a struggle. No birdies and I finally ran into a bad streak, which included 3 bogies and a double bogey in a 5 hole stretch. It happened very quick and in the span of about 90 minutes, I went from 5-under to even par with at least 100 golfers ahead of me. I wasn't happy walking from #1 to #2, but it was a long walk so I was able to release the anger and restart the round.
The final 8 holes were a necessary hot streak that got me back into the golf tournament. All week I was waiting for my game to heat up and for the birdies to start flowing. Funny that it took until I played my worst stretch of golf to finally open up and get aggressive.
#2, I hit a 3-wood about 280 yards, and knocked a lob wedge to 3 feet - birdie.
#3, I flagged a 6-iron that landed a foot from the hole, but it released just through the green. I chipped it up to a foot - par.
#4, right before I stepped into the shot I told myself to take dead-aim, and I did - hitting a 7-iron to 2 feet - birdie.
#5, I had 234 to the pin for my second shot (again, this is the hole in the picture above, but this time the pin is front right, hugging the water). I planned to hit a 4-iron at the front left corner of the green. That would leave me a hole-able chip. Instead of playing to the front left corner, I pushed my 4-iron right at the pin. It carried the water by a couple of feet, got a perfect hop and rolled right past the hole to 6 inches - tap in eagle!
#6, awful pulled tee shot, chip to 20 feet, but buried the par putt.
#7, lob wedge to about 8 feet and rolled the putt in - birdie
I had good looks for birdies on #8 and #9, but couldn't knock those in. That was ok because my confidence was back. I shot 32 on the back nine (with a bogey) and felt I would need 32-32 in the final round to earn a full card.
ROUND 6 - Finally I got off to a quick start in a round with a birdie on #10. They moved the tees up on #15 to entice people to go for green in two (it's an island green, surrounded by water). I hit a bad drive into the rough so I had to lay-up. Turned out that I was lucky because both of my playing competitors hit their 2nd shots into the water. I wedged my 3rd shot to 12 feet and made the putt. My putter warmed up more on the next hole with an 18 footer for another birdie. I made the turn with a 33 (just shy of my goal, 32). On #1 I hit one of my worst drives of the week, blocking it way right. My caddie talked me out of trying a miracle shot, instead punching a 6-iron to the front of the green. I punched it just short of the green and easily got up and down to save par. I owe my caddie one for that decision because the miracle shot would've lead to a bogey or double bogey pretty easily. A few holes later I had to lay up on another reachable par-5, but my wedges bailed me out. I hit a gap wedge to 10 inches from about 115 yards for my 4th birdie of the day. My only bogey of the day came on #6 when I pulled my approach into the greenside bunker. After that bogey, I had a sinking feeling that my chances of earning my card were very slime, but I knew every birdie would help me get better conditional status.
I finally hit a good drive on a par-5 and hit a 3-wood just through the green. A chip to 3 feet gave me a birdie and made up for the bogey on the previous hole. On #9, the final hole of the tournament I hit a perfect drive right in the middle. I had 154 yards to a front left pin (water was short of green and left of green) - it was a perfect 9-iron. It landed about 20 feet past the hole, in a slope, and spun back to about 15 feet. I'll give my caddie the due credit for a great read on the birdie putt. The entire slope of the green made me think it would slide left to right the whole way, but my caddie said it would only break for the first half of the putt.
"Half way to the hole, you want the ball to be inside the cup"He was dead on because half way there, it straightened out and drop into the center of the cup. It might seem like that was just another birdie, but that moved me from T67 to T56 place. That will help me get into at least 1 more tournament.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS - They haven't released the schedule for 2014, but I can tell you that it begins in South America. Columbia, Chile, and Brasil are the first 3 events, then Panama and Louisiana. Since I have conditional status I will be on the bubble for all of those events. Whatever events I get into, the more money I make, the more my status will improve with each reshuffle. The reshuffle happens after every 4 events and you get ranked by the money list.
Whenever I do get in, I'll post an update.
Happy New Year,
Neil
