Friday, July 30, 2004

Plateau Member/Guest Tournament day 2

Today the real matches begin. We had three matches scheduled for today and two for tomorrow. Each of them are nine hole matches where you get one point for winning the hole or 1/2 point if you push. The team who wins the match gets an extra point (which is also split if the match is a push) for a total of 10 points per match. Add up your score over the 5 matches and you have your score within your flight of teams. The winner of each of 11 flights compete in another horse race to determine the overall winner of the tournament.

Our first match was on the back 9. We started out halving the first hole, then losing the next two holes. Not good, but it is early and there is a lot of golf to be played. In other tournaments, I noticed that momentum has a way of switching slowly. Rarely do you win one hole, then lose the next one. Usually there is a transition hole where the teams push. Today fit that rule with only one exception. On 13 we pushed and then we started winning the holes. On 15 Kevin and I both got across the junk on our tee shots while our opponents both dropped into it. We halved two more holes and won the other ones to win the match and the bonus point. Total points for this match: 6.5

The second match started about 30 minutes later, this time on the front 9. Kevin hit a great drive but I pushed my drive to the right and was in some trees and decided to try to punch it down the fairway. I pulled the shot, though, hit a tree dead in the middle and watched as the ball rolled 20 yards back up the fairway towards the tees. hah! Not much I could do but laugh about that. Kevin hit a great second shot though and was lying 3 about 6 feet from the hole. Then he three putted and we halved the hole. Ick. On then next hole, our opponent 4 putted to lose the hole. Not pretty golf by either team so far. It did get better though. On 7, I pulled my tee shot a bit, but it made it across safely, hit a great 9 iron bump shot to about 2 feet and sank it for par. Kevin nailed his drive on 8 to the bottom of the hill. On 9, we ended up with 3 net birdies (2 naturals) to push the hole. Nice putting that time from everyone. Total points for this match: 6.5

By the third match, I was getting pretty tired. Our opponents had been having a bad day and were drinking by this point. A lot. Let's just say that everyone's golf got pretty sloppy this time. My tee shot on 11 was left and it was right behind a tree. I mean touching it at the base. I it an interesting backwards shot to get it over towards the fairway but on my next shot I hit it right into the woods. Here is the interesting part. This was the first ball I lost all day. It wasn't until my 20th hole of the day. That has to be some sort of record for me at the Plateau Club :) We won several holes in a row though, most notably 15 (again) where I hit a great shot which landed 3 feet in front of the cup and rolled about 10 feet left. I two putted for par -- well, I would have except Kevin got his par and I didn't need to go any further :) We were up with 5 points heading to 18 when Kevin and I both blew up. I pulled my drive left into the trees. Then Kevin did the same -- twice. I took a drop and hit two more crappy shots and was lying 4 still sitting at the bunker. Kevin hit his next shot across the fairway into the trees. We ended up losing the last hole but still coming away with 6 points.

So now we have a total of 19 points after winning all three matches. There is one team ahead of us in our flight with 21 points after three wins. They are our second match tomorrow.

I am really happy with how we played today. I never thought we would win three matches overall, let alone all three on the first day. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. The odds are against us winning so I'm not going to worry about that. Having already exceeded my expectations, we'll just be out there to have fun.

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