Today I won the Tarheel Tour’s Southern Open at Cabarrus CC and Kannapolis CC. My most prominent emotion tonight is relief. Relief that I’ve finally won a significant professional tournament and relief from the pressure of a very tight final round.
I really lucked out with my final round pairing. I played with Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey and Kyle Bradley…both great guys and great players. The pairing made it easy to keep up my early momentum through the back nine.
As for momentum, it was really there today. I started with birdies on the first three holes. In particular, the birdie on number 2 really got me going. At 406 yards, distance is not its primary challenge. It’s a very tight drive to a fairway that sits awkwardly. You need to get it inside the 150 yard marker, so it’s either 3 wood or driver (driver today since it was into the wind). Today’s hole location was back left on a ridge that is very difficult to land and stay on. I hit 9 iron 25 feet right of the hole on the ridge and then made a downhille double breaker for the birdie.
The birdies on the first three gave me the freedom to stick with a relatively conservative strategy for the rest of the round. When Cabarrus is setup like it was this week, you simply cannot shoot at flags all day and expect to avoid bogeys. The rough is just way too penal. I kept it in the fairway - laying back off the tee on several holes - and aimed away from many of the flags throughout the round. I knew that this strategy would give me birdie chances and that a hot putter would allow me to convert.
After my opening hot streak, I sandwiched a bogey on 7 (one of only 3 shots I feel like I missed all day) with birdies on 6 and 8 to make the turn at 4 under. When I made the turn I had a one shot lead and felt like I needed to keep to my game plan. I made birdie on 11 and parred the other 8 holes on the back nine. I made good saves on 16 and 17 (from the bunker on 17).
My stats for the event echo my strategy. I hit 13.6 greens in regulation and had 28 putts per round. So, I wasn’t hitting it close a lot - mostly centers of greens - but I was putting well. The most exciting stat is that I didn’t have a three putt all week. The work I did on my setup last week seems to have paid off.
My deepest thanks go out to my Sponsors who make it possible for me to chase a little white golf ball around for a living. Without their support I would never have had a chance to win this week. It took a while to get it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people were wondering when it would finally happen…I admit the thought had crossed my mind. I’m relieved that question has finally been answered.
There were other winners this week. The Tarheel Tour demonstrated once again that it is one of the premier developmental tours in the country and their Southern Open is fast becoming one of the premier events. The field was larger and stronger this year. The golf courses were incredibly challenging and setup like they meant it. The staff did a great job with all of the site adminstration…Cabarrus and Kannapolis have both figured out how to run a first-class professional event. We were all amazed at how many volunteers were on hand, especially for spotting golf balls. I counted almost 10 each round! Finally, I’m pleased to see the Capital Hospice get a nice donation as a result of this win.
