Q-School Florence - Round 2
31 degrees. Let me repeat - 31 degrees! That was the temperature on the practice tee 25 minutes before my tee time when I walked over to the putting green. I walked through frosted grass next to the 10th tee 5 minutes before the first tee time at 8:30. It was outrageously cold. Most definitely the coldest temperature I have ever played competitive golf in. I had a “cold gear” compression shirt, heavy mock turtleneck, windshirt, winter hat and winter golf mits with hand warmers…and was still freezing cold for the first 3 holes.
Several of us are seriously wondering if the local tournament directors have any idea what they’re doing. With only 2 hours of tee times (double tee, less than 80 players) and no chance of rain, they easily could have pushed back tee times 2 hours. That would have given the temperature time to warm up and allow for a tolerable first couple of holes. Don’t get me started on pace of play. Two straight 5 hour 15 minute rounds so far. I confronted an official today who actually told me “we hate it when it’s like this” (referring to pace of play). This is coming from the only group of people that have the authority to do anything about it. For some reason, pace of play guidelines and enforcment are forgotten by both players and officials during q-school. This combined with the obscenely cold weather makes for a tournament that is not representative of what we train and play in all year.
Anyway…on to my round today. After a miserable start (3 over on the first 2…4 over through 6), I clawed back to shoot an even par 70. I was very pleased with how I hang in there today. I’m guessing the cold weather was a factor for most of the field because the scoring was slightly higher despite easier hole locations and less wind. I actually made up ground moving from 31st to 24th place.
Tomorrow should be a bit warmer…more like the first round. Friday looks like it could be nasty.