Nationwide Peek’n Peak Round 3
Today was a challenge. I hit it well and made solid putts, but in the end the course got the best of me. I shot 6 over 78 and fell back to 50th place.
Two holes accounted for most of the damage, and I really didn’t play them that poorly. On 7, I hit my tee shot exactly where I planned it in the practice round leaving an 89 yard lob wedge to the left hole location. This hole location is on a shelf with a huge slope in front, deep rough behind and about 10 yards of green on top to work with. I was first to play and flew a lob wedge about 3 yards past the hole. It was concrete on the shelf and watched it take an 8 yard bounce into the deep rough behind the green. If I had seen another approach shot into that hole before my shot I definitely would have played it differently - perhaps just chipping it onto the front shelf 40 feet from the hole. From there I had absolutely no shot…not even a safe bailout. I had to hit a miraculous flop shot out of deep rough or nothing. When all was finished, I made triple.
The fifteenth was a double bogey where I really didn’t hit any bad shots. I got a horrendous bounce on my drive into the primary rough. From there I hit a 9-iron that landed on the front edge of the green and took a 30 yard bounce into the back bunker. My bunker shot looked pretty good but rolled back through the green and I took three more to hole out.
Aside from those two holes, I hit a lot of really good shots and putts but didn’t get much to go on the greens. My stats look very similar to the first two days and considering that the wind blew more and the greens were rocks, I think the stats confirm that my game is in good shape.
I go off early tomorrow which is good for my trip to Detroit for the British Open qualifier on Monday where the field is shrinking by the minute. As of today, the field is down to 95 players…still playing for 12 spots. So, my odds seem to be getting better all the time.
I got some good news when I finished. My girlfriend Shawna Harding won all three of her classes at her horse show today including an incredible 80% with her primary competition horse, Come On III. To put it in perspective, 80% in dressage is like a golfer shooting 59!