Brian Quackenbush Golf

I won the MonaVie Open on the Tarheel Tour yesterday at Charlotte National GC. I outlasted a friend and a great golfer, Matt Cannon, in a 4-hole playoff.

I started the day one shot back of the lead. Strong winds meant that anything under par would be a pretty good score. My first 10 holes were unspectacular with 9 pars and a bogey. My ball striking to that point wasn’t where I wanted it and I was hanging in there on some really good scrambling. At this point I was 4 shots back and in third place. My thinking was that if I could narrow the lead to 2 shots going into the last three holes I would still have a chance. The last three holes at Charlotte National are very strong and with the wind against us yesterday they were that much stronger.

I chipped in on the difficult 11th for birdie to get a shot back and then lost that shot again when Matt birdied 12. On 13, a great drive left me with a short second to the par-5 and I made birdie to gain back two shots. Another birdie on 15 narrowed the lead to 1 shot, ahead of the goal I had set for myself heading into the last 3 holes.

On 16 I hit one of my two best shots of the event. With 218 yards to a back left pin, water surrounding the green and strong wind in my face I hit a laser utility to 3 feet. When I made the putt I was tied for the lead.

My drive on the 17th into the lake setup my other best shot of the event. After the drop I had 208 again into the wind with the flag against the left side of the green near the water. I hit another great utility from the rough to 8 feet and made the putt for a great par. We both parred the 18th, a 470 yard par 4 into the wind with water everywhere, to finish tied at 13 under.

After all that the playoff was relatively uneventful. We both parred the first three holes and then I got a break when my par held up on the fourth playoff hole for the win.

I really appreciated this win. I’ve been chasing and narrowly missing Nationwide Monday qualifiers for over two months. This was my first three-day event since mid-July and it was good to perform well under “normal” conditions. I hope to ride the momentum from this win into a successful Q-School season.

My compliments go out to Charlotte National for getting the course ready under incredibly stressful weather circumstances in the Charlotte area. They are under drought conditions in the area. As always, Charlotte National focused their efforts on presenting some of the best greens surfaces we play all year. The quality of the greens was critical to my success this week because I absolutely putted the lights out. I averaged 25.33 putts per round and 1.568 putts per GIR for the week.

I went down to Sea Island last week for a lesson with Jack Lumpkin. I was very happy with where my swing was. What I had been working on before I took a little break was exactly what the doctor ordered. I just need to keep working on my right side stability and getting my arms more in sync with my body. We also noticed some movement in my right hand grip at the start of the backswing and addressed that. The video of my swings is pretty good and I am going to try to put it up on the website.

We also worked on my chipping and putting. Much of what I’m working on with my full swing applies to my chipping as well. Stable right hand grip and get my arms working more with my body instead of behind it. No changes to my putting…everything looked pretty good there.

The video from the lesson got me thinking that it would be nice to see a progression of my full swing from when I started working with Jack until now. I have video of every lesson that I’ve taken with him. A few are on VHS, so I will have to convert them to digital before I post them. It’s a good-sized project that might take me a while to complete, but I think it will be very interesting to see the progression.

Good playing…bad break. That sums up the Nationwide qualifier for me on Tuesday in Salt Lake City, UT. I shot 4-under 68 to miss the playoff by one shot. With an 11:30 tee time in the last 1/3 of the field, I was fully involved in both weather delays and the high winds that increased in velocity after each one. It was blowing sustained 30mph for about my last 12 holes. Of the 10 players who shot 67 or better (good enough to make the playoff), 8 of them teed off before 10:00 and none of them teed off after me at 11:30. If you look at the scoring stats for each third of the field, scores stay about the same between the first and second wave, however WD’s go from 6 to 13. So, 7 more players didn’t turn in a card (and presumably played very poorly). From the second to the third wave, WD’s stay the same but scoring average went up by 3 shots. So, the third wave was at a minimum 3 shot disadvantage compared to the first. Unfortunately, I was in that last wave.

Even with the bad draw, I played well enough to have a shot. On the second hole I hit the flagstick with my approach from 92 yards. It was a great shot with the wind howling down and off the left to a front pin tucked over a bunker. The ball landed an inch in front of the flag and caromed about 12 feet right and I just missed the putt. A slightly better bounce and that’s a one or two shot difference right there. On the fourth hole I hit 4-iron from 195 yards into a gale with water short. It flew about 5 yards long (I hit it incredibly well) and bounced into a bad lie where the best I could do was chip to 15 feet. I hit a great putt that lipped out. Those shots were the difference between missing the playoff and shooting the low score (65) of the day.

That’s the nature of these qualifiers. You pay your money and hope for everything to line up and a good round. Fortunately, I’ve improved my level of play this year so that the good rounds are happening frequently, and I just need to have the good breaks. In 10 qualifiers this year I have made it or come close in each one:

I’m following Tiger and Phil’s leads and taking a small break. I feel like I’m just hitting a bit of late-season fatigue and taking a couple weeks will recharge my batteries heading into a very busy Q-School season.

I almost could have gone without a rental car this week. The course for this week’s Nationwide Tour Monday qualifier is adjacent to the airport. I could hit a lob wedge onto one of the main runways from the parking lot. My hotel is on the far side of the course, but adjacent to it and the airport as well.

I’m in Salt Lake City this week. I didn’t realize it was at such altitude (over 4,000 ft). It took me a few holes to get used to the ball flying a few more yards. The course is very firm as well, so the 7,100 yard course for the event plays a lot shorter.

I played a small-tour event last week just to get in a few competitive rounds. It was just up the road in Blythewood, SC so it was easy to commute back and forth each day. I felt like I was a few competitive rounds short in the last month.

I definitely didn’t have my best stuff and finished in 4th place at even par. The event helped me to focus on some of the things I’m working on without the extra cost and stress of traveling.