GCAT Tour Championship

Day 1 - Saturday was finally here and I was really excited to get the tour championship started. I have never played in a tournament where I was so nervous the first few holes. I had never played this golf course and I was in the first group to tee off. Which was great since I could get back home earlier than usual, but I was nervous playing with guys that were so good. Two people in my group had very low handicaps and they could hit the ball a very long way, which was a bit intimidating. After a few holes I started to get comfortable, thanks to my cart buddy who was really nice and we just tried to have fun. The course was quite long and I wasn’t use to hitting my three hybrid into the green, but looking back on the day I probably should of had a strategy going into those par 5 and I should have just laid up and given myself easier chances for par. Overall I was semi-happy with my game. I was happy with the fact that my attitude has really improved and I’m not getting as angry at myself anymore, or at least holding onto the anger. I do get angry when I made a mistake, but after the ball lands the anger goes away. I feel a lot better after I play and mentally I am approaching golf in a different way. I wasn’t getting a feel for the greens so it was hard to make putts and and keep my score down. At the end of day 1 I ended up with 100, which was five shot off of the lead for my flight. I drove home and just relaxed and prepared for the next day.

Day 2
It was a bit tough driving back and forth to Sacramento both days from San Francisco, but it had to be done because of my dog and in a way it gave me time to think about the first day and on the way back to Sacramento I got to relax and calm myself for the days round. On Saturday when I arrived at Lincoln Hills I gave myself plenty of time to warm up and get use to the greens and a feel for chipping. But, I probably gave myself a bit too much time to warm up because I start to fix my swing instead of just warming up my back and my body. So Sunday, I didn’t leave too much time for warm-up and went to the first tee about twenty minutes early and just talked to the guys who were in the groups in front of me and I just stayed relaxed until it was time to tee-off. I had a great day and my tee shots were going right down the fairway and I actually had some puts that dropped. Since I was feeling really good with my game the last two holes on the front nine were par fours and I told myself that I really wanted to par both of them. I did and I shot my best score for 9 holes, which was a 44. I was feeling really good for the rest of the day and I was on my way to having a round under 90 and in order to achieve it I had to par the last three holes which where a par 3 and two par fours. I pared 16, had a chip in for birdie on 17 and I was putting for par on 18. One of the members in my group was putting on about the same line I had so after he put I stepped in to read what the ball did. It broke from left to right, which was the complete opposite of what I read. For whatever reason I did not believe what I saw, and I thought he might have put a bad stroke on the ball which made the ball react differently. So, I trusted my instinct and I played the ball with a right to left break. WRONG! He read the put right and I didn’t believe his read. I was so ready to slap myself after that put because I should have believed what I saw, and I ended up missing my bogey putt to leave the 18th hole with a double bogey. I had a chance to accomplish my goal and I blew it, but at least I gave myself a chance to accomplish that goal and even attempt to make up the five shots I had to in order to catch up to the leader. At the end of the day I ended up in second place with a 90 for the second day and a score of 190 for the two days. The winner shot a 186 for the two days and he won the personalized cart bag, which at first I wanted but after I saw it I didn’t because it was so manly looking. :) But nonetheless, I learned a lot from the tournament about what I have to work on for the National Championship in Florida in October and there were also a lot of things that I was really happy with. I can’t wait to start preparing for the National Championship and making a list of what I would like to accomplish before and at the tournament. Next up...the Women’s 18 Hole Ladies Mystery Trip!