Dave and Chandler — who played a practice round at Saddlebrook on Friday — tied for the victory shooting 75 and 78 (gross) respectively.
The number of improved strokes by the practice round participants were:
Dave - 13
Brendan - 12
Chandler - 10
Topor - 5 (adjusted for moving tees)
Pretty astonishing considering the weather yesterday was much
worse. Does this mean playing a practice round will improve your
tournament performance? NO! Nobody should ever play a practice round. In
fact, for the rest of the season, none of you should even practice.
Keep doing what you're doing!
It sounds like Chandler's driver and Dave's 4-iron off the tee were the key to victory, as they each hit 11 and 10 (out of 14) fairways respectively. Neither of them made worse than a bogey, so their putters cooperated as well. They must have known putts were slower uphill than you think... but faster downhill than you think.
Tall Mike almost aced the 18th, resulting in a short birdie putt to finish solo 3rd. Darren also played great and easily could have won another Major.
JW was +7 (net) after five holes — recording three 9s — and reaching for his Lyft app. Then the birdies began to drop. Four to be exact, with one from off the green on the final hole. That math adds up to -9 (net) on the final 13 holes. He should have won this event.
The rest of you weren't very good.
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Odds and ends:
- There was some debate (discussion?) about the painted OB line close to the teebox on 5. I'm not sure why they're calling it OB... but at least it was marked... and when in doubt, play the course as it is marked.
- Speaking of, the Board will have some discussions later about DropZoneGate. My official stance is Group A did the correct thing, which was come to a consensus. That's how golf tournaments work, even on the PGA TOUR. You work with the people in the group to make a determination and try to "protect the field."
- I put a lot of effort each week into discussing issues that might arise with course set-up... ie: lack of OB markings at Plantation Palms. The alleged drop zones at Saddlebrook slipped past us this time. It's impossible for us to see/know everything. More on this later.
- Be careful who you trust is giving you yardages from the range finder. Sometimes those things get set to meters. Sometimes people don't know how to use them.
We're playing at Countryway this Sunday — 9am tee time for $25ish. There's no range. It'll be our last event with random pairings this season.
See you then.
Brendan is also ranked #1 in the World for the first time ever. Congrats. Let's go Brendan!
ReplyDeleteHoles 1 and 4 do not play to my strong suit, and that was the closest putting performance I’ve had to Carnoustie since Carnoustie. Tough to beat 70’s scores when you start with 3 9’s out of 5 holes. Glad I didn’t let a few bad holes get to me and pushed on. Maybe the fourth kid is the one that brings more level headedness on the course.
ReplyDeleteJust imagine if Dub would have just gone with the 6 pack "special" after hole #2 instead of waiting for the cart girl's second trip around. He might have added another birdie or an eagle to that four birdie round.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like this season is shaping up to be a two horse race between the Irishman and the Yipsy Gypsy. I have to give the edge to the man with 4 Cups, who is the greatest champion in league history.
I'm calling it now, Moostie wins cup #5 this Spring.
Imma need a ruling on lost ball situations in unmarked areas. Is it a re-tee stroke and distance or do we treat it as a lateral hazard and allow a drop with one stroke penalty? Felt like my group hated me for trying to enforce rules.
ReplyDeleteIf it’s not near a clearly defined OB area, it’s a one stroke penalty like a hazard. If it’s lost in a spot where the entire group agrees it should be found (plugged maybe?) then it’s a free drop. Those are, and should be, very rare.
ReplyDeleteAnd everyone watching the Moostie group in was just waiting for him to hit a bad shot to complain about all the practice strokes. He proceeded to hit one of the best shots I’ve ever personally seen and almost the first hole in one I’ve ever seen. Tough to complain about slow pre shot routines when they work. Our league’s greatest champion.
ReplyDeleteHey Dan. Click on that tab up top that says “Rules,” and then read 8.2
ReplyDeleteYeah. I totally gave Ho the wrong number on 18. Eights and zeros look very similar in digits format… I definitely owe him a beer lol. This is why a medical professional said I need reading glasses, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t owe a pitcher afterwards so it’s all good. I was just super confused as I thought I hit the perfect number just to come up… 8 yards short.
ReplyDeleteGame within the game. But didn’t you guys realize Geoff’s number was wrong before he teed off? And he still made a 7?
ReplyDeleteYes. I played a decent round with the exception of 1 & 18...
ReplyDeleteJeff gave me the number and I hit first. End of the day it’s on me to realize whether the number is accurate or not, or to double check.
ReplyDeleteYep my inner 'Millard' didn't believe that distance read, so I went to get my Rangefinder while Ho hit his tee shot just short of the wall. I shot 118 to the pin, let the group know and clubbed up before hitting my shot pin high left of the green.
ReplyDelete