Tournament 2....and the agony of defeat....

Tournament 2 occurred at Sawmill Creek in Huron. I have stayed there before, but never played golf there before. It is a Tom Fazio design, relatively open, and it thought that I might do well. I did in fact do well, but the experience left a bitter taste in my mouth - due to my own play.

I was playing OK throughout the round - except for the par 3's. I really need to work on my bunker play, as it is erratic at best, and kept me from shooting an even better round. I am still adjusting to the new clubs I bought, and when I hit them right, the are pure, but I still am struggling a bit. Putting has improved from the last tournament - up until the last hole...but I digress.

The course was VERY wet, so it was lift, clean, and place throughout the golf course. That helped immensely in the rough. I finished with 5 pars in a row on the back until the dreaded 18th hole. This is where things turned for the worse. I was 99 out and just need to get a respectable score - and ended with a 7!? My approach was 10 yards short of the green on the shaved area, so I thought I would putt. My adrenalin was flowing, and I hit the putt past the hole, over on to the back fringe. I then three putted from there, giving me a 7 when I was 99 yards out in 2.

This put me in a playoff where I had a nice drive down the middle, but pulled the approach into a bunker. I did not hit a great bunker shot, and had about 50 feet for a birdie. Again, 3 putts later, and I finished 1 stroke behind to lose when I was up by 3 going into the last hole.

Here's what I learned - play your own game...I have heard this before, and have not heeded it. Many times in competition, I am too worried about what my competitors are doing, and what score I need to win. Saturday I finally learned my lesson the hard way - worry about trying to get the best score possible on each hole, and treat each hole by itself. If I would have done that, I would have won going away, instead of being in a playoff and losing. I'll work on that for the next Tournament - May 14th at Boulder Creek...We will see how my mental focus improves...It made for a long drive home from Huron!