Monday, 24 March 2014

Day 6 (Saturday):

Second Round. aka Moving Day.  Today was the day I wanted to maintain my confidence and focus on the course and stay consistent.  I had an early tee time and although I did not have as much sleep as I needed, I tried to focus on the importance of mindset so that I am confident to play.  I had a 9:10 am tee time and began my warm up around 7:50 am.  The weather conditions was about 20 degrees Celsius and the winds were fairly low at an early tee time.  I did my routine warm-up and felt great, I had been hitting the ball well, making solid chips and making putts on the greens.  I was feeling ready.  I stepped up to the tee and was much more confident the day before and hit my ball down the middle of the fairway.  I made pars on the first two holes and on the par 3 third hole, I missed the green left in the bunker.  I walked up to my ball and got it out, but it went 28 feet by the hole.

Something was different.

I hit my putt and it had gone 4 feet by but I hadn't hit it any harder than a 25 footer...so I resulted in a 2 putt-bogey.  I continued my play and started to feel a difference around the greens.  I was so used to being able to spin the ball and have control with what the ball was doing.  For some reason I couldn't get the right feel for the conditions around the green.  Chipping, pitching and bunker play around the greens were a different story for the second round.  Getting the speed and control I practiced for was not measuring up to the conditions I had got used to during the whole week.  As much as I tried to keep my putts within tap-in range, I found myself knocking the ball 4-7 feet by the hole and with a lot of meat left on the bone for a second putt.  My struggle all day was keeping the ball close to the hole with as much control as I could.

 I had finished at +6 (78) and was sitting at a two-day total of +7 (151) and had missed the cut by 1 shot.  One Shot.  It is honestly the worst feeling in the world.  I had hit some really great shots on the course, but was not able to make the putts to count.  After I walked off the course I had spoken with some girls about the conditions and apparently the greens crew had double cut and rolled the greens the morning of the second round.  If I had known prior to teeing it up, I would have been better prepared with the greens rolling at a 14 rather than 11.  That is a big difference and I have learned for next time that things are not always going to be the same and I need to be able to quickly adjust to these conditions sooner than later in the round.

After playing my first Symetra Tour event, I feel that overall I played well.  With some adjustments to be made and getting used to the hot conditions of Florida weather, I think I am ready for 2014.  Living in the Vancouver and being climatized to golfing in the cold weather, I feel that it was a shock for my body to be playing in the heat for long hours of the day.  As much as I had drank water I haven't had to build a tolerance to the heat pounding my skin and my head in comparison to a lot of the girls who have been living in this climate for the last 6 months.  I know for next week I will be mentally and physically prepared for the weather conditions and it will be the time to do what I do best; hitting fairways and making putts!








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