Jeff, thanks for letting us inside the ropes to see what it's like to prepare for a PGA tour event. You did a great job, especially considering the tough conditions and circumstances on Thursday. Looking forward to seeing you back out at a Tour event again!
I'd be interested in your thoughts on how this compared to your Nationwide Tour experience. Differences in course difficulty / setup? was your prep about the same?
Again, thanks.
Lynn, thanks for thinking of the LBG.com crowd and bringing the camera along; this is really great stuff.
Chris and I got to the course about 10:30 for a 1:30 start. We had a nice breakfast and really took our time getting ready for the day. It was really nice outside, nice temperature and no wind. We knew there would eventually be some storms move in but we were hopeful that it would be later in the evening.
My warm-up went very well and I was really "on" every aspect of my game. I was as prepared as I could be. About 30 minutes before tee time it started to rain, nothing heavy just a light rain. The radar was showing a pretty big storm moving in from the west so we all figured to play some golf then get called off the course. I was prepared for this so no big deal.
I will never forget being announced on the first tee: "Now on the tee from Watkinsville, California....excuse me, Georgia, the current Georgia PGA Player of the Year, Jeff Hull." I have teed off in big events before but never announced like this and really never with so many of my friends and family around. I stayed with my routine and hit a pretty good tee shot up the right side. As I walked off the tee box I said to Chris that the tee shot was certainly different. He laughed and said lets go.
Without going into detail on every shot, I was striking it well. Through the first 4 holes I had 3 birdie putts inside of 15 feet. Unfortunately I was 1 over par because I 3 putted from about 12 feet on number 2 because it was really fast. I barely touched this downhiller and it went about 5 feet past and I missed it.
On number 5 the rain really started to come down hard and a 450 yard uphill par 4 was dead into rain and wind. I hit a pretty good 5 iron into the green but it came up a couple of feet short and plugged in the bank. I asked for an official and while we were waiting they suspended play. We all figured that this was probably the end of the day because it was really bad and the greens were collecting water.
After about 45 minutes there was a break in the rain and they resumed play. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!
By the time we got to number 7 it was really coming down and the wind was picking up its intensity. When we got to number 9 there was a group in the fairway waiting to play. It turns out they were looking for a ball because they could not get their tee shot over the tall grass because of the conditions. The 9th hole has a forced carry of 240 yards. Normally this is no big deal, but when there is a 10-20 mph wind and rain in your face it makes it a little more difficult.
While we waited we called for an official because the tee box had become saturated with wated. We figured they had to suspend play because of unplayable conditions. We waited 45 miutes on the 9th tee and all they did was make a poor attempt to squeegy(?) the tee box. We fianlly finished our front 9 in a speedy 3 hours and 45 minutes in a downpour.
The back 9 did not get any better. In fact I hit a 5 iron into the 10th hole on my 3rd shot that came up short. Normally it is a gap wedge or even a lob wedge. Chris and I were totally drenched and this was not much fun.
At this point every fairway was casual water. The only place to get relief was in the rough on a slope, not very appealing. We were running out of dry towels, energy and patience!
Finally at sometime after 7:15, 6 hours into our round, they called play for the day while we were standing on the 16th tee. In my opinion, and that of every player out there, we played 10 holes more than we should have. We should have stopped play after the first weather delay. What was really frustrating is that when we got to the clubhouse there was not one official around to tell me when we needed to be in position in the morning. I had to find out second hand.
At this point I was 5 over par and not playing that poorly. By the time I got back to my room, showered, went to dinner (I had not eaten since 10:30), dried off my equipment and went to bed it was about 11:00 and we had to get up at 5:30 to be on the course at 7:30. This was not the experience that I had hoped for.
This is a summary of the first day. To be continued.......
After a poor nights sleep, Chris and I got the course at 6:15 to find out the my second round time was to start at 9:00, only about 30 minutes after we completed round 1. I thought we would actually start around 10:00 but I was wrong. I got a quick bagel and fruit, some coffee (not enough) and began to prepare for the day.
At 7:30 we were on the 16th tee to finish our round. I hit a great 7 iron to within 10 feet and made birdie! I hit a really good 5 iron into 17 to about 20 feet and almost made it. After a good drive on 18 I made the worst of all mistakes, I layed up in the _______ water! After a drop I hit a gap wedge about 20 feet and curled the putt around the hole for a bogey 6. I was not happy. I feel like if I could have made birdie on 18 and gotten back to 3 over I would be able to post 69 or better and make the cut. That mental error really hurt.
Needless to say I was not much fun to be around between rounds. I took out my frustration on the range and pounded a few balls. While I did this I actually found some much needed pivot lag and I really started to crush it.
It was time for round 2 to begin and once again I was announced as the Georgia PGA PLayer of the Year. That is so cool!! The weather was perfect and there was a noticeably larger gallery. We started today on number 10 and I hit my 3rd to within 6 feet and missed it. DAMN! After par on 11 I hit another shot to about 8 feet and missed it as well. I finally made a birdie on 13 with a 4 footer.
I was now back on 16 tee where last night ended and today actually began. The hole was cut in the right corner just over the bunker and it was 162 downhill into a stiff breeze (check out the video of number 16 to see what it looks like). I ripped an 8 iron to 20 feet and made it for birdie. This is the Dave and Busters hole so there was already a gallery forming and I got a nice roar from the crowd! I had got it back to 3 over for the tournament and easily could have been even or 1 over.
On 17 I made one the only bad swings of the day, and it was actually more mental thean physical. I needed to play to the right side of the green and let the slope bring it to the hole but I pulled it a bit, the wind got it and it ended up in the bunker left of the hole and short sided. I hit a pretty good bunker shot and just missed the putt (a common theme for the day).
I successfully layed up on 18 and hit a decent wedge to about 15 feet. Once again I just missed that one. I ended up with a 1-under par 35 and really felt it should have been 3 or 4 better.
At this point the wind was starting to pick up and was really swirling. On number 1 I had 195 to the hole into the wind to a tucked hole location. Chris and I decided to hit 5 iron right of the hole to the center of the green. I hit a bullet that flew about 205 to the edge af the back fringe and stayed there. I was now faced with about a 40 foot severely downhill putt that breaks about 12 feet....3 putt bogey....DAMN! I had about 12-15 feet for birdie on#2 and missed. On number 3 I lost a little focus while my fellow competitor took about 5 minutes to hit a pitch shot. I had about 35 feet downhill, left it short and missed the nest one...bogey.
I went ahead and broke strategy on #4 and went for the green in 2. I had about 280 to the hole downwind with a slope near the green to help me. I hit it pin high just right of the green and manged to make a birdie.
After a poor tee shot on number 5 I was left with about 205 to an impossible hole location into the wind. I hit a 4 hybrid and the wind took it into the greenside bunker long and left of the hole. I actually hit one of the better bunker shots of my life (carried it 20 yards from a downslope to a green that breaks about 20 feet and runs down past the hole into a creek) to about 10 feet and once again just missed the putt.
By this point I was still grinding but knew that I was going to miss the cut. Because of all the friends and family that came out to support me I was going to try and finish strong. I made 2 good saves on 7 and 9 and once again almost birdied the 240 yard par 3 8th with another putt that just missed. I finished with a 74 that easily could have been 68.
I will post again with a summary of the event and details of the after round beerfest!
Hybrid Mode
