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February 2003
3 February, Canadian PGA Tour School, 1st Round, 71(-1)
Shot 71 today. I played really solid all day. Thought well all the way
round. Got off to a great start with birdies on 2, 7 and 9 on the front
side. I missed some good chances on the back nine to go even more under
par and then without doing anything really wrong I bogeyed the last 2
including a 3 putt on the last. Not the best way to finish but still a
good start to the week. 3 more rounds until the cut is made so hopefully
I can keep it going. David
4 February, Canadian PGA Tour School, 2nd Round, 72 (Level)
After a good opening round I followed it up with a solid level par round
of 72. Got off to another great start with birdies at two of the opening
4 holes but despite another birdie on the 7th I turned at 1 over par.
Four bogeys on 5, 6, 8 and 9 came from mental mistakes. It was going to
be one of those up and down rounds. Made a couple more birdies on the
back nine including a birdie at the last to get me back to level par for
the day which was good. The only bogey I made on the back was at the hard
16th. So 5 birdies and 5 bogeys for the day. There is a low score in there
but I just need to let it happen. Still missing a few short putts which
is not like me. In a good position after the first two rounds here in
Orlando but with hopefully 3 more rounds to come I can get one of the
20 cards on offer at the end of Friday's play. David.
5 February, Canadian PGA Tour School, 3rd Round, 77(+5)
Not the best of days. I played OK but 36 putts was not good. I drove the
ball well, hitting 12 out of 14 fairways and I also hit 13 out of 18 greens
but my only birdie came at the last. Just not getting the job done on
the greens. I bogeyed the 4th and 7th holes before I made a real mess
of the 9th. It took me 4 shots to get down from the fringe resulting in
a double bogey 6. The fact that I was not scoring that great was not helped
by the fact that it took 6 hours to complete the round. My patience was
poor and I didn't feel comfortable being out there for so long. Tomorrows
another day and with a decent round I should make the cut and still be
in with a chance on Friday for one of those tour cards. David.
6 February, Canadian PGA Tour School, 4th Round, 72 (Level), 5th Round
73 (+1)
Sorry for the delay in reporting round 4, but there were a few technical
errors getting the report back. In the last round, despite a bogey at
the first I got to the turn under par with birdies at 4 and 7. My driving
was great and my irons were OK, but my pitching was poor and a bit to
tentative. Made bogey at 10 and then missed from 6 feet at 16 for par
and also from the same distance at the last to finish one over for the
day. My holing out wasn't good today as I missed three other putts from
6 feet and it proved costly as I missed getting a tour card by one shot.
However I am 'first conditional' I'll get into all the tournaments anyway.
I am off to Austin, Texas next week for the first two events so I'll let
you know how I get on with some more updates. Overall I am happy with
the result - again I played better than I scored and my main objective
of getting a tour to play has been achieved. Bye for now, David.
13 February, TravelTex.com Canadian Tour Classic, 1st Round, 71 (+1)
Not happy with today's performance. Starting from the 10th, I was 2 under
through 11 holes following birdies at my 3rd and 7th holes. Then I hit
three dumb iron shots which cost me bogeys at 12, 14 and the last. I did
not play very solid and my swing was a bit quick. It was disappointing
as I was going to shoot a low score until I messed things up. Unfortunately
I was not sharp on anything and that is why I am tied 70th at the moment.
Hopefully I can get my act together for tomorrow. David
14 February, TravelTex.com Canadian Tour Classic, 2nd Round, 73 (+3)
I drove really well today and only missed one fairway, but my approach
play and short game on the front nine was poor. I got off to a terrible
start with a treble, bogey, double par bogey run from the 2nd. I hit a
sand wedge over the green into a hazard after chipping out the trees on
the second, causing the triple and at the fourth I was out of bounds with
my tee shot by a yard. Pulled myself together though and played the last
12 in four under to scramble a 73. I missed a lot of great chances for
birdie and had two three putts, but I did get home in two on a 590 yard
par 5 that is uphill on soft fairways! Despite the start I actually played
well enough to undo all the damage. Just need to hole a couple of putts
next week to keep momentum going and cut out some sloppy mental errors.
The game is generally good just not putting a whole round together. Unfortunately
I comfortably missed the top 70 cut by 3, so I am going to spend the weekend
working on my game for next week's tournament, which is in the same location
at the Fazio Foothills. Bye for now, David
17 February, Canadian Tour Monday Qualifying, 72 (Level)
Today I had a Monday qualifier for this weeks event and I shot 72 to miss
by three. I only found out I had to try and qualify on Sunday night so
it was not ideal preparation so I had to play a different course blind
and without a yardage book. I never got going after hitting it OB on 4,
when I hit an OK shot but took the wrong line on an 'S' shaped hole. I
did not even realise there was even OB there. It was just one of those
days where I did not really hit any poor shots, but I did not hit enough
good shots. The greens completely different speed to last week which threw
me a little. We had a frost delay for an hour but by noon it was approaching
70f. Bizarre! Every hole was a dogleg where you had to hit your tee shots
over trees and I had problems working out where and what club to hit.
I had to qualify because at the moment I am first reserve due to the fact
that there is a re-rank after every tournament. Due to the fact I missed
the cut I moved down 7 spots on the entries list. Hopefully I will still
get in though. Everybody says the 1st and probably second alternate will
get in but I will just have to wait and see. Here's hoping. If I do not
get in then I have the added bonus of seeing my newly born niece, Hannah
for the first time a wee bit sooner. David
20 February, TravelTex.com Canadian Tour Challenge, 1st Round
Well the good news is I managed to get in the tournament, but the bad
news is the first day was washed out by torrential rain. The event has
been shortened to 54 holes so hopefully we'll be able to tee off tomorrow.
I'll keep you informed, David
22 February, TravelTex.com Canadian Tour Challenge, 1st Round, 74 (+2),
2nd Round 69 (-3)
I finally teed off late on Friday for the first round and played one hole,
which I three putted, before another thunder storm forced us off. Managed
to play a further 5 holes later that evening in almost darkness and birdied
the 2nd but three putted the third. Because of the weather the tournament
was cut to 36 holes, so I had to play my remaining 30 on Saturday. On
Saturday the weather was good but the course was still very wet. Bogeyed
the 7th, my first of the day, missing a short par putt then 3 putted the
8th for par after a really good 2 iron over water. For the remainder of
the day I putted well, did not necessarily hole everything, but at long
last felt comfortable with my set up. Birdied the 12th after chipping
stone dead then bogeyed 13. but made great up and down on 14. Pulled my
tee shot a little on 15 a reachable par 5 and it kicked viciously left
into a hazard, almost impossible considering the wetness. However I made
good par though and holed nice 20 footer on 17 to get back to +1. On 18,
a reachable par 5 with water left off the tee and in front of green and
a second shot up a steep hill, I had to hit cut 3 iron which I hit nearly
perfect but it would not cut and went in hazard for a disappointing 6.
I had 30 minutes between rounds and rushed to the first tee after a quick
lunch and hit a horrible tee shot left into water causing bogey and right
on the 2nd causing another dropped shot. After that I settled down and
played much more solidly. Made a good up and down for birdie on 3 again
which was cancelled out by airmailing the green on the short 5th leaving
no real shot. Good two putt birdies on reachable par 5's at 6 and 9 after
great bunker save on 8. Unlucky not to birdie 10 and 11 before a 9 iron
to 3ft on 12 got me going. A 30 footer on 14 was undone with a 3 putt
on 15 where I hit two good putts after hitting my approach on the wrong
side of the hole. Driver, 6 iron on 17 left me downhill 30 footer for
eagle which I made. Think it is my first eagle in a tournament this year.
I hit lovely iron right into my target on the last to a pin tucked ridiciously
close to the water which felt good. Hit a good putt but it did not fall
but a 69 for tied 23rd was not a bad day's work. I did not hit the ball
as well as I have been and made far too many basic mental errors early
on, but I managed to stay more positive than I have been and was nice
to get some momentum going over the second round. That is something that
has been missing in earlier rounds even though I was hitting the ball
better then. Also pleasing to start feeling really good over the putter
and rolled the ball great over the last 27 holes. It was a shame about
those 3 putts to start with although it was hard to get any rhythm early
with the delays and the stop start beginning. I am looking forward to
coming home after 4 weeks on the road and will take some time off then
start working on my game for my next event. I am not sure what it will
be but will keep you posted. Even get to celebrate my birthday on Friday
at home for the first time in a good few years. Has to be better than
last year where I celebrated it with food poisoning in Kenya! David
Next Month
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