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May 2003
6 May, Michelin Guadalajara Classic, Mexico
Finally I'm getting to play some golf. After a few weeks away on the practice
ground it's back to the real work of tournament golf here in Mexico. The
temperature is in the high 30's Celsius so it's going to be very hot and
tiring out on the course. Will need to be drinking a lot of water. The
course itself is in great condition and very good so hopefully this will
spur me on to a great week. We are 5000ft above sea level so the ball
is going an absolute mile in the thin air which is great for the ego but
makes club selection very difficult. Looking forward to the week and hopefully
some good scores. David
7 May Michelin Guadalajara Classic, 1st Round, 72(+1)
Just finished the first round here in Mexico. Shot 72 +1. Had a good
start, dreadful middle and finished pretty strongly. Bit of a relief to
be playing in the morning so could get started without the serious heat
kicking in. It has been 37 degrees on quite a few days. The layout of
the course is excellent. The rough is very punishing and very difficult
to play out of due to the type and thickness of the grass. Birdied the
3rd when I holed from 40 ft but then I bogeyed 6 and 7 followed by a double
bogey on the 8th when I plugged in a bunker and failed to get the ball
out. A bit scrappy after that but birdies on the 12th, 14th when I chipped
in from fringe after screwing back of the green and 18 another reachable
par 5 were a bit of a moral boost. Hit the ball solid at the start as
well so disappointing to throw so many shots away so quickly. Need to
improve my wedge play tomorrow. Had problems trusting it today as the
ball goes so far. Quite hard to control the distance. 150 yards is just
a normal wedge! Playing late tomorrow. David
8 May, Michelin Guadalajara Classic, 2nd Round, 79(+8)
Well not a lot I can say about what happened today. Played badly from
the start and didn't get any breaks when I needed them. Finishing 9 over
for the 2 rounds means I missed the cut which is very disappointing. Not
much went right. Every club in my bag I seemed to be struggling with.
Drove the ball everywhere and couldn't make a thing on the greens. That
put more pressure on me to hit the greens in regulation but when you are
not playing from the fairway and can't make an up and down it is always
going to be a hard 18 holes of golf. This was my first event in a while
but that is still no excuse. The temperature again was still up in the
high 30's. Great for the tan but not very nice to play in. Hopefully I
can take some positives out of this week and try to get ready for my next
event. David
16 May, Corona Ixtapa Classic, 1st Round, 73(+1), 2nd Round,71(-1)
Apologies for the lack of updates this week but with no phone and comfortably
the slowest internet connection in the world it has been difficult to
stay in touch with the developed world. Ixtapa is a resort town which
is pretty nice although it is now out of season so relatively quiet. It
was hot again this week but feels so much worse due to the high level
of humidity which makes doing anything apart from pool volleyball very
hard work. For any film buffs Ixtapa is the little fishing village they
end up in The Shawshank Redemption. Anyway the golf was not great. Shot
73, 71 to finish level par and miss the cut by three. The golf course
was a pretty good layout but relatively easy. I hit the ball ok both days
but poor pitching, putting and far too many little mental mistakes meant
I hit quite a lot of fairways and greens but did not score well and could
not get any momentum going. The greens were very grainy and the condition
of the course was poor. I read the grain pretty well but had problems
committing to the line and speed of the putts. Was far too tentative with
my wedge play and pitching which meant I was always short due to the grass
always grabbing the club head. I started to drive the ball well but with
wide fairways and little rough or serious trouble it was a pitching and
putting contest. The first day I birdied the 6th to turn at one under.
Didn't start the back nine well when I double bogeyed the 10th by way
of a poor pitch followed by 3 putts. Made one solitary bogey on 15, again
with a 3 putt but birdied the 17th to end up shooting 1 over. In the second
round things were a bit better. After a bogey at the 2nd I made a great
eagle on the 4th after hitting a 4 wood over the water to 10 feet. Gave
one back when I made a bad bogey on 6 with 3 putts but hit straight back
with a birdie on 7. Pared my way to 15 where I made bogey from 30 yards
short of the green with no trouble in my way! Birdied 17 again but it
was a little too late. Disappointing week as all my dropped shots were
very soft and could not make nearly enough birdies to keep in touch with
the leaders. The winner had 28 birdies! Arrive back home on Tuesday morning.
Game not that bad, just need to work hard over the coming weeks and make
sure I focus on my short game, visualisation and to keep my practice sharp.
During the ten week lay off before these two events I had allowed my game
to lose the preciseness required it succeed at this level. Cheers, David
Next Month
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