I flew back from Pereira on Monday night (it was a Fri-Mon tournament), arriving at my house around 11pm and then I went to play my first practice round for the Open on Tuesday morning. The greens were rolling around 11 on Tuesday, and were fairly firm. To my surprise, the long rough I'd seen the months prior the tournament was gone in some parts due to lack of water or morning freeze. Still, the course had sharp teeth and you needed good luck in the rough to even have a chance of advancing your ball a few yards.
On Wednesday I played the pro-am and played pretty decent and shot a +4. By Wednesday afternoon the greens were rolling close to 12 and it was hard to stop the ball on the green.
Thursday: I started my day on the 10th tee at 12:30 (with a 11:35 tee time) after a long delay. I pared my first 10 holes, bogeyed 2 and 3, birdied 5, double 7 and bogeyed 9 for a round of 76 (+4) and tied for 25th, right on the cutline. I played a solid round, except for a couple of holes where I lost my concentration and hit poor shots. I wasn't satisfied with my round because I played a lot better than a +4 but over all it wasn't a bad start. The course was playing harder than most expected and there were only a couple of scores under par. The leader was at -2. The greens (the course biggest defense) were rolling around 12 or 12.5 on the stimp. The afternoon was playing considerably harder than in the morning, since the wind picked up and the greens dried up pretty quick!
Friday started early, with a 7:27 tee time on the 1st tee. I started with a birdie and then proceeded to bogey #2 and double #3. I was at +6 for the tournament and worried about the cutline! I settled down and shot an 38 (+2) on the front. I got it going on the back 9 with 3 birdies, 5 pars and only one bogey for a 34 (-2) on the back, for a total of 72 (E). After the morning wave, I moved from 25 to 6th with that round!! As the afternoon went on, I started to see the cutline move up (109 players, only Top 30 and ties made the cut) from +4 to +6, +8 and finally +10!! Gosh I was happy I played in the morning that day! My round kept getting better and better and by the end of the day I was tied for 10th place with +4.
Saturday was a bad day. I didn't have my A game and I missed a really good opportunity to move on the leaderboard. The course was playing really hard that day and the pin locations were close to unfair. If you happen to hit a green on the wrong side of the pin, a good putt would come to rest at least 10 feet from the hole! Some holes the ball wouldn't stop around the cup. The average for the 33 pros that made the cut was 78.84, over 6 strokes on the wrong side of par! I had 3 three-putts and shot 78. All and all, I only lost 1 spot with that round. I was at +10 for the tournament.
Sunday was my big opportunity to play a good round and gain some places. I pared my first 2 holes, birdied 3, pared 4 and 5, missed a short up and down on 6 for a bogey and made a 40 foot sneak on 7. After 2 more pars, I shot a solid 35 (-1) on the front. On the 10th tee, I barely missed the green and drew a bad lie on the fringe, plus a bad club selection led to a double bogey. I kept my cool and decided that I was still in a good spot, since 11 and 12 were birdie holes. Sure enough I birdied both, but I didn't stop there, adding 2 more birdies on 13 and 14. I made a great par save from 60 yds out on 15 and on 16th tee box someone told me that the leader was at +4 for the tournament and I was at +7 then! I hit 3 perfect shots on the par 5 16th and my 7 footer barely missed the cup. I lost my focus a little and finished with 2 bogeys, shooting a final round of 71 (-1) and the second best round of the day by a stroke.
I finished tied in 6th place and felt very close to the top spot... I was 5 strokes of the playoff, but I really felt like I have the game to win out here. I feel that my path is starting to be a little clearer and that I'm going in the right direction!
Well, I think this is enough for now... I travel again this coming Tuesday for another tournament and start another string of 3 tournaments in 4 weeks.
Here is the article for the Colombian Open (there is a pic of me there): http://www.federacioncolombianadegolf.com/noticia.php?nt=20328
Here are the results for the Colombian Open: http://www.federacioncolombianadegolf.com/noticia.php?nt=20324
On Wednesday I played the pro-am and played pretty decent and shot a +4. By Wednesday afternoon the greens were rolling close to 12 and it was hard to stop the ball on the green.
Thursday: I started my day on the 10th tee at 12:30 (with a 11:35 tee time) after a long delay. I pared my first 10 holes, bogeyed 2 and 3, birdied 5, double 7 and bogeyed 9 for a round of 76 (+4) and tied for 25th, right on the cutline. I played a solid round, except for a couple of holes where I lost my concentration and hit poor shots. I wasn't satisfied with my round because I played a lot better than a +4 but over all it wasn't a bad start. The course was playing harder than most expected and there were only a couple of scores under par. The leader was at -2. The greens (the course biggest defense) were rolling around 12 or 12.5 on the stimp. The afternoon was playing considerably harder than in the morning, since the wind picked up and the greens dried up pretty quick!
Friday started early, with a 7:27 tee time on the 1st tee. I started with a birdie and then proceeded to bogey #2 and double #3. I was at +6 for the tournament and worried about the cutline! I settled down and shot an 38 (+2) on the front. I got it going on the back 9 with 3 birdies, 5 pars and only one bogey for a 34 (-2) on the back, for a total of 72 (E). After the morning wave, I moved from 25 to 6th with that round!! As the afternoon went on, I started to see the cutline move up (109 players, only Top 30 and ties made the cut) from +4 to +6, +8 and finally +10!! Gosh I was happy I played in the morning that day! My round kept getting better and better and by the end of the day I was tied for 10th place with +4.
Saturday was a bad day. I didn't have my A game and I missed a really good opportunity to move on the leaderboard. The course was playing really hard that day and the pin locations were close to unfair. If you happen to hit a green on the wrong side of the pin, a good putt would come to rest at least 10 feet from the hole! Some holes the ball wouldn't stop around the cup. The average for the 33 pros that made the cut was 78.84, over 6 strokes on the wrong side of par! I had 3 three-putts and shot 78. All and all, I only lost 1 spot with that round. I was at +10 for the tournament.
Sunday was my big opportunity to play a good round and gain some places. I pared my first 2 holes, birdied 3, pared 4 and 5, missed a short up and down on 6 for a bogey and made a 40 foot sneak on 7. After 2 more pars, I shot a solid 35 (-1) on the front. On the 10th tee, I barely missed the green and drew a bad lie on the fringe, plus a bad club selection led to a double bogey. I kept my cool and decided that I was still in a good spot, since 11 and 12 were birdie holes. Sure enough I birdied both, but I didn't stop there, adding 2 more birdies on 13 and 14. I made a great par save from 60 yds out on 15 and on 16th tee box someone told me that the leader was at +4 for the tournament and I was at +7 then! I hit 3 perfect shots on the par 5 16th and my 7 footer barely missed the cup. I lost my focus a little and finished with 2 bogeys, shooting a final round of 71 (-1) and the second best round of the day by a stroke.
I finished tied in 6th place and felt very close to the top spot... I was 5 strokes of the playoff, but I really felt like I have the game to win out here. I feel that my path is starting to be a little clearer and that I'm going in the right direction!
Well, I think this is enough for now... I travel again this coming Tuesday for another tournament and start another string of 3 tournaments in 4 weeks.
Here is the article for the Colombian Open (there is a pic of me there): http://www.federacioncolombianadegolf.com/noticia.php?nt=20328
Here are the results for the Colombian Open: http://www.federacioncolombianadegolf.com/noticia.php?nt=20324
