Well, I've had a lot of rest this week, and I'm also nursing a bad wrist and a bit of a cold (long lasting cold, since I've had it for over 2 weeks now). I took monday and tuesday off to rest and recover from last weeks tournament travel. Wednesday I practiced for a few hours and had some friendly bets going on the putting green with some kids from the course I play at. It was pretty nice and is great putting practice.
I played today (thursday) at Club El Rincon, where the Colombian Open will be held in 4 weeks. The course will be playing really hard. The rough is long, thick and fluffy. Its almost impossible to hit the ball out if you get a bad lie. I played the white tees today, since they are protecting the tournament tees and I had a good day. I hit 15 greens, I had 28 putts for a 67 (-5). It was almost like a mini tournament, since we had 16 guys, mostly touring pros from down here. I came in first by 2 strokes and it was a great confidence booster for the upcoming 4 tournaments.
On friday, I played well again. I shot 66 on another money game with some pros, which I beat again! Saturday I shot a 71, raising my total to -12 in 3 rounds, which is great for the upcoming tournaments. Sunday all the weeks work got to me, and I played an ok round, but I still feel like I have my A game for these coming tournaments. I travel tomorrow and I will be out of town for 3 weeks. I'm not sure how easy it will be to post, but I will do my best. You can check scores at www.fedegolfcolombia.com and look for "Ibague", "Armenia" and "Pereira" which are the tournaments I will be playing in.
Now, I'm ready for tournament play!
Cheers!
Friday, June 8, 2007
Monday, June 4, 2007
Tournament Report!
Well, I had problems getting to a computer after my second round. I wasn't able to post anything, so I will make a review of the 3 remaining rounds.
I just got back from Manizales, and it's around 4:30am here... it was a looong trip back, with a lot of turns and little sleep.
Second Round:
I hit the ball pretty well and I finally made some putts! I hit 15 greens and had 31 putts. It felt like I left some birdies out there, but with a score of 69 (-3) I was moving into a good spot. I moved up 4 spots from 16th to 12th. We played with lift-clean-and-place rule. Angel Romero shot 63 to move into the lead with -10.
Third Round:
The lift-clean-and-place rule was gone, but the course was in even worst conditions than before. It rained all Friday afternoon and night, making the course soggy and the ball was picking up a lot of mud. It was hard to hit the ball close and control was the big issue on Saturday. I hit only 8 greens and I had 27 putts, for a score of 74 (+2). Usually I would have been disappointed with that score, but I had a rough stretch from 11 to 13, where I shot +5 in those holes. I was even par going into the par 3 11th, and I made a simple bogey. On the 12th hole, I hit my ball out of bounds, then proceeded to hit my second ball in a cross-bunker and ended up making a triple bogey 7 on that hole. Hole 13 is a short par 4, but I hit my ball behind a tree, and after failing to get it up and down for par, I was +5 for the day, +2 for the tournament with 5 holes remaining on my round. Here is where my round turned around. I made a 35 footer for birdie on the 14th hole, then hit my approach shot within 5 feet on 15, and I hit the green in 2 on the par 5 16th. I got it back to +2 for the day and -1 for the tournament. I went backwards on the leaderboard, moving to 15th place. Juan Carlos Echeverry was the leader with -11.
Final Round
I had a pretty uneventful front nine, I only missed a 4 footer for par on the second hole and pared the rest for a +1. I really didn't make any putts on the front nine, so I decided that I would take only 9 putts on the back. That was my goal, and I missed it by just a few! I had 12 putts, which shows me that I just need to concentrate more on my putting, be a little more aggressive and putts will drop. I was -1 for the day going into 18, where I pulled my drive and the ball plugged in the rough. I didn't get relief, so I hit it out of the hole was tough, but I managed to get it to the greenside bunker. From there I hit a bad bunker shot and a ball first putt, leaving me 12 feet for bogey and finish the tournament under par! I made that putt, and I was really happy to finish under par, and after the round, I realized that the bogey on 18th didn't cost me much, since I finished 11th place and 2 shots behind 10th place. I shot 72-69-74-72=287 (-1). Angel Romero won by 4 strokes with -14.
Over all, I'm pretty happy with my performance in this tournament. There is a lot of room to improve, which is good, but I finally finished under par again in a 72 hole tournament. This is another step in the right direction. Now is back to Bogota for a week before I get back on the road for 3 weeks straight.
I will get some well deserved sleep now... Cheers!
I just got back from Manizales, and it's around 4:30am here... it was a looong trip back, with a lot of turns and little sleep.
Second Round:
I hit the ball pretty well and I finally made some putts! I hit 15 greens and had 31 putts. It felt like I left some birdies out there, but with a score of 69 (-3) I was moving into a good spot. I moved up 4 spots from 16th to 12th. We played with lift-clean-and-place rule. Angel Romero shot 63 to move into the lead with -10.
Third Round:
The lift-clean-and-place rule was gone, but the course was in even worst conditions than before. It rained all Friday afternoon and night, making the course soggy and the ball was picking up a lot of mud. It was hard to hit the ball close and control was the big issue on Saturday. I hit only 8 greens and I had 27 putts, for a score of 74 (+2). Usually I would have been disappointed with that score, but I had a rough stretch from 11 to 13, where I shot +5 in those holes. I was even par going into the par 3 11th, and I made a simple bogey. On the 12th hole, I hit my ball out of bounds, then proceeded to hit my second ball in a cross-bunker and ended up making a triple bogey 7 on that hole. Hole 13 is a short par 4, but I hit my ball behind a tree, and after failing to get it up and down for par, I was +5 for the day, +2 for the tournament with 5 holes remaining on my round. Here is where my round turned around. I made a 35 footer for birdie on the 14th hole, then hit my approach shot within 5 feet on 15, and I hit the green in 2 on the par 5 16th. I got it back to +2 for the day and -1 for the tournament. I went backwards on the leaderboard, moving to 15th place. Juan Carlos Echeverry was the leader with -11.
Final Round
I had a pretty uneventful front nine, I only missed a 4 footer for par on the second hole and pared the rest for a +1. I really didn't make any putts on the front nine, so I decided that I would take only 9 putts on the back. That was my goal, and I missed it by just a few! I had 12 putts, which shows me that I just need to concentrate more on my putting, be a little more aggressive and putts will drop. I was -1 for the day going into 18, where I pulled my drive and the ball plugged in the rough. I didn't get relief, so I hit it out of the hole was tough, but I managed to get it to the greenside bunker. From there I hit a bad bunker shot and a ball first putt, leaving me 12 feet for bogey and finish the tournament under par! I made that putt, and I was really happy to finish under par, and after the round, I realized that the bogey on 18th didn't cost me much, since I finished 11th place and 2 shots behind 10th place. I shot 72-69-74-72=287 (-1). Angel Romero won by 4 strokes with -14.
Over all, I'm pretty happy with my performance in this tournament. There is a lot of room to improve, which is good, but I finally finished under par again in a 72 hole tournament. This is another step in the right direction. Now is back to Bogota for a week before I get back on the road for 3 weeks straight.I will get some well deserved sleep now... Cheers!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
First Round Report
Well, first round is over and now it's time to report. I shot 72, I hit 17 greens, 12/14 fairways (the new Pro S Driver seems to be working fine!) and had 35 putts. Now, before anything I would like to say that I didn't putt all that bad. I had 4 horrible lipouts and one normal lipout, so that accounts for most of the putts, besides, I hit some greens on the wrong side (testing those pesky downhill putts I was talking about yesterday) and of course it was hard to two-putt. But I'm nothing but encouraged by this start. I'm rolling my putts well, I'm striking the ball awesome and its a matter of time before I get a good round going and even a good tournament going!
Now about the course. Unfortunately, last night it rained ALL night, so the course was completely soaked. My worries about having mud on the ball were dissipated after I found out that the first round would be playing with lift-clean-and-place rule. The fairways are pretty wet and its all carry with your driver. The greens are in ok shape, they have some brown spots, but I'm not sure why. It seems that they tried to get them fast too soon and scalped them. But it still they roll fine.
I play at 9:30 tomorrow, again with Rodrigo, who didn't have a great round today. He shot 74 (+2).
I'm ready for a good round tomorrow... I hope it doesn't rain tonight!
Now about the course. Unfortunately, last night it rained ALL night, so the course was completely soaked. My worries about having mud on the ball were dissipated after I found out that the first round would be playing with lift-clean-and-place rule. The fairways are pretty wet and its all carry with your driver. The greens are in ok shape, they have some brown spots, but I'm not sure why. It seems that they tried to get them fast too soon and scalped them. But it still they roll fine.
I play at 9:30 tomorrow, again with Rodrigo, who didn't have a great round today. He shot 74 (+2).
I'm ready for a good round tomorrow... I hope it doesn't rain tonight!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Ready for the First Round...
Well, I've played 2 rounds at the Manizales course and it is a pretty nice layout... It is a short course, where you can hit a bunch of drives. It is pretty wet (we are in the middle of the rain season down here). The ball is picking up a lot of mud, which is a pain, because it affects the flight of the ball and it is very hard to measure how much. On the other hand, the course will play a little easier with wet fairways, since they are very undulated and have some runoffs towards out of bounds and hazards. It is a short course, I believe it plays around 6,600 yds. The greens are protected by a bermuda collar which is around 3-4 inches long, penalizing errant shots, good thing I played in bermuda grass last week!
The greens are bermuda also, but they are not in very good shape, I would say they are in ok shape. Some are flat, but most of them have a lot of movement to them, and they are lighting fast going downhill.
My tee off time tomorrow is at 9:20am and I will be playing with Rodrigo Castañeda, who is ranked 6th on the money list this year.
I'm looking forward to playing tournaments again and I feel good about my game! I will try to write after my round tomorrow! Cheers!
The greens are bermuda also, but they are not in very good shape, I would say they are in ok shape. Some are flat, but most of them have a lot of movement to them, and they are lighting fast going downhill.
My tee off time tomorrow is at 9:20am and I will be playing with Rodrigo Castañeda, who is ranked 6th on the money list this year.
I'm looking forward to playing tournaments again and I feel good about my game! I will try to write after my round tomorrow! Cheers!
Monday, May 28, 2007
I made it!!!
Well, I just finished an 9 hour trip from Bogota to Manizales, where I will be playing my next tournament... It was a long trip, but I was traveling with 13 other pros from down here (we rented a bus) so it was a fun experience, well, not really, but it was ok! ;-)
I will be playing my practice round tomorrow, pro-am on wed and tournament starts on thursday. I've never played this course, so I will tell you what I think about it either tomorrow or wed, depending on how much time I have to write....
logging off....
I will be playing my practice round tomorrow, pro-am on wed and tournament starts on thursday. I've never played this course, so I will tell you what I think about it either tomorrow or wed, depending on how much time I have to write....
logging off....
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Upcoming Tournaments!
After a two month layover without any tournaments, some swing changes and a trip to Wichita, I have 5 tournaments in the next 6 weeks! I leave Monday for my fist one, the Manizales Open. After that, I head back to Bogota for one week and then I'll be on the road for 3 weeks and playing tournaments for 4 weeks in 4 different cities (Ibague, Armenia, Pereira and Bogota).
May 31- June 1-2-3 Abierto de Golf - 'Ciudad de Manizales'
Club Manizales, Manizales
June 14-15-16-17 XXIII Abierto de Golf - 'Ciudad De Ibagué'
CC Ibagué, Ibagué
June 21-22-23-24 XXXI Abierto Cafetero de Golf
Club Campestre de Armenia, Armenia
June 29-30-1-2 III Abierto Internacional del Eje Cafetero - XXIII Abierto - CC Pereira
Club Campestre de Pereira, Pereira
July 5-6-7-8 60 Abierto de Colombia 'Copa Joaquin y Tomás Samper Brush'
El Rincón, Bogotá
May 31- June 1-2-3 Abierto de Golf - 'Ciudad de Manizales'
Club Manizales, Manizales
June 14-15-16-17 XXIII Abierto de Golf - 'Ciudad De Ibagué'
CC Ibagué, Ibagué
June 21-22-23-24 XXXI Abierto Cafetero de Golf
Club Campestre de Armenia, Armenia
June 29-30-1-2 III Abierto Internacional del Eje Cafetero - XXIII Abierto - CC Pereira
Club Campestre de Pereira, Pereira
July 5-6-7-8 60 Abierto de Colombia 'Copa Joaquin y Tomás Samper Brush'
El Rincón, Bogotá
Year in review!
Well, so far this year I've played 7 events, I made the cut on 6 of them and I won the first tournament, the Colombian Qualifying School. I played really solid golf in that tournament, where all I wanted to do was play smart golf and keep big numbers out. I knew if I could do that, I would have one of the 20 cards for the 2007 Colombian Tour. I did that and ended up winning the tournament, which was a big plus and a bust of confidence.
Serrezuela (Q School Tournament)
71-69-72=212 (-4) 1st/165
After that, I Monday qualified for a Challenge Tour event (2nd Circuit under the European Tour) and played good golf, except the third day when I injured my neck while warming up. Overall it was a great experience, I got to play with Nicholas Thompson and David Morland IV (they were in a Nationwide playoff 2 weeks after the event in New Zealand) and I realized that my game is not that far off from theirs and that I'm on the right track!
Club Colombia Masters, Country Club (Challenge Tour Event)
75-69-78-72=294 (+10) 56th/144
Third on my schedule was the National Pro Championship where I played either good golf or bad golf for each of 9 holes the first 2 days. I shot 33-40 and 40-32. I really played solid golf on that tournament, except 2 big numbers on hole number 3, where I was +8 (a 7 and a 9 on a par four) and finished +7 for the tournament. So -1 for 70 holes is not all that bad... I know, I got to keep those big numbers away.
National Pro Championship, Sabana Club
73-72-70-76=291 (+7) T19th/53
Following that even, it was the Carmel Open, which is a short course with some diabolic greens and pin placements. On some holes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to stop your ball around the cup, making 4, 5 or 6 putt greens pretty available to all players. I had problems with the grain of the grass (native grass) and I wasn't up to my normal ballstriking abilities. I was hitting a pronounced draw of the tee and my short irons were falling short of my targets most of the time.
Carmel Open
71-77-75-71=294 (+14) T19th/46
Moving on to the Club Campestre de Cali Open, I knew I had to make some swing changes, since that course is very demanding of the tee and it requires a slight fade on every tee shot. I took some lessons from Jorge Mesa, which in my opinion is one of the best golf teachers in Colombia. We changed some positions on my backswing that were producing the pronounced draw of the tee. The first day it worked perfect and I was able to hit the ball exactly where I wanted. I played nearly a flawless round for a -1 and a third place start. The second day, it was all a different story. I really couldn't work the ball and I was in the trees all day, no need to elaborate on that!
Cali Open
70-83=MC
After a weeks rest, I traveled to Girardot (2 hour car ride from Bogota) to a PGA Colombia Tournament, the first of the year. The Colombian Golf Federation runs the big Tour, and it has around 25 events per year, but the PGA also has a few events, not sanctioned by the Federation. This course is a long good test for most golfers, and unfortunately (or should I say, fortunately) it wasn't in its best tournament condition. The fairways were soft and the greens soft and slow, so it allowed for great scoring. This is by far the best ball striking tournament I've had this year. It was near flawless all tournament and I believe I hit around 80% of the greens in regulation. Unfortunately, this time my putting let me down, or I would have been around the 8-10 under par for the 72 holes. I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!
Penon (PGA Colombia Tournament)
74-73-70-71=288 (E) 10th/42
The last tournament of this stretch was the Serrezuela Open, which was played in the same course where I won Q School at the beginning of the year. The first day the set the hardest pins for each hole, and some were borderline stupid. The round was stopped due to a huge storm and we had to resume the next morning. After two good rounds I was in 7th place, and I think it kind of got to me. Saturday I shot 80, killing my hopes for a good tournament. I didn't handle the pressure well and I was mentally tired of all the tournaments. I was glad to have a break, but not such a long one, since we had a 2 month period without any tournaments.
Serrezuela Open
75-71-80-76=302 (+14) T23rd/61
Serrezuela (Q School Tournament)
71-69-72=212 (-4) 1st/165
After that, I Monday qualified for a Challenge Tour event (2nd Circuit under the European Tour) and played good golf, except the third day when I injured my neck while warming up. Overall it was a great experience, I got to play with Nicholas Thompson and David Morland IV (they were in a Nationwide playoff 2 weeks after the event in New Zealand) and I realized that my game is not that far off from theirs and that I'm on the right track!
Club Colombia Masters, Country Club (Challenge Tour Event)
75-69-78-72=294 (+10) 56th/144
Third on my schedule was the National Pro Championship where I played either good golf or bad golf for each of 9 holes the first 2 days. I shot 33-40 and 40-32. I really played solid golf on that tournament, except 2 big numbers on hole number 3, where I was +8 (a 7 and a 9 on a par four) and finished +7 for the tournament. So -1 for 70 holes is not all that bad... I know, I got to keep those big numbers away.
National Pro Championship, Sabana Club
73-72-70-76=291 (+7) T19th/53
Following that even, it was the Carmel Open, which is a short course with some diabolic greens and pin placements. On some holes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to stop your ball around the cup, making 4, 5 or 6 putt greens pretty available to all players. I had problems with the grain of the grass (native grass) and I wasn't up to my normal ballstriking abilities. I was hitting a pronounced draw of the tee and my short irons were falling short of my targets most of the time.
Carmel Open
71-77-75-71=294 (+14) T19th/46
Moving on to the Club Campestre de Cali Open, I knew I had to make some swing changes, since that course is very demanding of the tee and it requires a slight fade on every tee shot. I took some lessons from Jorge Mesa, which in my opinion is one of the best golf teachers in Colombia. We changed some positions on my backswing that were producing the pronounced draw of the tee. The first day it worked perfect and I was able to hit the ball exactly where I wanted. I played nearly a flawless round for a -1 and a third place start. The second day, it was all a different story. I really couldn't work the ball and I was in the trees all day, no need to elaborate on that!
Cali Open
70-83=MC
After a weeks rest, I traveled to Girardot (2 hour car ride from Bogota) to a PGA Colombia Tournament, the first of the year. The Colombian Golf Federation runs the big Tour, and it has around 25 events per year, but the PGA also has a few events, not sanctioned by the Federation. This course is a long good test for most golfers, and unfortunately (or should I say, fortunately) it wasn't in its best tournament condition. The fairways were soft and the greens soft and slow, so it allowed for great scoring. This is by far the best ball striking tournament I've had this year. It was near flawless all tournament and I believe I hit around 80% of the greens in regulation. Unfortunately, this time my putting let me down, or I would have been around the 8-10 under par for the 72 holes. I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!
Penon (PGA Colombia Tournament)
74-73-70-71=288 (E) 10th/42
The last tournament of this stretch was the Serrezuela Open, which was played in the same course where I won Q School at the beginning of the year. The first day the set the hardest pins for each hole, and some were borderline stupid. The round was stopped due to a huge storm and we had to resume the next morning. After two good rounds I was in 7th place, and I think it kind of got to me. Saturday I shot 80, killing my hopes for a good tournament. I didn't handle the pressure well and I was mentally tired of all the tournaments. I was glad to have a break, but not such a long one, since we had a 2 month period without any tournaments.
Serrezuela Open
75-71-80-76=302 (+14) T23rd/61
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