Paper Hogan nets a Top 10

Played in another Golf Channel Amateur event this past Sunday and finished T-8th out of 20 guys in the Championship flight shooting 78. Back to back doubles on 11 and 12, and not a single birdie. The funny thing is, I've never been more excited about shooting 78 in my life. Man, are we CLOSE! Here we go!

Been hitting it a lot better lately, played 9 holes on Saturday at Lone Tree to get a feel for the swing, greens, etc. Played not great, hit it ok, stopped after 9 and hit some balls, got to hitting it ok. Showed up Sunday morning and hit it decent on the range. Was not hitting the driver well on Saturday, but Sunday morning I hit 3 in a row real good. Stood up on #1, my man Gary (tournament director) announces me and I clanged one off the fence on the right side. The ball kicked dead left and settled in the fairway. Now I've been reading a bunch of phsychology books and I took the opportunity to look at this very positively. I figured it must be my day if I can hit a 1/2" wide fence stake to keep me from going OB on #1, it's a good day. So I hit a half assed weak 5 iron pin high right, great pitch shot to about 3 feet, but dead above the hole. The greenskeeper must have been pissed off because the pin on #1 was on a shelf and wicked fast. I put it out there as far as I dared and missed it, oh well, bogey on the first. I pulled the wrong club on the par 3 second, came up 20 yards short. Hit the pitch way too far to the back of the green, nearly made the putt, 2 over after 2. Toed the tee shot on 3, hit a 7 iron to about 6 feet. Again, dead above the hole, put it out there as far as I dared and it missed, rolled 9 feet by. Made the putt for a good par. Blocked my tee shot a bit on #4, hit the SW a bit fat about 15 feet short, the putt just died left at the end, tap in par.

Decent tee shot on the par 5 fifth, although a bit blocked. Solid 3 wood just short of the greenside bunker. Really straightforward pitch over the bunker, the pin isn't tucked, I'm thinking 4 here. Yeah, I dunked it in the bunker, wow, that was great. One of the other guys thins his out of the same bunker over the green, these bunkers are a thin film of sand on concrete, so now I'm really happy. I dug the ball out, one hop, hit the stick, stopped an inch away. Routine 5. Good tee shot on 6, blocked the SW pitch about 15 feet right of the hole, hit a great putt and it stayed out. Bummer. So we're 2 over and coming up on one of the most difficult holes on the golf course, 470 yard par 4, water down the right side and I've been blocking tee shots. So the first guy gets up and snap hooks it left, nearly OB, he's playing a provisional. Now my turn, I aim down the left side thinking "the hell with it, put it up in the desert on the left" and put the most rope hookinest, dive bombinest, ugliest damn snap hook you'd ever seen, on the ball. It ends up about 150 yards off the tee just left of the cart path. "ok, it's dry" I say to myself. Nothing like a little positive reinforcement to get you in the mood. But that wasn't the worst, the last guy to hit overcompensates as well, nearly tops it, bounces off some rocks and ends up 15 yards left of the tee behind a tree in some rocks. My 150 yard rope hook is looking pretty good now. So, I get to my ball, hit the most gorgeous 6 iron layup to the middle of the fairway. Hit a thin "oh shit get down" 8 iron to about 6 feet and make the damn putt. What a great 4. I told you this was going to be my day.

Hit a great 4 iron, tugged a bit, on the par 3 eighth dead into the middle of the green. Looking at about a 40 footer now, hit a great putt about 2 feet short, tap in 3. Hit a perfect tee shot on the par 5 ninth. The point here is take it over this dead tree on the right and land it purposely in the desert on the top of the hill on the right. It's a big slope and will kick your ball well forward and left back into the fairway, and I couldn't have walked my ball out there any better, just like I drew it up. Now I've got 240 yards over a lake to a pin cut just behind the bunker. Nah, 4 iron about 30 yards short right, ran about 2 feet off the fairway. Hit a nice pitch to about 5 feet, and looking at a perfect putt. Downhill, right to left, and I missed it 3 inches right. Wow, what a bad stroke. 2 over after 2, 2 over after 9. Bombed it hard off the tee on #10 (a little red ass in that swing after that last putt), couldn't get lined up properly on my approach. Thought I would tug it a bit to compensate, nope, pin high right, then it spun down the slope. Got about 20 feet uphill breaking hard right to left. I misjudged the line by a mile and left myself 8 feet straight up the hill after it stopped rolling, but jarred it for par.

Hit a huge tee shot on 11, a gorgeous cut, into the lake that runs down the right side of the fairway. Dropped the ball, had 225 in, cut a 3 iron around the bunker onto the back fringe. Hit a good looking putt and it just kept going. Left myself about 6 feet for bogey, then the caddy starts talking. I'm not going to go into detail, but there was a guy with a caddy that was "struggling" and his caddy as trying to be positive. The problem was he was talking about "the putt just doesn't break on this, it just won't move, it's crazy" consoling his player after another miss. Well I get to listening and subconsciously dont' give it enough, slips by on the low side, double. As we're riding to the next tee, the guy I'm riding with states that he missed his putt because that guy "wouldn't shutup about lack of break", we almost died laughing after comparing notes on what we heard. At least I'm not the only one right?

Now the par 3 12th. 191 yard island green monster, God I hate this hole. I hit another weak 5 iron cut, right into the water. That damn 5 iron, I haven't hit but 2 or 3 good shots with that freaking thing, surely it's not me (ahem). Anyway, to the drop area, hit it to about 10 feet, above the hole, downhill left to right for bogey. I hit it perfect, I mean perfect, halfway there it hits a rock, bounces 3 inches in the air and 2 inches right, and just misses on the low side. Made the 6 footer for double. Ouch, what a stretch. Well let's get one back on the next hole...not so fast. 481 yard par 4, into the wind. Nice. I hit a great tee shot, still had 235 yards to go. Hit a great 3 wood into the back fringe, first putt to 9 feet, made the putt. Great frickin par dude. Half hearted 7 iron on the par 3 fourteenth, about 30 feet right. 2 tiers, pin on the bottom tier, almost made it, about 3 feet past the hole, made the putt for 3. Hit a corkscrew tee shot on the 470 yard par 4 15th, leaving me 230 in (240 yard teeshot downwind, stellar...), hit 3 iron a bit too far, over the back, good chip shot but just kept rolling. About 9 feet back up the hill, big slope on the right, it's got to go left, it must go left, it has to go...straight, left it on the right side, ball never moved. The guy I'm riding with was nearly on the same line and I swear his jaw hit the green. He said "well Scott, you saw it, trust it and hit it straight". After he made his I told him he owed me one putt.

Good tee shot on 16, 87 yards into the wind, perfect SW, pulled a bit, 10 feet left, pin high, read too much and missed it on the high side, good par. Great tee shot on 17, finally. Had 170 in, hit a worthless weak cut 6 iron, 2 feet from being enough, rolled back down into the bunker. Green is 4 feet above my head, hit it to about 4 feet below the hole, made the putt. Pulled my tee shot on the par 5 18th (was thinking "water has been in play 3 times so far, you put it in twice, don't block this into the water on the right", great swing thought eh?), had about 290 yards in. So I'm going back and forth on this one "hit 3 wood because I haven't made a birdie all day, I'm a million over, let's make something happen." And then I decide on a 5 iron. Water all down the left side near the green, let's not make it worse than it already is, you can still make birdie from the fairway. Hit the 5 iron perfect (damn, maybe it's NOT the club), left me 94 yards to the stick. Blocked the SW about 15 feet right, then let it run out of gas going down the hill, it was enough distance to get there, but not enough speed to hold the line, tap in par.

So let's take inventory, started out bogey, bogey, nearly making both par putts. Back to back doubles on 11 and 12, which truth be told, I was actually thinking about NOT hitting it in the water all week in my head while preparing, and 2 putts that absolutely should have dropped that didn't, 78. In all, I hit the ball a million times better than the last tournament, and I'm hitting it even better now (more on that in the next post). I walked away from this tournament feeling so good about a 78 that I should be ashamed, but the thing is, I know I'm so close. I'm hitting shots now that just feel, sound and respond differently than ever before. Very excited right now. The next tournament is 2 weeks away on 1/27, although about 50 miles from my house. Practice round and tournament day is going to suck for this one, oh well.