Written: October 6, 2010
Life is good so far. We've been here in Bulacan since Monday when the van with the guys picked me up in Greenhills (My Grandparent's house). From there, we all went to the course to play a practice round. First practice round, I was still getting familiar with the course. shot 78. Second practice round was on Tuesday, we played after the morning pro-am. I got 11 hours of sleep that night. Our hotel is like a motel 6. but smaller. I'm rooming with Coach JR Tampinco. So on Tuesday, I played better. Shot 70 2under. got the hang of the course.
Today, first round of my first PGT event here in Northwoods, I came out hot and made a 30 yard putt from the front of the green to a back pin for birdie! Wow! Then I parred the next few then I birdied 15. We started on the back nine. 2 under through 15. Then on 16, its a long par 3, 209yards up the hills, I left it short and didn't get up and down. Then on 17, you gotta hit a money tee shot with OB left and Hazard right, dog leg right. 400 yard hole, I took a hybrid to make sure I hit the fairway, but a not so good swing made my ball hook. it hit the left side of the left bunker and bounced out of bounds. Ouch. The shot, i pushed it to the right rough. Had to hit over the tree, then short of the green. got up and down from 30 yards to save double. 1 over through 8. On 18 (hole 9 of the day), I was about 10 yards from the out of bounds as I tried to cut the corner too much. Had only 120, put it on and made par. 1over front nine.
Making the turn on hole 1, I bombed a 350 yard drive downwind w/ fairly firm fairways. I had 175yard second shot on a par 5. Pulled it a bit, 40 feet left of the pin but in the rough. put my pitch to 5 feet and made par. back to even. Then made good swings fairways and greens golf on 2 and 3. On 4, I put it in the fairway bunker off the tee. Bad lie from 200 yards away and hazard to carry about 100 yards, I decided it wasn't worth the risk, I layed up. With 147 yards for the third shot dead into the wind, taking dead aim on a left pin placement, I stuck my 7 iron to 5 feet. But I missed the putt, bogey. On 5, drive, 3 woods, wedge, 2 putt. on 6, big 300 plus yard drive, lob wedge from 92 went over the pin, missed the putt for birdie. par. On 7, had 170 yards on a par 3, hit 7 iron to 18 feet. drained the putt and I walked it in because right after I hit it, I knew it was in. Looked great on the video camera for that hole. Lately, I've been taking a Rory Mcilroy, Fowler approach to putting. Its what putting out of your mind, the book , promotes. Look at the target, look at the ball, hit your putt. caring less makes you drain a lot more putts. If you miss, move on. no whining attitude. Because if you overthink your misses and plant it in your head, its like you are missing a putt over and over and it can do no good. I looked like such a pro out there. Coach JR said, good thing Carl you're not high blood. And I just laughed. In my mind, I'm thinking, I guess its the new Carl you're seeing.
On 8, I hit hybrid to the rough. then hybrid second shot to the greenside bunker. hit it to 25 feet, and 2 putted for bogey. Last hole, 430 yards up the hill and into the wind. dog leg right, I tried to overpower my tee shot, ended up hooking rather than the straight/fade ball flight I wanted. I was in the rough behind some trees, super up the hill second shot since I fell off the level of the fairway and down under the mounds. I hit 3 wood from about 215 through the trees and up in the air. Turns out i was in the greenside bunker, about 25 yards away shortsided. a bunch of people were watching as the afternoon wave was about to tee off. and the 9th hole is in front of the clubhouse. I hit a pure bunkershot to 5 feet and I heard a bunch of claps.But that 5 footer was a downhill putt with a left edge allowance. I trusted it and I didn't care whether it went in or not. I didn't care what score it was for and if I finished bogey, bogey, so be it. All I thought over the ball, see the line, look at your ball, putt it. and I made it.
1 over 73.
You gotta play tough to compete and I'm satisfied that I did that today. I had lunch w/ Gene Bondoc and Ton Ton Asistio after then I practiced. Hit balls, and I struck it even better. Coach JR said, sometimes when I hit wayward shots, my club gets stuck behind me and I lose that angle on the top of the swing and drop it underneath. That's the easiest swingthought to have, to take it straight back straight through, that's when I play my best golf. (Instead of the 2degrees inside as the trackman says, I tell myself to approach it w/ my clubpath at 0 degrees)
There are about 100 players in the field. A bunch of good ones. My childhood idols like Pacto, Cuello, all those guys are playing. A bunch of Asian Tour Players. Its a loaded field. Marvin Dumandan, who we practice with in The Country Club, was leading the morning leg with a 65. 9 birdies I heard. Wow!
Cut to 40 players after tomorrow. Project about 2 or 3 over. A good round tomorrow should do it. 11:20am tee time.
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| Practice Green |
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| Hotel room for the week |
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