Living the Dream: TCC Razon Invitational

Written: January 28, 2011

After the conclusion of the Philippine Open in mid-December of last year, my eyes were set on this one event: The TCC Razon Invitational. Along with the Philippine Open, I would consider the TCC Razon Invitational as one of the two majors on the Philippine Golf Tour. This tournament is the richest local event in the Philippines featuring a winner's prize of P1.4 million (appx $32,000) while most of the season's events give out P200,000 for winners. You could see why this is a big one. It's comparable to the Fed Ex Cup finale of the PGA Tour where winners of events normally take home 1 million dollars for a win but win the Fed Ex Cup at season's end, and you'll take home a whopping 10 million dollars!

I've played against and met all the big names in Philippine Golf before but its the first time they've all come out together for this event. The likes of Frankie Minoza who will be a Champions Tour member for 2011, Angelo Que, Juvic Pagunsan, Mars Pucay, Tony Lascuna, Jay Bayron, Cassius Casas are among the few elites in the field.

Coach Cassius and I prepared for this event as far back as before the new year, playing almost everyday in TCC working on swing changes and getting our groove. By the time the tournament came along and after a good showing with my Tita Bernie in the Pro-Am, I felt ready despite playing with a recent change in my grip.

Needless to say, that preparation didn't seem to translate into a solid showing as I ballooned (that's an understatement) to a 19 over par round of 89. In the perfect storm of weather and screw ups, and back luck, that round would come down as my highest competitive round since my junior golf days. Not to make any excuses, but there were also some very accomplished pros that were close to my score. It was one of the most difficult conditions I have ever played in, excluding the freezing conditions I remember playing in my college days.

On the second round, which I knew would be my final round since I would be missing the cut, I didn't feel like I did anything different. I continued to nurse my new grip, approached the day the same way, although probably not in the best mood after what just happened the day before. And just like that, I turned in a 69, 20 shots better than the previous day. Not as if the conditions were any easier than the day before. The wind was howling to the point where a stand bag wouldn't even stay up because of how strong the wind was. Yet as if I hadn't shot an 89 the previous day, I turned it around to have the 2nd best score of the day behind only Juvic Pagunsan's 68. Jokingly as I was playing the 2nd round and finally got things going, Coach Cassius, my playing partner said, "Yan ang Carl Ocampo na kilala ko! (That's the Carl Ocampo who I know!) Kahapon, si Dr. Ocampo yata ang naglalaro (Yesterday, it looked like your dad playing)

What changed from the day before? It's a question that I got from several people including Mr. Ricky Razon. In peculiar rounds like those, I believe that before moving on, you must analyze what happened. Looking back, it was simply a combination of the wind, bad luck, and some bad swings. Like in those Bell Shaped curves you learn back in statistics class for those who remember, that round would be in the far tip of the spectrum. An outlier shall we say. Didn’t even fall inside the 99.7% confidence interval. I hope I’m still using my math terms correctly.

Overall, the week was a humbling experience. I left very upset to say the least. Having been here in the Philippines and having played several of these pro tournaments, I was very comfortable in this atmosphere. I had put so much effort in the weeks leading up to the tournament that my psyche made me believe that I was bound for guaranteed success. Despite my successes in recent tournaments, the sport has a way of reminding you that you can never own golf, you can only borrow it at times. If golf were easy, then based on the effort all of us pros and pro hopefuls put in, we’d all be making millions of dollars.

Moving forward, I must remind myself of my long-term path to improvement and surely there will be bumps along the way. Bob Rotella says it best in his book The Golf of Your Dreams, “If you want to improve your golf game, you have to accept long periods when your efforts can seem wasted, when your scores don’t reflect the effort you’re putting in. These are the times that patience and perseverance will be the most important traits you can have.”

So there you have it. Along we go on the journey. Still marching on!