Written: November 4, 2011
Two rounds are in the books here in Kota Kinabalu’s ASEAN Tour Sabah Masters. Not having played a practice round prior to the start of event, I teed it up yesterday for the first round. The good thing was that upon arrival two days ago on Wednesday evening, Quino, Jet, and Glenn accompanied me to check out the course. Since it was 7:30pm and dark already, I thought we going to eat dinner at the clubhouse so I wondered why they told me to bring my golf clubs. After the short shuttle ride from the hotel to the golf course, I noticed there were lights all over. Sutera Golf Club has night golf! We even asked to play a few holes which would have been great but they said they had closed the course already. Instead, we spent quality time practicing our short games on the well-lit practice green.
The following day on Thursday, it was time to tee it up, first off at 8am. Unfamiliar with the course, reliance on the course guide was essential. Thanks to the detail of yardages and slopes, it didn’t feel like I was losing out by missing a practice round. The struggles on the first round came with the full swing. I didn’t hit a single green on the front nine and shot 4 over par. Finding my timing was very difficult but the good thing was that it didn’t get to my head and I remained calm. After staying patient and finding the right swing thought that would get me through the round, it clicked on the back nine. Hitting most of my fairways and 7 greens, I turned it around to shoot a 1 under 35, a total of 3 over 73. The course played to a par 70 since two of the par 5’s were converted into extremely difficult par 4’s.
For the second round today, Friday, I drew a later tee time of 8:54am. The swing was a little better than yesterday for the most part, but there’s still some work to do. The short game had its moments with some good shots around the green and a few holed putts especially on the back nine. Nines of 39-34 to turn in another 73. Tied for 12th place, cleared the cut by 10 shots.
Right after the round, Glenn, Quino, Jet and I got some good practice on the range and the putting green. Tee time for the third round is at 8:20am. The goal of making the cut: check. On the range this afternoon, I found something that helped my ball striking tremendously. Planning on taking it to the course and going low tomorrow folks!
Time to get a good dinner in with the boys. We’ll check out the mall this time. Maybe some KFC or Kenny Rogers.
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