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I played a tournament in Wendover on Thurs-Friday The Casino Open. This is a big tournament with a huge payout (compared to most local tourneys), the Casinos add in quite a bit of money. It is a two man best ball format, my playing partner and I finished 2nd last year and won $300 each to the proshop. THis year the tournament was even larger they paid out 10 spots gross and 10 spots net. With 1st place receiving $1200 each.
We really liked our chances as the course is fairly short but extremely tight. In fact you do not have any holes running side by side without some desert in between. You have to keep the ball in the fairway you will you end up in the sage brush. THe pins were all in very tough locations, however with the length of the course in reality you should be hitting wedges and high irons in to every green.
My partner and I have played 7 tourneys together over the past few years and have finished in the money every time. We are great at ham and egging it and just seem to always play well together. Our tee time Thursday was at 8am (no shotgun start, they stagger tee times off the first and 10th tee and on day 2 the pairings are based on the leaderboard). We show up to the course at 7:15 to get loose before our tee time and it is already 87 degrees. On the range I feel great, honestly I am hitting the ball flush with every swing, my drives are long and straight, I am full of confidence.
We start on the back on Day 1, they pair us up with two older gentleman that are an 18 and an 8 handicap. I am given honors and I step up on the first tee which is a 560 yard par 5 that is slightly downhill and I lace a tee shot right down the middle, I absolutely murdered this ball. Everyone else hits decent shots and we are off. I get down to my ball and I am only 206 out. I pull out my 5 iron and I stick it about 12 feet from the pin for an eagle putt. I end up lipping out the putt but we make birdie on hole 1 and we are feeling great.
Then the wheels came off, for the next 30 holes over two days I could not get off the tee. I am not sure what happened or how it happened but I started duffing every single tee shot. When I didn't duff my tee shot I would hit it low about 10 feet in the air and it would only travel about 180 yards. I was gripping it so hard trying to fix it that by hole 4 I had blisters on 3 different fingers. The worst part about the entire thing was that I was money with my irons and my putting so I was still making a lot of pars as long as my tee shot was in play. On quite a few holes however a duffed tee shot meant OB and a re-tee. Well I put 3 balls in the water off the tee on one hole, water that shouldn't even be in play and just picked up. The first day I ended up making 1 birdie and 8 pars. But I also had 3 "X"s on my card where I didn't finish and two triples.
It didn't help that it was 110 degrees in the middle of the desert. My partner was actually playing very well, he is a legit 16 handicap (only uses tournament scores) and he shot an 83 the first day. The problem was I didn't contribute after that first hole and he would par the same holes I would. Day 1 we end up shooting a gross 76 and a net 64. WHich actually put us right in the middle of the pack and if it was a 1 day tourney we would have finished 8th on the net side. It was definitely all my partner.
Day 2 we are sent out at 2:10 in the afternoon in some blistering heat. We are paired with the mens assocation president of the course who also runs all of the sportsbooks in Vegas, along with the GM of the casinos down there. Really nice guys that are both single digit handicaps. Again we start on hole 10 which has a pond right next to the tee box that honestly is not even in play. Well not in play for the average golfer, I duff my tee shot again right in to the pond. Over the next 12 holes I struggle and continue to play terrible. Now my putting is bad along with my irons. I hit one below average tee shot on a 310 yard dowhill par 4 that left me 50 yards to the hole, I stick my 2nd shot 3 feet away and I of course miss the birdie, and then miss an 18 inch putt coming back for par. Other than that hole I do nothing on the front nine. My partner again is playing well and birdies two holes on the front and shoots a 37. As a team guess what we shoot a gross 37 and a net 31 on the first 9.
Again this puts us right in contention I just need to pull my head out on the front nine (our back 9). Hole 1 I go OB twice, my partner finally has a bad hole and we take a team double. Hole 2 is a 160 yard par 3 over water, I hit two tee shots in the water, my partner hits 1 and we take another team double. HOle 3 is a 550 yard par 5 with water up the left side. I actually hit a great tee shot here and a great 2nd shot. I have about 60 yards to the pin over the edge of the water. I hit it a hair fat my ball lands on the front of the green and spins back in to the water. After a bladed chip and some terrible putting we take a team triple! At this point we know we are out of contention.
Over the remaining 6 holes I fix my driver somehow (still not sure what I did) and I play them myself at -1. My partner also plays well and we finish the last 6 holes at -2 as a team. We end up shooting a gross 41, net 37 on the back 9 (I think, I was so pissed I never even looked at the scorecard). I am still not sure what scores ended up in the money as the second we came off the course soaked in sweat and exhausted from the heat we jumped in our car and drove straight home.
Throw the losses at the casino over the 3 days and it was a tough weekend. My hands still hurt from the dead grip I had on my clubs.
We really liked our chances as the course is fairly short but extremely tight. In fact you do not have any holes running side by side without some desert in between. You have to keep the ball in the fairway you will you end up in the sage brush. THe pins were all in very tough locations, however with the length of the course in reality you should be hitting wedges and high irons in to every green.
My partner and I have played 7 tourneys together over the past few years and have finished in the money every time. We are great at ham and egging it and just seem to always play well together. Our tee time Thursday was at 8am (no shotgun start, they stagger tee times off the first and 10th tee and on day 2 the pairings are based on the leaderboard). We show up to the course at 7:15 to get loose before our tee time and it is already 87 degrees. On the range I feel great, honestly I am hitting the ball flush with every swing, my drives are long and straight, I am full of confidence.
We start on the back on Day 1, they pair us up with two older gentleman that are an 18 and an 8 handicap. I am given honors and I step up on the first tee which is a 560 yard par 5 that is slightly downhill and I lace a tee shot right down the middle, I absolutely murdered this ball. Everyone else hits decent shots and we are off. I get down to my ball and I am only 206 out. I pull out my 5 iron and I stick it about 12 feet from the pin for an eagle putt. I end up lipping out the putt but we make birdie on hole 1 and we are feeling great.
Then the wheels came off, for the next 30 holes over two days I could not get off the tee. I am not sure what happened or how it happened but I started duffing every single tee shot. When I didn't duff my tee shot I would hit it low about 10 feet in the air and it would only travel about 180 yards. I was gripping it so hard trying to fix it that by hole 4 I had blisters on 3 different fingers. The worst part about the entire thing was that I was money with my irons and my putting so I was still making a lot of pars as long as my tee shot was in play. On quite a few holes however a duffed tee shot meant OB and a re-tee. Well I put 3 balls in the water off the tee on one hole, water that shouldn't even be in play and just picked up. The first day I ended up making 1 birdie and 8 pars. But I also had 3 "X"s on my card where I didn't finish and two triples.
It didn't help that it was 110 degrees in the middle of the desert. My partner was actually playing very well, he is a legit 16 handicap (only uses tournament scores) and he shot an 83 the first day. The problem was I didn't contribute after that first hole and he would par the same holes I would. Day 1 we end up shooting a gross 76 and a net 64. WHich actually put us right in the middle of the pack and if it was a 1 day tourney we would have finished 8th on the net side. It was definitely all my partner.
Day 2 we are sent out at 2:10 in the afternoon in some blistering heat. We are paired with the mens assocation president of the course who also runs all of the sportsbooks in Vegas, along with the GM of the casinos down there. Really nice guys that are both single digit handicaps. Again we start on hole 10 which has a pond right next to the tee box that honestly is not even in play. Well not in play for the average golfer, I duff my tee shot again right in to the pond. Over the next 12 holes I struggle and continue to play terrible. Now my putting is bad along with my irons. I hit one below average tee shot on a 310 yard dowhill par 4 that left me 50 yards to the hole, I stick my 2nd shot 3 feet away and I of course miss the birdie, and then miss an 18 inch putt coming back for par. Other than that hole I do nothing on the front nine. My partner again is playing well and birdies two holes on the front and shoots a 37. As a team guess what we shoot a gross 37 and a net 31 on the first 9.
Again this puts us right in contention I just need to pull my head out on the front nine (our back 9). Hole 1 I go OB twice, my partner finally has a bad hole and we take a team double. Hole 2 is a 160 yard par 3 over water, I hit two tee shots in the water, my partner hits 1 and we take another team double. HOle 3 is a 550 yard par 5 with water up the left side. I actually hit a great tee shot here and a great 2nd shot. I have about 60 yards to the pin over the edge of the water. I hit it a hair fat my ball lands on the front of the green and spins back in to the water. After a bladed chip and some terrible putting we take a team triple! At this point we know we are out of contention.
Over the remaining 6 holes I fix my driver somehow (still not sure what I did) and I play them myself at -1. My partner also plays well and we finish the last 6 holes at -2 as a team. We end up shooting a gross 41, net 37 on the back 9 (I think, I was so pissed I never even looked at the scorecard). I am still not sure what scores ended up in the money as the second we came off the course soaked in sweat and exhausted from the heat we jumped in our car and drove straight home.
Throw the losses at the casino over the 3 days and it was a tough weekend. My hands still hurt from the dead grip I had on my clubs.
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