Last August in the semifinals of the club championship at Metropolis I was down two holes through 15. I had just three putted the easy par 3 to lose the hole and needed to make something happen quick. I somehow found it in me to make eagle on the 16th and go on to win the match on the second playoff hole - making key par putts on 17 and 18 to avoid elimination.
I didn't know it at the time, but going on to win the club championship earned me an exemption to the biggest stroke play amateur tournament in the area, the Ike, played this year at my home course Metropolis CC. The Ike brings together the best amateur golfers from within the Met Golf Association - an association of over 500 clubs in NY NJ and CT with about 130,000 golfers.
Monday I was paired with John Ervasti of Sleepy Hollow, the first group off the 1st tee at 7:30. Ervasti is a highly accomplished golfer who is currently leading the MGA player of the year race, and has played in at least 5 US Amateurs. After parring the first hole and bogeying the relatively easy second, I found myself in trouble off the tee on the 3rd hole. I was able to advance the ball to the fairway bunker leaving me a 40 yard bunker shot. I was able to put the shot to 3 feet and sink the putt.
That bunker shot helped me gain confidence and I started to feel very comfortable. I parred the 4th hole and then settled into a nice rhythm. I birdied the par 4 5th, and got up and down for par on the 6th, 7th, 8th, birdied the 9th, got up and down on the 10th, 11th, and 12th holes before bogeying the 13th and double bogeying the 14th with a three putt. I parred in from there for a 73 (+2) I wound up hitting only 5 greens but had an amazing 25 putts (by far a record for me) and was T-14 after day 1.
Four were tied for the lead at 69 (-2) and all those who shot 76 or better had the privilege of playing 36 on Tuesday. I was paired with Matt Demeo, the reigning LI Amateur champion. I have never seen anyone hit the ball as far as Matt; he was routinely flying his 3-wood past some of my better drives. We matched each other shot for shot in the morning, both shooting 74 and more or less maintaining our position in the field.
The afternoon round we started on 10. I doubled the hole after being greenside in two. I was in deep fluffy rough around the green growing in the opposite direction as my swing. i needed to hit a perfect chip to give myself a chance at par. But given the lie should have just ensured I was able to put the ball on the green and accept a bogey. Instead I chunked the chip and advanced it about 5 feet. Then I switched to the putter and hit a poor putt as the fringe grass was also growing against me and the ball was basically allergic to rolling smoothly on that kind of surface. I two putted for bogey and found myself +4 through 6.
I had yet to hit a good drive on the 16th hole and finally hit a good one in the third round. Playing directly into the wind I was left with 230 yards after a 260 yard drive. I didn't think even my best three wood could reach the green so I went for the driver and connected almost perfectly. Somehow, the ball landed softly and stopped about 20 feet short of the hole. I went up and drilled the putt to improve to +2, and played the final 11 holes in +1 to finish the tournament with 73-74-74 and a tie for 19th place.
Overall, I'm pleased. I no longer consider myself a "tournament tough" golfer, so to hold my own against such a strong field is a good feeling. A little surprising, the 14th hole proved to be my nemesis, failing to make par in any of the three rounds, with one double. The 10th hole also was difficult for me (and the rest of the field) as I averaged bogey over the three rounds. Both the 8th and 12th holes I played in +2. I played the 16th hole at -3, and the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 9th in -1. Over three rounds I missed 3 putts inside of 5 feet, and was unable in several spots to give myself a good chance at making a putt after a greenside chip.
