WRXers Scratch Amateur Tournaments Thread: Commitments, Results, etc....

[PureStrikes54]

7 minutes ago, Obee said:

Tai, is that you???

 

It is not, just a similar username. 😀

[kiawah]

I have my men's club championship qualifier on Friday morning. Really excited, but on the flip side, a bit nervous since my buddies have all been telling me I have a good shot at it this year since I have been playing quite well and I don't need to do anything all that special to qualify for the match play most years (breaking 80 usually gets the job done). Really just going to think about enjoying myself and just playing my game. There's a good chance that I will be less nervous than I think once I get out there. The anticipation is often the hardest part to get through. Updates to come.

[Obee]

5 minutes ago, kiawah said:

I have my men's club championship qualifier on Friday morning. Really excited, but on the flip side, a bit nervous since my buddies have all been telling me I have a good shot at it this year since I have been playing quite well and I don't need to do anything all that special to qualify for the match play most years (breaking 80 usually gets the job done). Really just going to think about enjoying myself and just playing my game. There's a good chance that I will be less nervous than I think once I get out there. The anticipation is often the hardest part to get through. Updates to come.

Best of luck!!

[Obee]

Pasadena City Senior starting tomorrow. Only in the last two days did I even think I had a prayer of playing. Going to stretch today and tomorrow and see how I feel. 8:20 tee time. Great field. We'll see ....

 

[cardoustie]

Lost in rd of 32 at our provincial senior match play a few weeks back, lost last 2 holes with a solid drive that went AWOL on 17, then a flier PW that went 175 into 18 and left me a 60 foot double breaking downhiller and a 3 jack.  My opponent had a wicked short game to tie a lot of holes

 

Big regional senior invite a week back, 72 for second place.  Good ranking points.  Happy with result, was 12th last yr
Also second in a 50 team senior one day 27 hole event 3 days later.  Tied the top 2 guys in the province.  9 better ball, 9 scramble and 9 alt shot into the hardest pins on every green.  Only 3 teams broke par !  Full battle stations.

 

Senior British Amateur in 2 weeks and after that the Ontario Senior Am which I’m exempt into

 

loving my new driver and 3 wood, hitting it solid, long and straight for a 56 yr old (almost 270 carry)

 

Need to really grind and prime up the short game.  Don’t trust the LAB mezz for tournaments yet

[kiawah]

Lost in a playoff on the 19th hole of the “elite 8” in my club championship. Really did not have my best stuff either yesterday or Friday during the qualifier and round of 16 as I was still working through a bit of a swing change and it wasn’t really holding up under pressure quite yet but now I have a lot of time to get it working before I get back into competition. 
 

Shot 78 in the qualifier to make it, not thrilled with the result but I was pretty nervous and we got put on the clock right after I had played the previous 3 holes in 2 under and played the next 4 holes (probably the hardest stretch on the golf course) in 5 over par. Missed a few shorties. Made an insane par in my first match after laying up on a 470 uphill par 4 with hazards everywhere and with my opponent putting from 25 feet for birdie. Ended up canning a 20 footer for 4 and he ran his putt by and missed. I beat him with a par on the second playoff hole. 
 

Yesterday I didn’t have my best stuff again (succumbed to pressure a couple times) but got unlucky when a drive I pulled about 10 yards hit the path 2x and bounced into the crap on 13. On 3, my opponents drive flew into the creek and hit a rock and caromed out 30 yards forward. My 3 wood landed in the fairway and jumped into the crap. We never found the ball. Luck is a big factor in matches that close. I had trouble turning the ball over again but managed to get by decent either way. My bunker game was surprisingly good but my chipping/pitching from the fairway off tight lies under pressure was substandard. I hit some wonderful clutch pitch shots from the rough though to save bogies and pars and secure halves and wins. Disappointed in how I drove the ball after driving it so well for so long but thems the breaks. I hit 2 of the best putts of my life under pressure on 16 and 17 and neither dropped. I won 18 to keep the match going on a clutch 4 footer. I missed a 5 footer on the 19th hole to keep the match going, wasn’t 100% sure of my line, my hands were SHAKING, I put a half decent roll on it but lipped out high side. All in all, much more good than bad, and great experience going to back to back playoffs seeing that I can stay in it under pressure. Just need to find one more shot for next year. Tough outcome but can’t hang my head. It was a battle and I proved to myself I don’t need to be playing my best to contend. I’ll get em one of these years. Back to the grind for now

[Ty_Webb]

Played a two day event at Bethpage this week. First round was a lot of fun. Birdied 1, shoved an 8 iron right on 2 and made bogey, three putt on 3 for another bogey, played 4 decently well and made par, great drive on 5 and then shoved my approach right (after aiming 15 feet left of the flag because I live in the bunker right of that green for some reason. I get up there and it's in the grass above the bunker - nice. Then go off to look for my playing partner's ball. Found that, came back and my ball has fallen in the bunker - not nice. Failed to get up and down from there and now +2 for the round. Great drive on 6, flick on the green and made 4. Good drive on 7, 3 wood to about 15 yards short of the green. Yippy pitch to a foot and a half (that was a novel experience and one I'm actually pretty happy about - if I get the technique right, it doesn't matter if I yip it). 4 and back to +1. Chip and a putt on 8 for a par. Par on 9. Drove it in the right bunker on 10, hit a 4 iron from 195 and caught it a bit heavy, which meant it laid up perfectly to the end of the fairway. Pitch on to about 20' and made that for a par. Missed 11 right after another good drive and chipped to about 6 inches. Missed 12 fairway a yard left, dug a six iron on the green and 3 putted again for bogey. Then on 13 drove it in the left bunker and that was the last shot I missed. 4 iron over the next bunker and pitch to 12 feet - missed that - 5. 9 iron on 14 to about 12 feet and lipped out. Driver on 15 that I aimed at the left edge of the fairway where it pokes out and landed it basically on the blade of grass I was aiming at. 6 iron up the hill to 15 feet and shaved the edge of the hole. Driver on 16 that was similarly straight as the previous one. 8 iron to 6 feet and holed it - back to +1. 6 iron on 17 to 12 feet and left it in the jaws. Driver on 18 that wound up 2 yards left of the center line (and was the least straight of my last three drives), 54 up to about 15 feet and missed that too. 72. Tied 4th - pretty happy with that.

 

Day 2 was a different story. I was quite excited about it since I had played the last 6 holes so well the previous day. Not going to go into too much detail on this one, but where I had hit 3 bunker shots on day 1, I ended up hitting 14 bunker shots on day 2. And I struggled with them badly. Day one had been two fairway bunkers and one greenside that went okay. Day two was also 2 fairway bunkers, but 12 greenside, which doesn't equate to a good score. I wound up in some jackass's footprint on one hole - in a tournament with people who should know better. Then on the last few holes, I wound up landing on grass and rolling back into bunkers on 14, 15, and 17 and missing fairways by a yard or less on 12, 13, 15 and the first two of those, ending poorly in a spot I couldn't reach the green.

 

Day 1 - 10 fairways, 13 greens, 32 putts. Day 2 - 5 fairways, 6 greens, 35 putts. A tale of two rounds, and a new contender for the biggest variance in scores in one tournament for me at any rate. 

[Ty_Webb]

Long Island amateur going on this week. Qualifying round yesterday - 31 make it to match play plus last year's winner is exempt into matchplay. It was HOT yesterday. I played early and played pretty well for the most part. We started on 13, which is just about the hardest hole on the property. Made bogey there, then birdied 16 and 18 to get to -1. Pulled my tee shot on 1 and never found it in fescue. Double. Then a bunch of pars, followed by another bogey on short par 3 9th hole. Now +2. Made a solid par on 10, missed long right on 11, failed to make the green with my pitch and then chipped to about 12 feet and made that for a pretty resilient bogey. Par on 12 to round it out. 73 (+3). That wound up being the number. There were 13 of us (!) tied for 20th place, which is 32 people total at +3 or better. Gearing up for a 13 for 12 play off, we found out that one guy couldn't make it back, so he WD'd and the other 12 of us all got through. 

 

Match play today - another scorching hot one. I was pretty erratic and the heat started to get to me by the end. I lost 3&2 and I'm not sure I could have played another full round today. It's 36 holes a day for three days if you make the final. Brutal stuff. Unsurprisingly there are a lot of youngsters still currently going. All the high school kids have a lot more stamina than I do...

[ThinkingPlus]

9 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

Long Island amateur going on this week. Qualifying round yesterday - 31 make it to match play plus last year's winner is exempt into matchplay. It was HOT yesterday. I played early and played pretty well for the most part. We started on 13, which is just about the hardest hole on the property. Made bogey there, then birdied 16 and 18 to get to -1. Pulled my tee shot on 1 and never found it in fescue. Double. Then a bunch of pars, followed by another bogey on short par 3 9th hole. Now +2. Made a solid par on 10, missed long right on 11, failed to make the green with my pitch and then chipped to about 12 feet and made that for a pretty resilient bogey. Par on 12 to round it out. 73 (+3). That wound up being the number. There were 13 of us (!) tied for 20th place, which is 32 people total at +3 or better. Gearing up for a 13 for 12 play off, we found out that one guy couldn't make it back, so he WD'd and the other 12 of us all got through. 

 

Match play today - another scorching hot one. I was pretty erratic and the heat started to get to me by the end. I lost 3&2 and I'm not sure I could have played another full round today. It's 36 holes a day for three days if you make the final. Brutal stuff. Unsurprisingly there are a lot of youngsters still currently going. All the high school kids have a lot more stamina than I do...

Way to hang in to make match play.

[otto6457]

I seldom contribute here about my exploits, In this case I feel like it might be a service to the senior competitive players on the forum that might be considering U.S Senior Amateur qualifying this season, but haven't found a qualifier with an open spot.  I just withdrew from the June 18th qualifier at Trinity Forest in Grand Prairie, TX. Trinity Forest is an interesting course.  If the wind cooperates it's definitely a course you can score on if your game is sharp.  If its windy, you will need your "A" game in spades.

 

I have no idea how long the opening will remain, or if there was a waiting list.  Either way, for anyone interested, it might be worth trying since there are usually several more spots to come open the week prior to the qualifier, as players drop out for many different reasons.  I have gotten into a USGA qualifier just three days prior, so with some luck it is possible.

 

I had been targeting this qualifier as my goal after my prostate surgery last August.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to return the game to the level required to be remotely competitive this season.  I am going to set my sights on next season and do my best to make one more run at the U.S. Senior Am in 2025.

 

Good luck out there everyone!

[dmecca2]

On 7/9/2024 at 4:19 PM, Ty_Webb said:

Long Island amateur going on this week. Qualifying round yesterday - 31 make it to match play plus last year's winner is exempt into matchplay. It was HOT yesterday. I played early and played pretty well for the most part. We started on 13, which is just about the hardest hole on the property. Made bogey there, then birdied 16 and 18 to get to -1. Pulled my tee shot on 1 and never found it in fescue. Double. Then a bunch of pars, followed by another bogey on short par 3 9th hole. Now +2. Made a solid par on 10, missed long right on 11, failed to make the green with my pitch and then chipped to about 12 feet and made that for a pretty resilient bogey. Par on 12 to round it out. 73 (+3). That wound up being the number. There were 13 of us (!) tied for 20th place, which is 32 people total at +3 or better. Gearing up for a 13 for 12 play off, we found out that one guy couldn't make it back, so he WD'd and the other 12 of us all got through. 

 

Match play today - another scorching hot one. I was pretty erratic and the heat started to get to me by the end. I lost 3&2 and I'm not sure I could have played another full round today. It's 36 holes a day for three days if you make the final. Brutal stuff. Unsurprisingly there are a lot of youngsters still currently going. All the high school kids have a lot more stamina than I do...

Congrats on making it to match play! Farber was one of my college teammates, so I was following closely as he went on to win.

[Ty_Webb]

1 hour ago, dmecca2 said:

Congrats on making it to match play! Farber was one of my college teammates, so I was following closely as he went on to win.

Thanks!

 

He was wearing long pants - crazy! Also he must have played very well indeed - he lead qualifying and went on to win and I know he beat some very good players on the way through too. 

[Obee]

Found out I got into the field for the Sunnehanna Senior in Jonestown, PA in mid-August. Doubt I will be able to accept. Back just not healing. Still getting sciatica just from standing more than 10 or 15 minutes. F-Me.

[Ty_Webb]

Damn David that really sucks!

 

I had Met Am qualifier today at North Hills on Long Island. Opened up with two bogeys. One was just a hard hole and one was a 40 yard pitch that went 15 yards (not ideal). Then made a heap of pars, two birdies, two more bogeys and finished up with +2 74. After the morning wave, the cut is 69 (-3)! Yikes! I didn't play that great today, but when I missed it was in manageable positions for the most part and I did hit quite a few good shots around the place too. Would have had to be seriously on to shoot 69 though. Not impossible, but not easy!

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Qualifier for the state mid am this coming Sunday. The course has 3 new holes with new greens that are rock hard relative to the rest of the course, and a par 3 with a temporary tee at 100 yards. The first hole that I think is temporary is completely dead other than the green. I have no idea which mix of holes they will be using so it will be interesting. I played it yesterday and was hitting the ball well at least.

 

The hurricane that came through Houston wreaked havoc on local courses but they do have it in decent shape, looking forward to competing again.

[mocokid]

Finally dipping my toe in water.  Super senior NJSGA.  August 5. Last try was 30 years ago, state am and MGA publinks. Lol

[Obee]

On 7/22/2024 at 3:22 PM, mocokid said:

Finally dipping my toe in water.  Super senior NJSGA.  August 5. Last try was 30 years ago, state am and MGA publinks. Lol

Love it!

What's your current index?

[mocokid]

2 hours ago, Obee said:

Love it!

What's your current index?

6.7

[TLUBulldogGolf]

On 7/22/2024 at 4:12 PM, TLUBulldogGolf said:

Qualifier for the state mid am this coming Sunday. The course has 3 new holes with new greens that are rock hard relative to the rest of the course, and a par 3 with a temporary tee at 100 yards. The first hole that I think is temporary is completely dead other than the green. I have no idea which mix of holes they will be using so it will be interesting. I played it yesterday and was hitting the ball well at least.

 

The hurricane that came through Houston wreaked havoc on local courses but they do have it in decent shape, looking forward to competing again.

71 in an absolute slop to make it in. Very scrappy round but very happy to put a score together and qualify, looking forward to the main event.

[golfortennis]

On 5/31/2024 at 3:14 PM, dmecca2 said:

Oh, I also played a local US open qualifier at a local course I know well and missed it by a shot. I failed to birdie any of the par 5's, and bogeyed 3 out of 4 of the par 3's, but managed to shoot even par. Not a bad round, but certainly one I should've walked away from -2 or -3 with more practice. They sent us out in a "6 for 1" playoff for the meaningless second alternate spot. I had to make a 15 footer for birdie to tie someone, then after 3 more pars, I stuck a 9 iron to a foot to win the spot. Felt good to win the playoff, but again, it will mean nothing now that the USGA has changed how the alternate spots work.

 

Late to this party, but what was the change if you don't mind me asking?

[dmecca2]

12 hours ago, golfortennis said:

 

Late to this party, but what was the change if you don't mind me asking?

If a professional who is exempt for final stage decides not to play, that spot used to go to alternates from local qualifying. As of about 3 years ago, they changed it so that alternates cannot fill those spots. This was done so that they could offer more spots at local qualifying. My understanding is that it's similar to how airlines overbook flights lol. They predict a certain number of exempt players will no show, and allocate those spots to local qualifying. In theory, it sounds good because more spots for local qualifying, but it REALLY sucks when they have the most important qualifying day of the year and there are open spots on the tee sheet.

 

edit: so now the only way for a local alternate to get into final qualifying is if someone from their local qualifying site withdraws. You used to be able to show up and wait at the first tee for someone to not be there.

Edited July 31, 2024 by dmecca2

[Mike_C]

On 7/28/2024 at 7:52 PM, TLUBulldogGolf said:

71 in an absolute slop to make it in. Very scrappy round but very happy to put a score together and qualify, looking forward to the main event.

Well done......

 

I have a Texas Senior Am qualifier here in Tyler tomorrow at Willow Brook CC.   I played there yesterday, was told their greens didn't come through the winter well, I hadn't seen them yet this year, all I can say is yikes...

 

We are playing one totally temporary green, a circle cut in the fairway off the to right of the second green.  Number 10 boarders their short practice 4 hole course, we are playing to one of these greens that is 50 yards left of the 10th, a quite small green.     Probably all but a few greens still have problems, some more so than others.   There are spots 10-20 feet wide on every green that you can put a pin, but some areas are still really bad......   

 

I heard the greenskeeper quit at Christmas, and when they had a freeze in February, he had not been replaced yet. They didn't get the tarps on correctly, basically killed a couple of really exposed greens and damaged most of the rest....

 

Its a shame, I played a Mid-Am qualifier there several years ago, and that day I still think they had the best greens I have played in Texas since I have lived here...  Fairways and rough are in awesome shape though, we got that going for us, which is nice, I guess......

[Mike_C]

Well, made it through the qualifier, came in 2nd.   Instead of playing the one temporary green, the TGA just had us skip that hole completely, which is sort of strange. The greens really were not that bad where the pins ended up being placed.  I still didn't make much, birdied the first hole from 12-15 feet, didn't make a putt over 6 feet the rest of the day, but made all the short ones......only one three putt from 40–50 feet after a terrible first putt.  Another guy I play with all the time also qualified, he said he 3 putted five times, I only beat him by one shot......  A few really stupid course management decisions cost me three shots.    At least I now I get to play TPC Los Colinas in late September.....

[Ty_Webb]

1 hour ago, Mike_C said:

Well, made it through the qualifier, came in 2nd.   Instead of playing the one temporary green, the TGA just had us skip that hole completely, which is sort of strange. The greens really were not that bad where the pins ended up being placed.  I still didn't make much, birdied the first hole from 12-15 feet, didn't make a putt over 6 feet the rest of the day, but made all the short ones......only one three putt from 40–50 feet after a terrible first putt.  Another guy I play with all the time also qualified, he said he 3 putted five times, I only beat him by one shot......  A few really stupid course management decisions cost me three shots.    At least I now I get to play TPC Los Colinas in late September.....

 

Nice! Well played. Course management decisions that cost you are the worst - they should be so easily fixable, but in the heat of the moment it's hard. It is worth noting with course management stuff, that just because a shot works out doesn't mean it was the right decision and just because it doesn't doesn't mean it was the wrong one either. Hitting driver on a tight hole with OB left and water right and hitting the fairway means you were lucky, not smart. Similarly if there's 50 yards from treeline to bunker and you hit driver in the bunker, that was a poor shot, not the wrong club choice.

[Mike_C]

1 hour ago, Ty_Webb said:

Course management decisions that cost you are the worst - they should be so easily fixable, but in the heat of the moment it's hard. It is worth noting with course management stuff, that just because a shot works out doesn't mean it was the right decision and just because it doesn't doesn't mean it was the wrong one either. Hitting driver on a tight hole with OB left and water right and hitting the fairway means you were lucky, not smart. Similarly if there's 50 yards from treeline to bunker and you hit driver in the bunker, that was a poor shot, not the wrong club choice.

That is exactly the stuff I did......

 

On one hole I hit driver on a long par 5, there is a creek that runs at about 45 degrees across the fairway, its about 225 to the creek on the left side of the fairway, maybe 325+ on the right side, trouble left just rough on the right, if you miss you have to miss right.  Maybe if I busted my best drive  down the right I could get home in 2, maybe not.  Anyway, I was hitting driver well, so I aimed down the right edge of the fairway, pulled it a bit, it drew a bit, sort of middle to just left middle of the fairway, thought I was fine.  Get up there and I'm in the creek, probably 280+ off the tee.  Another hole, thick woods left, a couple of trees right and a deep bunker at about 250-260 right edge of fairway.  Its downwind, and I think I can just bust it over the bunker.  WRONG, hit it off the heel and right in the bunker near the lip.  I tried to loft a 9 iron up and over, ball came out of the sand but hit the grass just out and then went sideways, then hit 9 iron to 20 ft and 2 putted for bogey.  I totally threw 2 shots right out the window on these. I played smart on a couple of other similar holes with 3 wood off the tee and made birdie on one of them.     Sometimes I feel I really need a caddy to stop me from doing stupid things....

[Ty_Webb]

Met Open qualifier at Laurel Links today. I hadn't played in a couple of weeks and it was scorchingly hot out there today. I am baked. I'd never seen the course before and there are some, let's say, interesting holes out there. Quite a few blind shots, drives especially, where it's just not exactly clear what's up there or where to go. Fun course though. My first 6 holes and last 6 holes were semi-decent, but the middle 6 I got on a bogey train and struggled. If I hit the green I three-putted and if I didn't, I two-putted. Played those middle 6 in +5 and given that it's currently looking like -1 might be the cut, that was not good enough. Oh well. I have a couple more events still to go, but they're starting to get thin on the ground now. 

[Obee]

Just played in the SoCal Senior Match Play Championship. Was exempt due to my "points list" standing from last year. Hadn't played since I WD'd from the SCGA Senior (stroke play) Championship 7(?) weeks ago. Almost didn't play, but had booked a hotel already that was non-refundable, so thought, "What the heck." My sciatica is so bad I figured I would be lucky to get 9 holes in on day one.

Well, I won my first match 2&1 shooting 74ish (match play) versus a solid player. That meant I drew Craig Davis, one of the best senior ams in the world. He won the British Senior Am in 2019 and has won everything there is to win in California over the last 10 years. The guy's just a machine.

I played him tough today and was 2-up at one point, early. But he battled back and went 1-up on me when I pulled my tee ball on 16. We both parred 17 and 18 and that was all she wrote. I had to hole virtually every putt today and would have posted a 72.

 

I'm paying for it now, as after my round, I hightailed it home for a 3-hour drive and my leg is numb. Such is my life, darn it...

Still, though, very pleased I was able to finish two rounds of golf. Results here:

https://scga-2024scgamatchplaychampionships.golfgenius.com/pages/4547763

[mocokid]

On 7/22/2024 at 6:22 PM, mocokid said:

Finally dipping my toe in water.  Super senior NJSGA.  August 5. Last try was 30 years ago, state am and MGA publinks. Lol

Well I did it, 85 was higher than my goal of going under 85. Had numerous distractions to deal with which I would not mention here. Look forward to more competition in future,  it raises your game to next level. 

Edited August 8, 2024 by mocokid

[bilbry57]

On 8/6/2024 at 4:35 PM, Obee said:

Just played in the SoCal Senior Match Play Championship. Was exempt due to my "points list" standing from last year. Hadn't played since I WD'd from the SCGA Senior (stroke play) Championship 7(?) weeks ago. Almost didn't play, but had booked a hotel already that was non-refundable, so thought, "What the heck." My sciatica is so bad I figured I would be lucky to get 9 holes in on day one.

Well, I won my first match 2&1 shooting 74ish (match play) versus a solid player. That meant I drew Craig Davis, one of the best senior ams in the world. He won the British Senior Am in 2019 and has won everything there is to win in California over the last 10 years. The guy's just a machine.

I played him tough today and was 2-up at one point, early. But he battled back and went 1-up on me when I pulled my tee ball on 16. We both parred 17 and 18 and that was all she wrote. I had to hole virtually every putt today and would have posted a 72.

 

I'm paying for it now, as after my round, I hightailed it home for a 3-hour drive and my leg is numb. Such is my life, darn it...

Still, though, very pleased I was able to finish two rounds of golf. Results here:

https://scga-2024scgamatchplaychampionships.golfgenius.com/pages/4547763

 Nice playing David that field was loaded 

[mocokid]

On 7/26/2024 at 12:14 PM, mocokid said:

6.7

NJ senior am Sep 17, 18. 36 holes for low 40 after round 1. Ghin 6.0