2020 Golf Tournament Season Recap (Part 4)

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My FINAL tournament of the year was set to be the USGA Amateur 4-Ball Qualifier with Jesse Santos down at Indian Pond Country Club (Kingston, MA). We are both good players but knew that it was going to be a difficult field to play against with the likes of Matt Parziale, Herbie Aikens, and Ryan Whitney to name a few. Also, being right down near the ocean, the South Shore of Massachusetts is always a very windy time on the golf course; this does NOT set up well for me as I am a high ball and high-spin hitter of the golf ball.

We started our day on the long Par-5 10th hole. We both hit decent drives but were forced to lay up given the wind situation and the troubles near the green. I missed a short birdie putt to settle for a par. My second hole was a 410-yard par 4 (uphill) and hit a blistering drive (downwind) down to about 90 yards. From there, with the uphill, I calculated the yardage to be about 105 yards, but the wind was HOWLING so I hit a 58° wedge, which is a maxed out shot of about 90-94 yards and stuck it to about 5’. I had a sidehill/downhill putt that burned the edge but again I settled for a routine PAR. The 12th hole is a 340-yard, downhill, Par-4 (plays about 310-320) but the wind was howling in my face. I hit a hard 3-iron (230-yard club for me) and had about 150 left on the hole. I then proceeded to mishit an 8-iron (170-yard club) into the bunker on line with the flag. I was able to get up and down, but Jesse made a routine par for the team. After a routine par on a short Par-3, we came to our 5th hole (14th hole), which was a short par-4 (314 yards) that doglegged hard to the Right. With bunkers in the middle of the fairway you could either go left of them, hit one about 230 to the right or try and drive it over the trees (all viable plays). Jess put his up the gut (about 100 yards left) and I hit a cut 3-wood that found the fairway bunker about 50 yards out. After watching my partner get his up to the front of the green, I hit my 58° wedge about 6’ beyond the hole and had it spin back to about 3’ below the hole where I converted the birdie putt. Out next hole, everyone in the group misjudged the wind on our approaches and ended up with bogeys. With the next hole being about a 350-yard par-4 with bunkers about 290 yards out, I opted to hit my 3-wood (it was also substantially downwind) but hit it too well and found the front bunker. I was 92 yards away from the flag this time. After Jesse put his approach onto the green, virtually securing the par, I took dead aim at the flag with my 54° wedge, pured it and watched it land about 15’ beyond the flag and start to spin back toward the hole. While I was smoothing the bunker (no rakes), I heard Jesse shout, “GET IN THE HOLE” and at which point I looked up to see that my ball had come to rest about 2” BELOW THE HOLE…tap in birdie for the team. Our 8th hole was a beast: 205-yard par-3 INTO the wind so I hit my 230-yard club after watching everyone else come up way short. Unfortunately I pushed it right and it went into the tree line. Jesse and I were unable to get up and down, and the team was back to EVEN. Out 9th hole was a long Par-5 (made longer with the wind) and we all hit good tee shots (I actually drew the ball - I always fade the ball) into the sand trap along the (L) side. Laying up, I hit a 6-iron to about 185, followed that up with a 5-iron to the greenside bunker. From there, I bladed my wedge onto the 10th tee box and couldn’t stay in the hole. Jesse didn’t fair much better than I did and we ended up with an 8; now 3-over for the tournament.

Taking the turn, we all PIPED drives down the 1st fairway and left ourselves between 60 and 30 yards to the 350-yard Par-4. We all made routine pars and up next was a 560-yard par-5. Jess ripped his drive down the (R) side of the fairway and I (ONCE AGAIN) found the fairway bunker on the (L). I laid up with my 6-iron again but this time to 158 yards. Downwind, I decided to hit my 9-iron (145-150 yard club) and stuck it to about 4’ from the hole. Jesse went for it in two and came up to the fringe just short of the green; he chipped up to about 6’ on the opposite side of the hole. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the birdie tries and settled with a par. The next hole we made a routine par on a short par-4. The 4th hole, we both made an adventure of it and I fired a 6 while Jesse made a 5 for the team (thank goodness). On a downhill Par-3 (195 yards) Jesse made a routine par for the team. The next hole is a short, driveable, Par-4 which I left just short of the green (40 yards to the back pin) and rolled a wedge up to about 7’ but lipped out to settle for a Par. We both made Bogey-4 on the next hole. Walking to our 17th tee shot, I told Jesse, “We are going to finish Birdie-Birdie pal”. We both striped the drives down the fairway, but being into the wind we each had about 320-340 yards into the green. Jesse opted to hit 3-wood safely up the fairway and I said, “F**k it, I’m going DOD (driver off deck) and STRIPED it down to about 50 yards, and flipped a wedge to about 1.5”. Our last hole was a LONG par-4 where Jesse took over and STRIPED it down the fairway and hit a CAREER 6-iron to about 4’. He was able to convert and we both laughed at my earlier comments about finishing Birdie-Birdie. Finished +3 (75) for the tournament (T-39) where the winners finished 64 (-8) so it was very humbling to experience the discrepancy there. All in all, it was a good experience and a fun time with a good friend playing golf alongside of me for my last tournament of the season.