Survived The Cut

It was the first round of Royal Ascot's club championship today. Traditionally this use to be a thirty six hole medal event but when we moved onto the new, longer course back in 2005 a lot of members found it a struggle to get round and so numbers in what should be the prestige event of the year dwindled. There has been a cut in place for the last few years and the event swapped to a two day format. This has worked very well, numbers are back up and it has created a lot of banter in the 19th trying to see who has and hasn't survived the cut.

I don't know why but I've a particularly poor record in this event both as a one day event and have yet to make the cut since it was introduced. I've not played a lot of golf recently either (hence the lack of posts) through family issues mainly and the golf I have been playing hasn't been good.

Even on the practice ground in warm up the signs weren't good. The optimist in me thought a nett 75 (+5) might be good enough and so unlike a normal monthly medal there was a certain leeway. It even started off so well with a good opening tee shot into the first and two putts (the birdie putt was inches away) for a secure par. And then reality kicked in. A loose double bogey at the 2nd courtesy of a three putt was followed but a horror down the 3rd with a lost ball into the environmental area off the tee, a poor approach and a duffed chip. The ship was steadied until the 7th. Having hit a good tee shot but too far left, I opted to play safe and lay up. Job done I only had a wedge in. I missed the green by miles and then shanked my chip to run up another 7. Out in 46 (+11) it looked as though my race was run.

The back nine though was a different story. For a while it looked like a proper golfer was trying to break out. Pars at 10 and 11 were followed by another double bogey at the 12th. Again the short game was to blame. When will I ever get it to click when it matters? I managed a great par at the 14th with a good drive and a 5 iron to ten feet and just missed the birdie. However I dropped another shot at the par 5 16th despite being no more than 30 yards from the flag in two. No prizes for guessing which facet let me down again. The par at the 17th rallied my spirits and I holed a good putt to finally make a chip and putt at the last. Then it was down to the scorecard and seeing the damage. Back in 41 (+5 gross) for a total of 87 (nett 74 and a +4 total). Would it be too many?

In the end I finally managed to break my club championship voodoo although I am one of the first groups out. On the plus side the back nine gives me some encouragement and having survived the cut anyway there's precious little to lose anyway. The plan is to go out, relax and not worry about the score. All I need to do now is sort this sunburn out. Ouchy!