Good first round in the 2019 PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com World Amateur! Had a great time today—played the General Hackler Course at Coastal Carolina University, made three new friends—Taco (Rodger); Bryan from Bittersweet; and Lanny; and shot 85!
Such an enjoyable round on such a beautiful day—one of those days on the golf course where you feel the gentle, refreshing breeze, hear the birds singing, and feel present and at peace with nature, life, and the world in general!
We started on No. 12, the longest par-4 on the golf course. Taco Beef can hit the ball a long way, made a 25-footer and birdied it! After imperfection replaced perfection he called the birdie on the first hole played a curse for the tournament. I am not sure about that as he played a solid round! Just before his birdie Lanny made a BOMB for par! We were off to a good start!
On our fifth hole Bryan and I realized we both lived in Gurnee, Illinois a northern suburb of Chicago. He lives there now and I did for 10 years starting back in the mid 1990s. Then I realized he was wearing a Bittersweet shirt which was my home club when I was there! So out of 3,215 we somehow were magically paired together!
We started chatting about SJ our mutual friend which distracted me a bit (my rationalization of course since I never have half-shanked and popped up a hybrid-2 into a fairway bunker, then tried hitting a hybrid-4 only to be left in deep rough 200 yards from the hole hitting four; fore! LOL!
Even with the double bogey I managed to be only 4 over par the first 9 holes boosted by a birdie on No. 1. BTW, for the record, we were talking about Jesus on that hole, not SJ!
I was rolling along, playing well, even learning along the way, imagine that! After seeing Taco Touch’s (really is a great putter) putt on the par-3 5th hole run out I adjusted to the changing green conditions and had a nice 2-putt par from about 25 feet.
Then I got a freaky bad break on the par-5 6th hole! My drive, slightly off line to the right hit something and ricocheted up 20 feet and directly right 30 feet out-of-bounds. Nines are automatic in the World Am but I still tapped in my final putt to make it official.
Going 1-over for the last 3 holes including a mindless 3-putt from 15 feet on the par-3 10th hole was a good omen for tomorrow’s second round. Taco Accuracy put one in close on the 10th to win the Proximity Award for the day!
Despite a nine and two double bogeys, the 85 was a good start, the highest score I could have shot by 5-7 strokes! No tournament is ever won on the first day of a four-day competition! Here in the World Am you hope to make the cut and win it on the 5th day!
I am late for the World’s Largest 19th Hole…
FYI, a little tongue-in-cheeks golf writers humor embedded in the pics…
#MBWorldAm
(Andy Reistetter; Facebook Post with 30 Pics; 8-26-19)
