Day One in the Books

Well, I had my first qualifying round this morning and it was one that I would like to have back. I got off to a great start. Parred the first(which was the tenth hole), birdied the second. Had some lip out birdie putts but was chugging along just fine.

I get to the 18th hole at Dinah Shore, 80 yards out, and didn't hit it, put it in the water for a double. It kind of interrupted my nice, easy round but one over at the turn was going to be okay with 9 more to play. I get to #2, par 5 and pull it almost out of bounds, I made a great par there and get to the third and pull another well out of bounds and make a triple there. I get to the fourth and push it out to the right, and we never found the ball. Kind of weird because it was just trees and grass, with 10 people looking for it. I go back to retee and hit it in the same spot, but found it just fine and proceeded on to make a double.

Best drive of the day

I get to the next hole, par 3, hit a good 6 iron to 20 feet right. We overread it and went on to three putt. Next hole, par 4, hit a chip up to 3 feet and as my caddie said "damn bermuda," missed it. Made a great up and down par on the 7th hole and 3 putted the par 3 eighth. I will tell you, I miss the bent greens but there is absolutely nothing I can do about that. Everyone else is playing on the same course with the same conditions. Thankfully I almost holed out my last shot on number 9 and made a birdie to finish off the day. A big 'ol 80. I thought those days were long over but I did accomplish one goal of starting out great. It's a shame that I started thinking/doubting my swing that was working so well for me on the first nine. It's looking like tomorrow I'm going to have to fire at almost every pin and see if I can come away with a stinkin' low round. I know it can happen, I just need to trust that little swing of mine.

My gallery of the day, plus my dad, plus Kathleen Sullivan, an ABC News anchor...don't be fooled, my mom isn't that tall.

So you're thinking my day at the course is over, let me tell you, it was far from over. We go straight to the scoring table and tally them up. One of the girls in my group easily shot in the 90s, if not in the 100s. It was a long and tedious day because of that. However, when she said "I had an 86," I did a double take, "saaayyy whhaatt?" So for the next hour, we went hole by hole, arguing, nicely conversing and finally agreeing to a 91. I'm pretty sure it was much more than that. This girl had loooonng blonde hair, not pulled back, no hat, no sunglasses, and it was 109 degrees outside. I'm not sure how she did that but I'll say it took talent! I wanted to go off but I held back and sat there for AN HOUR! If you shoot 88 or more, you are automatically DQ'ed so that's why she was trying to plead an 86. We will be in a twosome and I will be making it rain. If not, then I will be heading to Florida on my brother's big 25th birthday and making it rain over on the east coast. Until then....