My tournament season opens this weekend at Bay Creek in Cape Charles, VA. I’m driving down tomorrow for a practice round and then we play the Nicklaus Course Saturday and the Palmer Course on Sunday. The weekend rounds are also qualifiers for the UA Tour finals to be held in Ocean City, MD in June. The weather looks tough for Friday, but the temperature gets into the 50’s over the weekend, but the wind will blow 20-30 mph.

We played at Cripple Creek on Wednesday with Dave Horton and I taking on Glen Hudson and Steve Dewey in a small stakes Nassau. It was a very tight and interesting match with Dave chipping in for birdie on #2 to put us 1 up and then Glen making a net birdie on #8 to pull back even. Dave and I blew up on #9 to lose the front to a net par as I once again 3 putted for bogey.

The teams continued to play even on the back until we bogeyed the par 3 #16 and Glen made par and out opponents were 1 up on the back, 2 up on the match. Everyone but me stroked on the last 2 holes, so we were not in good shape. I hit my drive on #17 into the far bunker left, but had a great lie, able to hit a hybrid over a low lip to within 150 yards. Our opponents were in good shape in the fairway, but Glen’s second shot left him about 180 out, blocked by a tree. I decided to hit the hybrid, it my right foot slipped in the sand and I pushed the shot way right into the water. Unfortunately, Dave also hit his shot into the water after going full Saddam (bunker to bunker) and was out of the hole.

I dropped about 205 from the pin, hitting my 4th shot. Pulling my 3 hybrid again, I nailed an approach over the water to about 10 feet – we still had a chance. Naturally, this is where my buddy Glen worked his magic. Remember, he was 180 out and blocked by a tree. Undaunted, he took putter and slapped his ball almost 90 yards down the fairway, leaving a wedge to the green and an up and down for a net par. And, his partner had hit his approach into the water.

As you would expect, I missed from 10 feet and we were closed out. On the 18th tee, we proposed a double or nothing bet to out opponents and they accepted. Dave came through making a bomb for a net par to halve the hole and we escaped with a small loss for the day. It was a fun match even with the loss.

So, I’m packing tonight for the drive to Cape Charles in the morning. I’ll be posting over the weekend to update tournament results. Hopefully , we’ll be ready to deal with the wind. Looking forward to the challenge.

By the way, some updates were finally made to our Championship Boards at the club. Here you go: