Monday, October 01, 2007
Women's Mid-Am 2007 - Day 1
Mr Science Reports:Here's pictures of me with my first two groups today.
Monica is from Peoria, AZ and shot 91. Her friend Erica walked with me. Erica is from Seattle. They went to airline pilot school together, and fly for Southwest and Alaska Airlines.
MJ (Naples, Fla) shot 81, and Debbie (Rancho Mirage, CA) shot 79. That was the morning group. Debbie is tied for 24th, MJ is tied for 44th. The leader is -3 (70). The top 64 after two rounds make it to match play.
(That reminds me of the story of the two guys who were out hunting, and a bear started chasing them. They were running, and the bear was gaining fast. One says "Why are we running? We can't outrun a bear." And the other says "I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you.")
On 16, after the group had recorded a 7 and some 6s on 14 and 15, Monica hit her 2nd shot into the desert, and played a provisional. That one hit the tree about 20 yards in front of her, and bounced back toward her. The next one hit the same tree, and bounced left into an unplayable lie in the desert. By that time, Debbie is way down the fairway and calls back "I see your ball", so Monica picks up her provisional. MJ says something about the group taking a lot of strokes, and I said "It could have been worse. If they didn't find Monica's first ball, she would have been hitting 7 from 284 yards out".
In the afternoon, Kathy (Dallas, TX) shot 83, Kristine (Hilton Head Island)
shot 88, and Kelly (Oro Valley, AZ) shot 95. She was smiling all day, though, it was her first USGA event and her husband was caddying for her. On the 18th tee, he says "Let's try something different. Let's hit it in the fairway!"
I saw a 9, an 8, several 7s and lots of 6s. Several discussions about the rules for lost balls and unplayable lies. Heard the word "provisional" many times. It is a tough golf course. No fairway bunkers, no OB, no water. 149 slope from the tips. http://www.desertforestgolfclub.com/home.html Not a flat lie to be had on fairway, desert or green. The greens were lightning fast, hard, elevated and well-guarded by bunkers. Anything but a short iron that landed on a green was off the back, and very little opening to run it up through. They had a lot of trouble with the speed on chips and putts.
In 1990, they played the Senior Am there, and the medalist shot 75-75-150. In two days, there were two rounds out of 315 below 75: one 73, and one 74 (par is 72 for the men). There were 29 rounds in the 90s, and the cutoff for match play was +19. In the final match, the winner made the first birdie of the day on 16, and won the match 3 and 2.
Our walking scorer volunteer chairman says he will have Dave and me out for a round after they reopen from overseeding. If you don't hear from us, send a search party.
Monica is from Peoria, AZ and shot 91. Her friend Erica walked with me. Erica is from Seattle. They went to airline pilot school together, and fly for Southwest and Alaska Airlines.
MJ (Naples, Fla) shot 81, and Debbie (Rancho Mirage, CA) shot 79. That was the morning group. Debbie is tied for 24th, MJ is tied for 44th. The leader is -3 (70). The top 64 after two rounds make it to match play.
(That reminds me of the story of the two guys who were out hunting, and a bear started chasing them. They were running, and the bear was gaining fast. One says "Why are we running? We can't outrun a bear." And the other says "I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you.")
On 16, after the group had recorded a 7 and some 6s on 14 and 15, Monica hit her 2nd shot into the desert, and played a provisional. That one hit the tree about 20 yards in front of her, and bounced back toward her. The next one hit the same tree, and bounced left into an unplayable lie in the desert. By that time, Debbie is way down the fairway and calls back "I see your ball", so Monica picks up her provisional. MJ says something about the group taking a lot of strokes, and I said "It could have been worse. If they didn't find Monica's first ball, she would have been hitting 7 from 284 yards out".
In the afternoon, Kathy (Dallas, TX) shot 83, Kristine (Hilton Head Island)
shot 88, and Kelly (Oro Valley, AZ) shot 95. She was smiling all day, though, it was her first USGA event and her husband was caddying for her. On the 18th tee, he says "Let's try something different. Let's hit it in the fairway!"I saw a 9, an 8, several 7s and lots of 6s. Several discussions about the rules for lost balls and unplayable lies. Heard the word "provisional" many times. It is a tough golf course. No fairway bunkers, no OB, no water. 149 slope from the tips. http://www.desertforestgolfclub.com/home.html Not a flat lie to be had on fairway, desert or green. The greens were lightning fast, hard, elevated and well-guarded by bunkers. Anything but a short iron that landed on a green was off the back, and very little opening to run it up through. They had a lot of trouble with the speed on chips and putts.
In 1990, they played the Senior Am there, and the medalist shot 75-75-150. In two days, there were two rounds out of 315 below 75: one 73, and one 74 (par is 72 for the men). There were 29 rounds in the 90s, and the cutoff for match play was +19. In the final match, the winner made the first birdie of the day on 16, and won the match 3 and 2.
Our walking scorer volunteer chairman says he will have Dave and me out for a round after they reopen from overseeding. If you don't hear from us, send a search party.
