The DSGA Spring Classic
Mr. Robel' and your Hack teamed up to compete in the Delaware State Golf Association's (DSGA) first event of the year on Monday and Tuesday. The Spring Classic was a 2-man team event, flighted, and scored on total net Stableford points. Points were earned as follows: 4-eagle, 3-birdie, 2-par, 1-bogey, 0 double bogey or worse. The competition was played over 18 holes at King's Creek on Monday and then 18 holes at Rehoboth Country Club on Tuesday. Individual partner points were based on the net score for the hole and then added together for the team score.
We began the tournament with a 1 PM shotgun start on the 16th hole on Monday and I was not prepared for the weather. Cold, windy and wet are not a good combination for the opening round of a tournament. Combine that with poor planning on my part in selecting clothes for the day, and it spells trouble.
By the time we were on the second green of the day, I was already shaking from the cold and damp - not even able to hold my putter steady over the ball. As you can see on the scorecard below, I made exactly 2 points for the team in the first 5 holes that included 3 double bogeys and a 3-putt bogey on #17. I threw in a couple of pars here and there, a net birdie on #3 and a real birdie on #10, but that was in a mix that included 5 doubles and 2 triples. Halfway through the round, I just wanted to get off the course. I can't remember the last time I posted a 90!
Luckily, Mr. Robel' kept us in the tournament with a fairly steady 84. Ignoring his partner's incredibly poor start, he was able to earn us 32 overall points. His round included a natural birdie on #7 and 4 net birdies. Unfortunately, he also threw several double bogeys into the mix as well.
We ended the day with only 54 points and were in 7th place in the 13 team Flight 1. We had some work to do on Day 2 for sure. Here is the score card and yes we did put down the wrong number of points on a couple of holes, but these were corrected officially.
The weather was a little better on Tuesday at Rehoboth Beach or at least I was dressed more appropriately. We had an 8:30 AM shotgun start on the 10th hole. We knew we had work to do and we decided to start off by each making birdie on our first hole. Of course, we followed that up in true "Hack" fashion by each making a double bogey 6 on the following hole - luckily we each got a stroke and therefore a point for a net bogey. After I bogeyed the next hole with a bad 3 putt, I could feel the wheels starting to get wobbly and all I could think about was the disaster that was our first round.
I'm happy to report that we were able to steady the ship and finish our first nine with 34 stableford points compared to 23 points on our first 9 holes the first day of the tournament. I made the turn in 38 with 3 birdies and an additional net birdie and my partner added a birdie, a net birdie and four (4) pars. The strong play continued on our second nine where we added seven (7) birdies or net birdies and another 33 stableford points to bring our total to 67 points, a tournament total of 121 points.
We'd moved up 3 spots to 4th, just 8 points behind the winners. Although our 3 spot jump was the best in Flight 1, it was not enough to overcome our dismal first day. Mr. Robel' was steady, shooting 84 both days, while your Hack's 90-76 was very disappointing. It's so easy to play "what-if" and find 9 additional points in that first round.
The DSGA did a great job running the tournament, although play was very slow. They announced that they would deduct two (2) stableford points from any team that did not post their scorecards within 4 hours and 45 minutes from the start of the shotgun, and some team evidently thought that meant they could take that long to play. Unfortunately, this included our playing partners on the first day. It was way too cold and wet to stand around watching them deliberate over everything. Other than that however, I would very pleased with the overall tournament and it feels good to get the first one of the year under my belt.
So what happened? How can a Hack (you'll notice on the website and the printed cards that even the DSGA recognizes "Golf Hack Baxter") shoot 90 on day 1 and then turn around and shoot 76 in the final round. To be honest, I wish I know. Even though I had five (5) birdies on Tuesday at Rehoboth, I still had 34 putts for the entire round, including three 3-putts. I did hit 12 of 18 greens with 6 of them inside of 15 feet and was able to convert 5 of those 6 opportunities for 1 putts. And, the course played shorter in terms of the par 5's where I was able to make 2-putt birdies on 2 of those holes. That said, I only hit 6 of 14 fairways. Your Hack has some work to do, especially when playing tournament golf.
Here are the final standings for Flight 1 in the tournament from the DSGA/Blu Golf website. I was thrilled to be the highlight for sure. Thanks for all of the support readers have sent me over the past couple of days. It means a lot.
You can view the full leaderboard and click through all of the Flights and Individual scores cards at this link: https://dsga.bluegolf.com/bluegolfw/dsga21/event/dsga211/contest/25/leaderboard.htm