Corwyn: Time for me to try my R2. Looks like it's a 68 to catch Mags. No problem, lol!
Well, I was joking... but I've just gone out and shot what is probably my best Tough-It-Out round ever, and a strong candidate for my most challenging, and satisfying, round ever played on WGT.
Apart from one piece of dumb stupidity with a pulled approach to #16 it was about as near-perfect as a Starters round can be, and included a couple of putts that just shaved the edge. Of course I had my share of good luck too, especially on the first with a flop-in, and on #18 when my pulled approach took perfect bounces to end up close.
#1 B pin : 14@300 : clumsy early click 2nd bounced left of green, but rescued with perfect flop IN!!! BIRDIE
#2 L pin : 16@300 : wasn't sure I could clear 2nd fairway so played safely short of creek, nice 3rd for distance but misjudged wind/slope and went 15ft right. Lucky again with slight late click on putt but it dropped BIRDIE
#3 B pin : 12@430 choked a dinged Dr 97% to stay on top shelf, dinged 2nd but went 10ft left and long, for fairly straight putt that caught edge and fell, phew! BIRDIE
Fantastic start to be -3 after 3!
#4 L pin : 15@1030 again held off on drive to leave flatter 2nd (went 215 leaving 210), dinged 3W 2nd but too far left good distance 204 to left edge ugly downhill sidehill lie just off fringe. Decided to putt from fairway, great distance (75% of 10yd scale) but pushed it , left 7ft and holed it to save a huge par, wow! PAR
#5 F pin : 17@630 great wind and distance for 190fbs 96% but pulled a touch pin-high 8yds left; too high on 26ft birdie attempt (fractional push anyway) PAR
#6 L pin : 12@200 ding Dr held right side of fairway, played cautious 96% 180fbs aimed off green left but went much further right off club safely into middle of green 6yds away , OMG outstanding 19ft curler perfect weight woo hoo! BIRDIE
#7 F pin : 15@100 nice wind and dinged Dr went 243yds leaving 239; dinged 3W 2nd up to front slope 17yds away, dinged flop short of ideal but sunk 4.7ft putt anyway BIRDIE
#8 B pin : 15@130 slightly early hitting 160 3/4bs but nice result 4yds long; fractionally late on 13ft putt which shaved the edge PAR
#9 L pin : 20@130 early click Dr left downhill lie 185 out, good distance with 1/2ts 180 bouncing on, only trying to find center of green anyway on this tough hole. 48ft nice dinged 150scale lag to 2ft PAR
#10 L pin : 10@930 dinged choked 95% Dr fbs trying to avoid downhill leaving 160, did get slight downhill and L-R. Took a while thinking through what to hit, went with 170fbs 98% dinged landed on and used bank to hold green: great result! left 21ft 10d putt, good effort but way too hard (hit it 6.5pwr); relieved to sink 6.6ft comebacker PAR
#11 B pin : into 17@600 slight push on 2nd 132 out and with more R-L than hoped for; dinged 3rd 150fbs 97% but too far left and short; however, was perfect on 21ft dinged putt dead center woo hoo! BIRDIE
#12 L pin : 20@1045 After long 246yd drive bad misjudgment on 2nd expecting to bounce 160 1/3ts on but came up short to ugly sidehill lie, and short on flop 92% 2yds left. Again, relieved to make 7.5ft save even with slight early click PAR
#13 F pin : 16@900 ding Dr 152 out, followd by sweet roll-up 2nd to 4yds below; dinged putt but misread it to shave left edge turned out to be dead straight (seemed like initial break to R) PAR
#14 L pin : 22@1200!!! got awful wind, and wrong club choice: tried 150fbs hoping to land front edge and stay on, real bad place to be! Perhaps shot of the round came next, with fantastic recovery from 35yds hit 50fbs 60% to just reach downslope and roll down close to 1yd; made 4ft save PAR
#15 B pin : 19@730 ding Dfbs choked 93% to try and stop before downslope, found big sidehill uphill instead, but knew could find green from there easier than downhill lie coming in over bunker. Small push with 3W 2nd but safely on 28ft away dinged putt but misread, not enough for early break. 2ft save PAR
#16 L pin : 10@730 dingD safely to right side, pushed 2nd but lucky to avoid bunker and rough (had allowed plenty leeway though) and come out to fairway; Disaster! pulled the easy 7iron 3rd shot, ugh!! ending up in deepest bunker on left, no way to stop escape which went right across green. Hit reasonable flop from beyond green other side but still left awkward 6ft downhill curler for BOGEY
#17 B pin : 10@100 slight pull on 3Wfbs 98% but lucky to bounce off ridge and roll down to 2yds; dinged 6ft putt for BIRDIE
#18 L pin : 14@530 D 211 leaving 202, again trying to avoid downhill but just too far, slightly early on 3W 3/4bs aiming for middle of green and got real lucky (thought I was heading for bunkers)... landed in upslope past left bunker which killed pace and rolled round nicely on the green to 6ft pin high right; another dinged putt for closing BIRDIE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pin positions were all different from my R1, so I guess it is possible to make that happen, regardless of wind direction. This is not what seems to occur in practice mode!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a pic of the recovery to #14, which I was very pleased with!