fmagnets:A solid round with lots of nice par saves but not many good looks at birdie. Shame to miss the ding on the wrong side and blow an easyish birdie on 17. Under par for both rounds would have been a satisfying finish to the TIO year.
Very impressive tourney Mags! It'll be quite the achievement for anyone to catch you. I think there are 2 x R1 72s still to play and 4 x R1 73s, the latter would need 69s though.
This set-up turned out to be tougher than I was expecting, with very few chances for birdie, and many opportunities for disaster... but that's how TIO is supposed to be, lol!
Like Razza, I couldn't get anything going @ Cabo, especially with the putting. I don't think I know the greens slopes and speeds well enough, perhaps having played the course no more than a dozen times total in my 3+ years. But I also mishit shots at bad times and this format leaves no margin for error (and sometimes gives you 'error' even with what seems like a good shot, just like real golf).
A second-round 73 for me, once again repeating an awful first 2 holes bogey-bogey start (the first one being with a horrible 3ft par miss, aargghh!)
Of course, one thing that's unique about this month's event is that one can't practice UEL on Cabo. I even entered the UEL RG there with starters in order to get some feel for what I was doing... and boy, was that ugly!
Round report: (wind speed & direction noted at start)
#1 2@9 dingD to R side >228 >ding3W >46, slight push but good 3rd to 1yd, but meter skipped way past and missed 3ft putt, unbelievable! BOGEY
#2 8@12 missed layup spot for 2nd and found big L-R lie instead and 3rd into the bunker, damn! and escape 5yds long and left 15ft putt 2ft short BOGEY
#3 4@130 >85 dinged but well left 2yds, sunk 6ft BIRDIE
#4 8@9 good layups and good 3rd to 2yds and sunk 5ft BIRDIE
#5 3@115 couldn't reach so played layup to 45 bad push on 3rd and 4yds long right, got lucky with pulled 11ft putt that caught edge PAR
#6 4@2 dinged3W that somehow held green, dinged dead straight 34ft putt but went off line PAR
#7 3@9 nice 3W tee shot pin-hi right, just ran over edge from dinged 12ft ooohhhh PAR
#8 3@12 dingD >220 played layup to 45, nice 3rd but 1yd long and holed 3.7ft putt for PAR
#9 7@4dingD >263 terrible pull on layup 2nd way left >63, and awful push on 3rd 4yds long right, lousy pulled 15ft putt no chance. bad BOGEY
#10 8@1130 good D >196 way short with 2nd into left rough and not so strong escape to 2yds long, but sunk tricky 7.4ft curler phew! PAR
#11 7@8 dingD >112 good 2nd but bounced right pin-hi 3yds was hoping for roll round, dinged very nice putt massive curler 10ft but stopped just short aargghh! must have hit some glue PAR
#12 2@7 dingD >300 > 3W 2nd leaving >108 3rd only just cleared bunker, meter stopped on putt enormous pull ... waste of a half-chance, darn. 2ft PAR
#13 3@10 bad push 3W well short, too hard with 37ft attempt dinged150scale, 5ft save PAR
#14 5@430 dingD choked 97 hoping for full 3H distance; attempted ambitious 3H but bounced hard and went long, couldn't stop shot with that sidehill lie, and left 18ft putt short, aarghh PAR
#15 8@430 D >289 >79 3rd pretty good but slightly long right and sunk 4.6ft putt for BIRDIE
#16 6@130 dingD >192 good 3H 2nd right distance but rolled off left thought it was good yardage for flop but mishit and 3yds short and good 9ft ding putt to save PAR
#17 4@3 pushed t shot and went long but close again with 20ft putt just too hard and high, 2.5ft PAR
#18 7@130 goodD >197 fractional pull against slope on 2nd but went way left and not on green, darn really dumb error, no option with 3rd except to play way below hole, flopped to 5yds, and couldn't ding 15ft par try; frustrating closing BOGEY
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Please forgive me if I can't get to the stats sheet promptly this month... with Christmas and some family travel it will be a challenge.