I failed to make the cut in the US Senior Open at the Broadmoor by 4 shots. I shot 79-73 and missed by 4 strokes.
I got off to a miserable start on Friday, making bogey on each of my first 6 holes. But I played pretty well on in and actually was one under (and 8 over for the tournament) after 8 holes on Friday and had a chance to play in even par and make the cut. But it is a tough back nine and I wasn’t able to.
The Broadmoor is an interesting course in that the front nine is much easier than the back. The front is par 36 and 3425 yards, where the back is par 34 and 3750 yards. The back nine is a brute. Two par 4’s of over 500 yards and a third that is 493, so it is LONG and tough.
The crowds were HUGE, I don’t know what the attendance was, but I understand that the event is sold out, and I believe it.
But on Friday, I saw three things that I’ve never seen on a golf course before.
The first incident was a good sized black bear that ran across the fairway through the group of Hale Irwin, Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer on the 13th hole. It was running right at Dottie Pepper who was doing the color for ESPN. Our group was on the tee and it was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen. This bear was on a mission, and it reminded me of the joke’s punchline, “I don’t need to run faster than the bear, just faster than YOU!”. But 25,000 or how ever many people and a big black bear, is probably not a great combination. The bear ran into some bushes between the 11th and 13th fairway and climbed a tree.
The second thing was on the first tee. Hale Irwin hit is first tee shot FIFTY FEET and straight left. Straight above the golf course is a bell tower and it rings every quarter hour. And for some reason the sound carries more at some times than other. At the top of Hale’s backswing, the bellgoes GONG and Hale tries to stop his swing. But he barely ticks the ball. He asks for a ruling that he had not intended to hit the ball, and it was like inadvertently knocking the ball off the tee. The officials tell him he has to play it. He chops it down the fairway, knocks it on the green and makes the putt for an easy par on a 443 yard par 4.
The third thing happen in my group on the fourth green. The two guys that I’m playing with both miss the green and are chipping. Each thinks he is away and they play at the same time. The balls cross and barely miss each other as they cross. I’ve not seen many instances in a major championship with two balls moving on the green at the same time.
I’ve had a good time, just disappointed that I’m not playing the weekend.
Thanks for all of your support.
Scott.
No comments:
Post a Comment