A Week to Remember

Many friends and family who were kind enough to wish me luck in the tournament were probably disappointed with my results - rounds of 84 and 92 to miss the cut. Of course I was too, but despite some major setbacks that prevented me from playing my normal game, this has been a fantastic experience.

It was difficult enough to adapt to new golf clubs after my baggage went missing on a flight from Honolulu (still no trace of it!), but what really undermined me were terrible blisters on my feet and a muscle strain. As the week went on, my feet became more and more painful from the new shoes I had to get to replace the lost ones. It got to the point where I could barely walk. To make matters worse, on Friday I had an acute pain around my kidney area which is probably a muscle strain which made it painful simply to swing the club. In any other round of golf or tournament, I would have stopped playing, but this was the biggest tournament of my life, so that wasn't an option.

This golf course - Oak Tree National, a Pete Dye design in Oklahoma - was by far the most difficult I have ever played. With a par of 71 at 7,200 yards, the rating from the tournament tees is an incredible 79.3! Each hole was very tight; trees everywhere. The rough was so thick that you could be standing over your ball and not even see it. Greens were elevated with severe drop-offs and there were water hazards on almost every hole. Add to that swirling, gusty winds and it makes even the best players who are only slightly off their game look bad. Any shot missing the narrow fairways was likely to lead to bogey or worse. Likewise for any shot missing the green. Plus the greens had multiple levels and were very tricky to putt. Colin Montgomerie defeated Gene Sauers in a play-off after the pair tied at five-under-par. I cannot tell you how good that is on this course.

Unfortunately for me, my highlights were the practice rounds, where I actually shot some good scores. I also managed to play with some notable players, including four former winners of this event (Hale Irwin, Olin Browne, Kenny Perry and Roger Chapman), multiple PGA tour winners (Steve Pate, Scott Hoch, David Frost), and Ryder Cup players (Barry Lane). On Wednesday, Irwin asked me I wanted to play a "mini Ryder Cup" match against the Englishmen Lane and Chapman for fun, so Hale and I took them on. Thanks to a couple of birdies that I made, we went one up with three to play in our nine-hole match, but Roger birdied the last three meaning we ended up losing. My friends from Honolulu in the gallery started chanting "USA-USA" after I made a birdie to go one up, so Roger pointed back at them when he birdied the seventh to square the match. It was fun and all of these players were very nice and enjoyable to play with.