Final Round Aberration

Part I

My number was a 68 and my result was an 84. I'm going with an aberration on this year's final round of the Lexington Club Championship. I can't think of anything else more appropriate. According to Wikipedia, aberration is something that deviates from the normal way. Well, I deviated from my normal game today. I hadn't made a score higher than bogey thru the first 54 holes and today I made 3 doubles and 1 triple bogey. I whiffed on a chip shot and double hit a chip shot on consecutive strokes. I four putted a hole! This just doesn't make sense. It was an aberration. I wasn't nervous. I felt great in the morning and really felt 68 was achievable, not just a number. (wonder if anyone else was in the field was on pace to make no doubles or higher).

I will admit I need to improve on managing my adrenaline and not overvaluing the first few shots of the day. I think its huge to stripe one down the middle on one and make par or better. However, you can't let a 3-putt bogey on the first hole take the life out of your game.

Congratulations to Rob Lynch for a very impressive win, shooting a final round 73 to finish 285 (+1) for the championship. He deserved it. He won by 6 shots over Peter Scully. Rob's tournament total is one of the best in club history. I finished in fifth place (303) behind Chris Barry (3rd - 301) and Steve Champagne (4th - 302). I was paired today with Rob, Peter, and Lee Smith; another good group. I didn't keep score for either Rob or Peter, but according to the winner, Peter and Rob were tied after the 12th. This wasn't confirmed with Peter, but I believe it. Peter made a strong charge and birdied 12 to tie things up. How did Rob respond? Eagle on 13 folks. Yep, that's how to do it. More impressive he did that after watching me whif, double hit, and sink a 6 footer for 8 on the same hole.

Again, great galleries on the 18th hole. BIG LOVING THANKS to my Mom, Brother, and Mike for coming out to watch my final round. My family and friends are so much bigger than game. I am very happy they saw me compete regardless of the outcome.

Part II - After Party

The post tournament events included hours of laughter and drinks on the porch, Scott Carroll ordering every appetizer on the menu, Rob Lynch and Peter Scully (senior champion) filling up their trophies with beer and drinking it all themselves (Rob's trophy needed at least 5 beers to fill), Kenny Collina revealing his final-round nutritional secret of a microwaved hot dog on wheat bread, a 3-club tournament, and Jack Finalyson leaving the course before I did (another aberration).

The 3-club tournament took place after many hours of drinks. The participants were Chris Barry, Scott Carroll, Anthony Modoono, Tim Diskin, Kenny Collina, and myself. We played 4, 5, and 6. The winner was Scott Carroll (+1). Shot of the tournament goes to Tim Diskin's opening tee shot on 4 with a 3-wood. He popped it up, like a lob wedge, to the right. It went approximately 15 yards, hit a pine tree, and popped out. Remind you, he swung at least 90+ mph at this ball. Props to Scott for making 3 on the 4th and Chris for making 2 on the 5th with a 3-wood(?).

We are all waiting for the reprimanding letters from the club.

What do I take from all of this? Chalk it up as a 'toughen me up' failure. Sounds bad, but its going to make me better and I'll come back stronger next year. In the meantime, as I digest this final round aberration, I'm pysched to be able to immediately reset and start fresh Tuesday morning in the MGA Father-Son Tournament. As one of my colleagues says, theres nothing like the present.

By the way, here are some key facts. Tiger Woods has won roughly 25% of his major championships (I calculated as 14 out of an 55). I've got 33% (3 out of 9) at Lexington. Fred Funk beat Tom Watson by 22 shots at the U.S. Senior Open. Rob Lynch beat me by 18 shots this weekend. Tiger Woods won his 69th PGA Tour event today. He has lost over 175 professional events. Failure is part of the game.

See you on the practice tee

KF