Sunday, August 1, 2010

Club Championship Final Two Rounds - Running the Statistics

Congratulations to Garrett Johnson for winning the 2010 LGC Club Championship with a 72 hole total of 292. Tied for runner up was Steve Keegan and Bob Green at 301. I was tied for fourth with Lee Smith at 302. My weekend rounds were 80-76.

This year's event had 4 days of perfect weather. The players couldn't have asked for better. As always, Sunday is a great time as most of the players hang out afterwards to watch the final groups and some stay for the Women's Club Championship too (congrats to Annie Sperandio). Also many family and friends come over to watch the final stretch. My brother, Mom, Gram, and Brandin came out to watch. It was awesome! It was my Gram's first time seeing me play and made my day.

Reflecting on my tournament, it was a disappointment that I was not at least in close contention to win on Sunday. Today, I needed to shoot a career round to win. I expect to be there every year at the top. So I felt the need to look into the numbers. I tallied up my stats and compared to my past victories. The verdict is: too many 'double bogies or worse'. holes Here are the number of doubles or worse for the tournament:
  • 2010 - 7 (total of +16 on these holes)
  • 2006 - 3 (assuming +6)
  • 2005 - 1 (assuming +2)
  • 2004 - 2 (assuming +4)
I won 2004 thru 2006. This year I lost approximately 10 or more shots compared to my past wins due to doubles or worse. How much did I lose by this year? 10 shots. (of course, the players ahead me had poor holes as well...but the stat is relative to myself)

I was +2 on 65 holes and +16 on 7 holes.

Winning a 72 hole requires focus and attention on every shot. You can't let one bad shot take down your guard. Minimizing your mistake to a bogey is very acceptable. Sometimes you have to let go of your urge to hit the heroic shot to get back to your target in regulation and play safe leaving a longer approach, but still leaving the door open to save par. Its okay to have Bogey Option Par (this means when you are putting for par its like a 'guaranteed bogey' with the option to make par).

Up next is the MGA Father-Son! My Dad did a magnificent job caddying and now he is going to carry me out in Springfield this Tuesday.

Good vibrations.

Breathe easy,
K

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