LGC 1 Day Member Guest - An Epic Epic Finish

Sept 27 - The Bentley boys came to LGC; Bates, Kyle, and Teller.  Its always a pleasure being on the golf course with these guys.  Its bound to be a competitive, fun day and this lived up to it and more!  Batesy's towering drives, Kyle's sling draw, and Teller's consistent irons.

A quick overview on the format: Best-ball 2 man teams (gross and net prizes).  Given that I had three guests (some others in the field had 1 or 2 guests), I would be posting three scores; one with Bates, one with Kyle, and one with Teller.

Our goal was to win gross, nothing else.  When we came to #16, I was the only player to make a birdie (I had three) in the group, so I was busting the guys to step it up.  On 16, Kyle, Teller, and I made birdie and Bates goes 'i'm not going to waste one here, i'll get the next one'.  On the par-3 17th, Bates sticks it for closest to the pin prize and makes birdie.  Huge!  This put Bates and I at 3 under gross.  On the 18th fairway, I looked at Bates and said lets get one more.  He knew exactly what I was talking about and where we stood.  I hit my approach in the right greenside bunker and Bates left in short in the rough, not acceptable shots.  My bunker shot was nice to about 6 feet.  What does Bates do?  He chips in!, in Larry Mize fashion...arms up and high fives all around.  This was not an easy chip as he had to throw it out at least 6 feet to the right and have it curl right to left, rolling above the pin and coming in back door!  We finish 4 under 67 and win gross by one shot!

Finished T3 with Teller at 66 net and T7 with Kyle at 67 net, both in the money.  It was a winning day all around, especially for the fact that Teller and I gave Kyle and Bates a whippin.  Batesy's birdie birdie finish only saved them from completely losing their shirts.

Other notes from the day:

• Fantastic weather, sunny and 70
• Greens were fastest all year at LGC, probably running at 13 and rolling beautiful; very easy to three putt, ask Teller
• I hit a banana hook on the first hole (bubba esque) with a 6 iron, blind to the green from approx 120 yards in the left treeline.  Shot went to 20 feet for birdie on the back tier.  Gallery included Geldart and Wilczewski.
• Other memorable shots I had: a greenside flop on 13 in front of the right bunker to a white right pin, minimal green to work with; right greenside bunker shot to a back middle pin on 18 (big sloping right to left), second shot swing up against the left trees on 15 that made the green from 80 yards (was able to swing almost full even though clubs was going through the pine), and a 45 foot birdie putt on 5 from right side of green to back middle pin.  Building on my creative golf shots is satisfying.

Another memorable, winning day with the Bentley boys.  We will have to do this again very soon.  

Always enjoy your friends,

Flio