Invitational at Concord CC

August 4-5, 2017: This tournament has been on my list for a number of years.  Others have spoken very highly of the competition, course, and tournament committee.  And it lived up to all the hype and more.  The golf course was in spectacular condition; greens were perfect, fairways were like carpets, rough was thick (sometimes only a 9 iron or wedge was the play back to fairway), and bunkers had just the right amount of sand.  The committee and staff at Concord set up the golf course, scoring, food, starting grounds, and rest of tournament preparations in a first class manner.  In particular, the pin placements were very very well thought out, each one requiring great skill to save par or make a birdie.  In its truest form, there were no gimmies!  

My partner L. Bohman and I were both making our first go around in the Invitational.  We were paired with J. Stoddard and J. Magner in Round 1 and the Arnold brothers in Round 2.  Fun guys and good players, consistent with the entire field.  We shot 75-72 (+7) missing the cut by 1 shot, placing in T21.  The Champions V. Galvani and D.Hynes played very well at 5 under par over the 45 holes.  The last eighteen was cut short due to weather delays from torrential rain earlier in Round 2.  

The story of our weekend was crazy streaks.  We started the tournament on #10 with nine straight pars and followed with only one par in the next 14 holes (includes start of Round 2).  One piece of the latter stretch included six holes where our best score was bogey.  Despite the volatility, we came to our last hole in Round 2 (#9) knowing if we made birdie we would move on to the final round.  My partner made a run at a very difficult birdie putt that slid by.  

Shout out to a great hole out for eagle on #18 in Round 1 by Galvani and Hynes.  Most of the field roared from the clubhouse!  In fact, we later found out this "eagle 2" followed an "eagle 3" on 17.  Now that is a strong finish!

It was great competition with many familiar faces.  Concord CC thank you!

I'm looking forward to playing in this event for many more years.

Keep the summer golf rolling,
Kurt