On to Sectionals!

After some near misses in the Nationwide qualifiers the last few weeks, I finally broke through and qualified for something, US Open Sectionals that is.  I plodded along most of the day before getting hot on the back 9 at Quicksilver GC.  I birdied 5 of my last 7 holes to finish with a 5-under par 67 and medalist honors by two shots.  70 wound up in a 3 for 1 playoff.  It was an odd start to the day though to say the least…

We started in the pouring rain and after hitting the first green, I was faced with a putt through lots of casual water.  I was very fortunate to two putt and had an 8-footer for birdie on two when they blew the siren.  In a decision that goes down as one of the most puzzling in the history of golf, the West Penn decided to wipe out all 90 minutes of play and start ALL the rounds over, as opposed to just restarting where we left off.  No worries though, just needed to refocus and get ready for the new round.  I got off to a nice start with a made 15-footer on 2. Bogied 6, the par 3, and birdied nine.  I would go on to birdie 12, bogey 13 to drop back to 1-under par.  I would go on to birdie 14, 15, 16, and 17 to finish off the round.  I hit it great, but hit a couple mediocre chips and missed four putts inside 6 feet.  So it could have been even better, but it showed that it wouldn't hurt to spend some added time on the short game this week.  All in all, a very positive performance and I'm headed back to Columbus for my third try at US Open Sectionals.  The last time I was at the Olympic Club, this year's Open site, was for the US Junior Amateur.  Joe Zinsky was on my bag when I qualified for the Junior Am back then, and he was on the bag again yesterday.  He'll be looping in Columbus as well, hopefully we can continue this successful run en route to a tournament at the Olympic Club.