Grinding it Out

Well...it was anything but pretty, but I made the cut one chip and putt at a time. The conditions were much calmer today. I had the best pre-round warm up I've had since I qualified for the Korean Tour. I got off to a promising start with a birdie on my second hole. I was striking the ball solidly again or so I thought. Then I hit a few dead pulls and off-cue slices and found myself scrambling again. I bunkered, chipped, pitched and lobbed my way to parland. Standing on the 13th tee I was +1 for the day. I knew I very near, possibly over the cut line.

I fired my tee shot up into the air. I watched it soar wayward into a hazard. On a golf course that has not yielded many birdies to the field, I knew having to make birdies on my closing holes to get back inside the cut line was going to be a tough position. I dropped my ball 139 yards from the pin after taking a penalty stroke. My ball sat down in the rough. The pin was back. There was 24 yards and a large slope between the front edge of the green and the hole. I needed to allow the ball 15 yards of bounce and roll after it landed. I struck it well and watched it land between the front of the green and the flag. It bounced and rolled up the slope. It was headed n a collision course to the hole. "Get in baby!" The ball broke towards the hole and disappeared...an improbable birdie after a penalty. It was the exact surge of momentum I needed to finish off my round and make the cut.

I improved on my first round score by 10 strokes and advanced 50 positions in the field, to make the cut by one stroke. If I can continue to improve in my last two rounds, a great tournament finish lies ahead.