Early Exit from TCO

If you had of told me Sunday afternoon that not only was I going to compete in the Canadian Tour's Times Colonist Open, but I was going to shoot 144 for the first two rounds (73-71), I likely would have been happy. As I sat at my departure gate after being barely able to walk from my arrival gate during a layover at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, I was fairly certain it was unlikely I would compete this week. It had been over a month since I'd been able to hit any balls on the range or played a full round of golf and my left knee was just not healing. Maybe I had been overly optimistic in thinking I would find a way to compete and could ignore the vexing soreness in my knee that radiated through my leg with every swing and stride.

I spent most of Monday resting and treating the knee. Tuesday I surprised myself by walking 18 holes during the pro-am. I had to manipulate my swing to take as much stress out of the left knee as possible (neither being easy easy to do). I was able to play 9 holes Wednesday and spent the rest of the day tending to the injury. I knew Wednesday night that achieving great results would be as easy as writing a novel using a pencil with a broken tip (but at least I had a writing utensil that might work).

As I stood on the first tee I was exhilarated. It was as if new life had been breathed into me. Blood coursed rapidly through my veins and my body felt like it was on fire. While I limped around, was unable to crouch down and read putts and undoubtedly still swung tentatively and differently, I competed hard and almost beat the odds by making the cut (the cut at this moment, 3:50 pm Pacific time, is at 143 and will likely remain there leaving me 1 stroke out of a weekend bid and ultimately, a paycheck). It is because I devoted myself so fully to the competition this week that I am really disappointed I wasn't able to hole one more putt. There are few pains in golf that sting as deeply as missing a cut by a single stroke.

Overall however, I believe I'm becoming healthier, healing faster and will be more poised for a great showing in the weeks that follow. If there is one thing I'm taking away from my comeback week, it is the amazing healing power of competition.