Dakota Dunes Open Round 1

For those of you following, you may remember last year at Dakota Dunes Golf Links on the Canadian Tour, I shot -17 and finished tied for 12th. Reliving some of those shots coming into this week, I was quite excited to build on that performance…perhaps too excited. Too much practice time on Tuesday had me spending all day Wednesday rehabbing my stiff and aching left knee. I entered today’s opening round with one goal in mind: to enjoy the day, keep my mind very quiet and worry free and stay patient. Because I continued focusing on achieving these goals, I finished by birdieing my closing two holes of the day to shoot -2, 70. I could have easily become frustrated at various moments throughout the day when my play didn’t live up to its potential. The most obvious moment came at the 7th hole (my 16th since I started on the back nine) when I hit a 340 yard drive that nestled underneath the lip of a bunker which rests in the right center of the fairway. That result led to a scrambling par effort instead of an eagle opportunity and I had lost a stroke to the leaders. I repeated to myself down the very difficult and long 8th hole that if I could hit a great approach shot, I could make up the lost stroke. A perfect 5 iron landed four feet from the hole like a butterfly with sore feet and after I made the short putt, a birdie had me under par. It was patience and the challenge I issued to myself on the approach shot that propelled me to birdies my final two holes. The 70 matches my opening score from last year, although today’s conditions were slightly more difficult. Looking forward to enjoying a great second round at 1:40 pm tomorrow!