Final Round

I finished the tournament with another even par, 72 today and will cash about $1400, or 1.4 million Won...I had to come all the way to Korea to become a millionaire!! It was an extreamly challenging week on the narrow, 7500 yard golf course with rock hard greens and whipping winds. With this being the last of a four tournament stretch, I am a bit worn and really looking forward to taking the next few weeks and improving my self and getting a few bucks together for the remainder of the season. This year is off to a promising start. There are alot of factors that go into getting myself in perfect alignment for success over here, but when I overcome these challenges in the comming months, I will be taking great strides toward the end goal. I will write more in the comming weeks leading up to the next series of adventures. As always, thanks for the support and enjoy every shot you hit.

Round 3 and Weather Songs

If there was a song that could be playing over loudspeakers on every hole today, it would have been Bob Seager, "Against the Wind." It didn’t matter if you were downwind, crosswind, or into the wind, you were against the wind. The greens became so rock-hard, that perfectly struck wedges were bounding from the front edge of greens and rolling 40 yards to the back. My best wedge shot of the day came on the last hole. The pin was cut 34 yards past the front edge on a green that was 45 yards deep. The wind howled left to right. I hit a crispy, low shot with as much backspin as I can put on a punch shot. The ball landed around one or two yards on the green and by the time it was finished bouncing and rolling, I was chipping from five yards off the back of the green. The challenge was fun for about 7 holes, and then it became overly exhausting. The Gail blew harder than day 1 today, getting up to 40 miles per hour; nearly unplayable. A poorly struck shot into this gulf stream left you scratching your head.

I shot the same score as day 1 with a triple bogey and two double bogies. The low score of the day was 75, and it is NOT because there is a severe lack of skill in the field. One of the best players in Asia shot an 89 today. Excessive wind accentuates golfer's flaws, multiplying mistakes and making them slap you over the head with a shovel. I've played 4 out of the last 6 weeks in tournaments and during that stretch, my swing has plagued my scores. I've never struggled with hitting the ball in play like this before in my short professional career. I hit a few shots today that made everyone in the group and a few spectators cringe.

Despite these troubles though, I am very encouraged by my chipping and pitching, which has been very impressive this week. It allowed me to make the cut and will allow me to make a paycheck. I have seen some of my potential unveiled in the last 6 months and I know I have the kind of game that can contend for a victory on a weekly basis. These first 6 weeks on tour have been wild and inconsistent and my body and the golf ball are not performing the way I expect. I look at making the cut in three of the four first events, with a malfunctioning golf swing, as hugely motivating. I know that my 'D' game can remain competitive with the many of the tour players out here and can make cuts. When I find a swing in the next stretch of tournaments beginning in three weeks, my 'A' game could make a few players bury their heads in the bunkers.

I think this entire experience, however frustrating it can be at times, will yield something truly special. I will finish this event tomorrow and have a short break, before returning to action next month with a fresh outlook and a scarily effective golf swing. There is still storm to weather, but sunshine is on the way. "Sun, Sun, Sun, Here it comes..."

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.

Beaten Not Broken

Today was the most challenging and exhausting first round of golf I have ever played. The steady 30 mph wind battered the golf course all day making the greens about as receptive as ice. A high, majestic ball flight was doomed to never be seen again. On a hole, one player in my group could not putt for five minutes because the wind kept moving his ball down the green inches at a time. This combination of adverse elements makes golf very difficult and it was reflected in the scoring. This is the only professional tournament I have ever played in where no player shot under par in the first round.

I am not making excuses for my poor play. My game has really struggled as of late and today was no exception. I hit a few exciting greenside bunker shots, and a few 380 yard drives, but there was very little celebration in the Baldwin camp. I double bogied my final hole for an 82.

The cut line today is at +7 and I find myself outside that by three shots. A positive of this is that the lower scores were all shot in the morning today, meaning those players tee off in the afternoon when the wind is the strongest tomorrow. Because I played in the afternoon gail today, I have an 8 am tee time tomorrow morning. This will give me an opportunity to play nine holes before the wind begins to peak. I plan on taking advantage of that time and inviting the Jeju birdies to nest in my scorecard.

I'll have some better news to report tomorrow afternoon. Until then...

~Mark

Taking it Easy at the Tomato Bank Open

This week I am on Jeju Island off the southern tip of South Korea. It is a beautiful place complete with crystal-clear turquoise ocean, volcanic mountains, palm forests and Saint Four Golf Course. The course is the hardest venue I've seen since my arrival in Asia; a 7500 yard monstrosity with rock hard greens from ocean winds and hazards on both sides of nearly every hole. As with any tournament, a course will play as difficult as its hole locations and tee positions dictate. The tournament committee should make holes more accessible and friendly for the first two rounds, but the hole yardages will play their maximum distances, which plays to my length advantage. A player from England who played the practice round with me yesterday, said he felt this was my week.

In the last two days I've found that my downswing gets very fast, throwing off the synchronicity of my swing, when find myself under pressure. In the last two days, I have worked towards "making it look easy," as Dan Wilkins once told me. He said the best compliment you can receive after a shot is someone saying you made it look easy. His swing is the epitome of this statement. One thing I always noticed about his swing is that despite bad weather conditions, his tempo always remained Sean Connery-smooth. That thought has me hitting the ball very solidly and opens up shot making options. The round at Asian Tour Q-School where I shot 64, it felt like my swing was in slow motion. It didn’t just look easy, it was.

This could prove to be one of those tournaments that drains every sense because there is so little room for error on the course. The more difficult the course, the shot and the situation, the more in control, confident and relaxed a player needs to be to perform. So when I am teeing off on one of the numerous 480 par fours with howling winds, I am going to tell myself to 'make it look easy.' My goal at the outset is to make this week the 'easiest' difficult week I've ever had.

Looking Back to Move Forward

I've spent the last few days thinking about different mental approaches to various situations in the last event. The one I encountered that was the most alarming was when I stood next to Retief Goosen for the first time. I've seen him before, but it was from an observatory standpoint. I watched him practice at a PGA Tour event on the driving range. Here he was next to me and we were playing in the same tournament. Although it never crossed my mind in pink flashing lights, playing against a player who has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in the world since the beginning of this century is a hop, skip, jump, leap and then bound, from playing state opens back home. That specific message came in the form of the feeling I got at that moment. I didn’t know whether to kiss his ass or try to kick it on the course. I did not let that thought in my mind for the remainder of the event because I felt it was a sign of weakness. That neglect, which I pushed from my conscious thoughts, was a first instinct. Initial reactions are your subconscious views expressed through natural reaction. Whether this view of my standing in the golfing world had anything to do with my tournament results, it certainly gives me something to work towards improving, and that will come with further experience playing against better competition.

At this time last year, I had just missed the final cut at Canadian Tour Q-School, had no tour to play on and was pretty low on confidence by my standard. I would say I've made great strides in a short year and despite a poor performance this week, am exactly where I need to be. I leave tomorrow for Jeju Island off the coast of South Korea for the Tomato Bank Open. I am approaching this event not so much as an opportunity to breakthrough in the Asian golfing world, as a chance to improve and move closer towards the ultimate goal.

Cutting

Coming into the tournament I felt very confident: the golf course was tailored to my game; I felt I had made strides improving my swing and I was excited I had the opportunity to compete against a skilled field. But following two days of poorly executed shots, I find myself taking an early exit from the tournament. I wish I could say I wasn’t disappointed.

In my favorite story, a boy leaves his life as a sheppard in search of great treasure. He journeys from everything he knows in search of dream. The adventure takes him far beyond the bounds of familiarity. The farther he goes and the physically closer he is to his treasure, the farther away from his dream he feels. To move beyond the adversity he faces at every step, he must learn something about himself to help him overcome the challenge. He is nearly driven to hopelessness; like he should have never left what he knew and what was safe. But it is these moments where he comes to know himself, and without them, he could never discover his treasures.

I will keep this in my thoughts today as I take something from the two days that better prepares me to play to my potential on the next journey. Onward to the next event.