Ooopen post 2

The story of the 2007 Ooopen

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm recently returned from the golf tournament that my friends and I have put on for six years now. And for the fifth time in those six years I returned home a loser.

In years past this would have put me into a tailspin of mild depression for a couple of weeks. With excruciating detail I can discuss how my poor play in previous Ooopens cost my team a chance to win:

1. In the first Ooopen I celebrated too soon after securing at least a draw after winning the 17th hole, quickly lost my concentration, and lost 18, costing us a win in fourball.
2. (I actually played well in Ooopen 2, going 3-1-0)
3. In the third Ooopen I was my team's sacrificial lamb in singles, but was even with Dooley (a far superior player) going to the 15th hole. I missed a 3 foot putt that would have put me 1-up. Instead I lost 16, miraculously pushed 17, but couldn't get the job done on 18. I also played atrociously on the par 3s (two doubles, two bogeys), which ended up costing my team the tiebreaker. I yelled at myself for four hours driving home. To this day I could walk you to the exact spot on the green where I missed that putt.
4. My team got blitzed in the fourth Ooopen 7-1, but I Franko and I had a lead against Dooley and Wiseman in the first round going to the 16th hole and lost. Things went downhill from there
5. My team won Ooopen 5. It was great. I still bask in the glory.

Which leaves me with Ooopen 6. I had incredibly high hopes going in. I was the first to arrive in Myrtle, and after picking up the keys to the house I got in a practice round. Shot 83, including birdies on the two hardest holes. It was arguably my best round of golf ever. We spent most of Friday hurrying up to wait... we arrived at the course early, early enough to watch it rain for about an hour. Then we got to wait as they sent out the other crazy people who waited around. Then, well, it started to rain again and they shut the course. The Ooopen did not get off to a very fast start. We made the most of our free time, including introducing some of the Yankee Ooopen participants to Bojangles. It also says a lot about the group of people that we bring together that we had a day of golf rained out and no one got very upset.

Day two started before dawn. My alarm went off at 6am and the sun was still an hour away from rising above the Atlantic. By the time it did we were on the golf course rather than on the beach. Despite gloomy skies and a waterlogged golf course the Ooopen finally got underway. I was paired with Wiseman (undefeated for two years, easily the best record in Ooopen history), and we played great golf. We were playing fourball against Tim Doyle and Chris Zimmer, and we never let them into the match. As a best ball team we shot 38 on the front nine, making seven pars and two bogeys, and made the turn with a four hole lead. Five pushes later and we had a 5&4 victory. Unfortunately the other Marchers (our team decided to call itself Sherman's March) didn't get off to quite the same start (it's tough to beat a guy who gets 15 strokes and shoots 102), and we found ourselves down 2-1.

I'll be honest: I have almost no recollection of my afternoon match. I know that it was back and forth, I know that I played pretty poorly, and I know that Rupert and Zim (my opponents) played pretty well. The loss hurt, but unlike previous matches I can't point to a hole where I made a shot I wish I could have back. The real story from the afternoon was the Jordan/Swennes vs. Feeney/Contarino match. It featured one player making three 10s in a row. Jordan and Bobby were down 11 points at the 8th hole, and came back to tie the match. It's tough to explain how big of a comeback this is, but it's easily the biggest comeback in Ooopen history. Incredible stuff.

Sunday dawned with my team trailing 3.5-2.5. Sunday would end with my team trailing by the same amount. Once again I came up short, although I don't feel as bad about it as other losses I've taken. I challenged Drew Fine, who is easily the best golf in the group. He shot 83. I shot 91. No one else broke 90 on the day. I was frustrated that despite knocking in nearly every fairway I couldn't give myself easy pars. The loss sucked, but it wasn't as devastating as years past.

So I drove out of Myrtle more ambivalent about the Ooopen than each of the previous four years. I think my lack of competitive fire this year was driven by two factors: first, I planned all the golf, so I spent most of the weekend worrying about logistics; second, the win last year released so much pent up stress that I could actually enjoy the event rather than focusing on the competitive aspects. I don't know how I feel about that.

Ooopen post 3: Was winning last year really the biggest accomplishment of my post-college life? Where else can I find an outlet for my competitive streak?