1st tourney of the year- the day after

Well, everything went well yesterday at Irish You the Best of Luck tourney. I was pretty worried about my putting with the way things have been going lately on that front. I was always hitting the front of the basket rather than the chains on 85% of my putts lately. That changed yesterday as I putted my way to a 3rd place finish in the Advanced division. Keeping a real glove rather than one of those cheap stretchy cotton gloves really made a difference in my release point as I only missed 2 putts all day within my normal 25-30 ft range. I even hit a few outside the circle as well. If I could have gotten rid of the circle 5 in the first round, who knows where I would have been. Overall I was very pleased with the way I played considering the high winds and all.

The day started early and ended very late as we did not leave until after 8 PM. I think the TD was not expecting so many players and was a bit overwhelmed. I think he had 20 guys on the waiting list and more than that who never even got on the list. Overall 110 players for a 1 day event. I think next year will be a 2 day event so that should help with that.
There were snow flurries throughout the whole day along with a stiff northerly wind the entire first round, which brought in a lot of high scores. My first round of 66 (even) from the longs got me in at the bottom of the first card for the second round. The wind died down for the second round a bit which heped me out a lot as I carded a 60 for the second round to pick up a few spots with a 3rd place finish. If not for one of those stupid 15 foot putts that I shanked, I would have been playing off for that 2nd place trophy. Oh well, not bad for thinking I should have played intermediate before the day started. That gives me 3 straight cashes in a row in Advanced. This time last year I couldn't even consider cashing in that division. It was always the very middle of the pack. What a difference having a mid range game does. The pro demonstration at AM Worlds made a huge difference in my game. Thanks Avery, Dave, Carrie and Val!