Match #2

Match #2 took place on 5/5/2010. The lovely Mrs. TSG for Christmas gave her husband a gift card to the highest slope rated course in the State of Georgia. The course I am speaking of is Heritage Golf Course: http://www.heritagegolflinks.com/ and it is a great test of one’s golfing moxie. On with the results. To say that Travis was “dialed in” to begin the match would be a major understatement. Trav almost holed out his second shot on the par 5 1st hole, missed his 8 ft. putt for eagle and had to settle for a “kick in” birdie. Astute observers of golf agreed that Rick’s game was lost somewhere between the driving range and the first tee. As you can see by the attached scorecard Rick was 10 over par after 6 holes. Through the same six hole stretch Travis was a scant 3 over and in possession of a 7 stroke lead in the match. The one part of Rick’s game that never wavered during his dismal start was his putting. The greens were in great spring time shape and rolling “very true”. Rick had 6 one putts on the front nine and limped into the club house with a +10 46. Travis on the other hand was doing everything correctly except making putts. TSG had three 3 putt greens on the front and still shot a very sold +5 41. Travis was overheard in the clubhouse saying “Man I should just putt left handed “. So at the turn Travis gave away a few stokes and had a 5 stoke lead with 9 holes to play. Rick’s solid play on the last three holes carried over to the back nine. Rick played holes 7 through 17 at +2. On the same 11 holes stretch Travis was +12 and had putted his way right out of the lead. A 5 stroke lead had turned into a 3 stoke deficit entering the 18th hole. As Rick walked up to hit his final tee shot he had thoughts of a birdie and a back nine score of 37. However in the back ground Rick heard a voice say “the greatest golf melt down ever!” Rick thought to himself, Travis surly must be talking about his own performance today…..and with that last thought in Rick’s head he blocked his drive out to the right and the ball found the water hazard. Travis however found the middle of the fairway with his tee shot and now had a chance to win or at least tie the match. Rick dropped his ball and made it onto the putting surface with his 5th shot. Travis found his ball in the middle of the fairway and from 165 yards away hit 5 iron on the front half of the green. Rick two putted and was in with a triple bogie 7. Travis now stood over a 35 foot putt for birdie and an amazing comeback victory. TSG’s 1st putt was uphill and came about 4 feet short of the cup. The two competitors looked at each other to see if the putt was going to be conceded. The two agreed that the putt had too much riding on it to be conceded. With that Travis stepped up to the ball and stroked a putt that was aimed at the right edge of the cup and the ball rolled over the edge and by the hole. The dreaded “double hat trick” Travis had three 3 putts on the front nine and now picked up his third 3 putt on the back for a one stroke loss. Final scores Rick +15 87 Travis +16 88. As usual it was a nail bitter. I told my daughter about Travis’s putting woes. Here was her reaction.