2023 Southern Amateur July 25-28
After a short drive up from Carrollton, GA to Chattanooga, TN I arrived at the Honors Course to get ready for the Southern Amateur. I had heard great things about the golf course and understood it was going to be a real challenge. Tiger Woods famously shot an 80 in the final round of 1996 Collegiate National Championship to still win.
The practice round was tricky, the greens were really firm and fast with a bit of grain in them making it difficult to get the ball close from the rough and then judging the speed was difficult from there. It was going to be a ball strikers week, you needed to be in the fairway and hit some greens to be able to shoot a decent score on this difficult track.
I got off to a slow start on day 1 making the turn in 3-over par after missing my wedge shot in a really tough spot on No.12 where I proceeded to 3-putt, then making a good 30ft putt for bogey on No.15 after driving it in the water. On 16 I hit a good tee shot that just rolled over the green where I chipped up to 5ft and missed it. I hadn’t left myself in the easiest spots and I paid for it. The front 9 started off promising with an 18ft putt for birdie on the 1st then a good up-and-down for birdie on the par 5 2nd I had got it back to 1-over par. I hit a pull-draw off the par 3 3rd into an average lie in the bunker and didn’t get it up&down then proceeded to make a bogey on the 4th from 110m in the rough after getting overly aggressive with the approach shot. I then 3-putted the difficult par 4 7th from 50ft for another bogey to go 4-over but holed a great 25ft putt for birdie on No.8, I followed this with a 10ft par putt on 9 after messing up a simple chip shot to finish at +3 for the day. I knew I needed a good one to make the cut.
I got off to a really nice start in round 2 hitting a beautiful shot to 5 feet on the 1st and making birdie. After hacking my way down the 2nd I holed a 30ft putt for par, I was determined to get a good round in regardless of how my game was feeling out there. I hit a great shot into the 5th and made a birdie, followed by 2 good shots a pitch shot and a 9ft putt for birdie on No.6 to be 3-under. I 2 putted from 90ft on 7 but made a sloppy bogey on 8 to turn in 2-under par, +1 total. I was grinding on the back-9 my swing just wasn’t where I wanted it to be but I was getting it around and sprinkled in another birdie on the 13th to get. to 3-under on my round. I got to the difficult par 4 15th and unfortunately lost a ball down the right hand side. I then proceeded to try and lay my second ball up after hitting another average tee shot but hit that in the water, I. ended up taking a quadruple bogey 8 on the hole, all but finishing my chances of making the cut. I finished 2-under my last 3 holes to shoot 1-under and finish +2 for the week, missing the cut by 2 shots.
The margins are very small at this level and I feel as though I’m not far away from being back to where I know I can be. It’s frustrating but I won’t give up.
