2023 North & South Men’s Amateur June 27 - July 1
It was a quick turnaround for the next event which was held at Pinehurst, North Carolina on the No.2 (where Michael Campbell won the US Open in 2005) and No.4 course. It was an early start on the Sunday before this event, a 6am flight down to Raleigh, North Carolina followed by a 2 hour drive to Pinehurst and a practice round at 3pm on the No.4 course. I followed that up with a practice round on the No.2 course on the Monday. Usually I wouldn’t play 36 holes in the 2 days prior but these courses were vastly different. Although they were on the same property the No.4 course was soft and slow. The No.2 course was firm and the greens were quick, it was a test.
The 1st round was on the Tuesday just 3 days after the final round of the NorthEast (luckily I had an extra day off to recover). I had the No.4 course up first which I knew was going to be playing easy so I wanted to go out and put a good number on the board. I didn’t feel very comfortable out there but managed to get it around ok and make a few putts. Before I knew it I had made 7 birdies in the first 12 holes and was 5-under. I continued to hit good golf shots coming home and grazed the edge on a few putts from inside 15ft. I had a sloppy 3-putt on 18 to finish at 4-under for the day a solid round that put me in a tie for 4th place.
The North & South is a matchplay event so I had to make the top 32 after the 2nd round to qualify for the matchplay. I knew the No.2 course was going to be challenging as I went out in the 2nd to last group so the course had time to firm up. I played some decent golf for the first 7 holes and was 3-over par, a couple putts slid by along with a couple bad breaks and all of a sudden I was struggling to make the matchplay. I wasn’t hitting the ball well and wasn’t able to scramble for pars. I made too many mistakes coming in and ended up shooting a 7-over par 77.
Rounds of 66 and 77 gave me a 3-over par total which missed the playoff for the matchplay by 3 shots.
I had a good few days on the range and around the chipping green to try and work out a few things after missing the matchplay. This could be a blessing in disguise as I feel as though I figured something out and began to hit some shots that I haven’t felt in a while. I’m excited looking ahead to the next few weeks.
3 down, 5 to go.
