Fair warning, this is going to be long, but as this tournament goes on, I want to have a place to go back and read about it and figure this is as good a spot as any. If you don't want to read a blow by blow of someone's round, quit now.
Finally found my swing last week in time for the club's 4 ball Championship. 50 or so teams tried to qualify (one round, best ball net of two players), and 16 get in (15 actually, but the defending champs automatically qualify). Qualifier was last week, and I'm playing at a 13 handicap and shot 83 including a stretch of triple, bogey, triple on the back nine. Made two really good birdies along the way, including one on an uphill 200 yard par 3. My partner is a 5, and he shot 84. We finished the qualifier at -7, which got us the 8 seed.
16 teams, match play. First round was last week, and I played pretty good again, shot 85, and we won on 17 (3 and 1). My partner found his stroke a bit and shot 78 or so.
Got rained out yesterday in the quarterfinal, so we played it today. As the 8 seed, we had to play the defending champs (a 16 and 13 handicap, older members, that make putts and miracle shit around the green, which is how they keep winning), so they were getting a ton of shots. My partner makes birdie on 1, which is a stroke hole for them. On 2, I'm in the middle of the green, looking at an easy 20 footer slightly up the hill with little break and I pull it, and leave it just outside of "gimme" range. Opponent drops a 25 footer for par, so now I have a must make par putt, and I miss it.
Get to 3, long par 4, stroke hole. My partner chips in for birdie, but I had a 2 footer for net birdie anyway. Opponent drops another 20+ footer for net birdie and we get through 3 all even, and I could see the writing on the wall. We'll outplay them all round, and they'll score when they need to, and we'll lose.
We halve 4 and 5 (both me and my partner par each hole, and one of them pars both, including a 30 footer). Then on 6 (our number 1 stroke hole, 450 yard par 4) where we are all getting shots, I hit a great approach into the green, but I get a bad break and end up having about a 50 footer to a brutally positioned pin on a hill on the other side, front portion of the green. I 4 putt the fucking thing. Fortunately, my opponent 3 putts and we get out with a half.
On the par 5 7th, I'm lying 3 about 40 feet from the cup, and my opponent hits a ludicrously delicate chip to about 3 feet where he's lying 4. I thought my partner was asking if I wanted him (my partner) to putt first (I was away) because he was putting for par, and I was putting for birdie, and he actually asked if we should give them their putt, and I said yes, so we gave it to them. Fortunately, I made my two putt from about 40 feet and we halved.
I made a really good 2 putt again on the 8th for par, and we halved their net par.
My partner birdies 9 to win that hole so we make the turn at 2 up, which kind of sucked, because we really were significantly outplaying them. I shot a 42 with a 3 putt and a 4 putt, and my partner shot 37 with 3 birdies.
On the par 5 10th, my partner hits a beautiful second shot into the green from 200 out and proceeds to three putt. I had laid up and hit a wedge to 8 feet, and made the birdie putt, which we needed because opponent hits a 15 footer for par. 3 up
Par 3 11th, 205 par 3, uphill. Back left pin, tucked away behind a ridge. Just a crazy pin. I hit a good 5 wood onto the green almost to the back edge, setting up a 50 foot putt with about 10 feet of break that starts downhill, flattens out, and then goes downhill again at the hole. I was looking to get something inside of about 6 feet, and I almost made the fucking thing instead. Kick in par, opponent lips out for his par from 20 feet, and now we're 4 up. That was the dagger.
Par 4 12th, I catch a shit break, when I catch the right side of a big oak tree on the left side of the fairway. Ball goes LEFT, and out of bounds. My partner halves the hole with par though, so no blood.
Par 4, 13th, number 4 stroke hole, I fuck up the hell out of the hole, but my partner hits a great second shot in (was playing about 500 yards into the wind) and makes 4 to halve their 5/4, after they lipped out another par putt from 30 feet.
Par 5, 560 yard, number 2 stroke hole. I make 5/4 and my partner makes a natural birdie and we win the match 5 and 4.
Really felt like early on it was going to be another one of these matches where our opponents just make everything they looked at and squeak out a win, but thankfully, it didn't work out that way and we were able to win in relatively easy fashion. We didn't play out the remaining holes, and took par/bogey based on the handicaps and I finished based on that with an 83 and my partner a 73.
This is by far the most fun tournament of the year. Besides the actual match play, dozens of guys come out to watch the matches. It's been a long time since I played any sort of organized sports with spectators, so it's really nice to get that old rush again. "Final Four" is next week. We're playing the semi-final on Saturday against a 3 and a 7 handicap, so I'll be getting 8 shots and my partner will actually get a couple, but it's really going to be on my shoulders. These guys are both really good and probably playing a couple shots higher handicap wise than they should be. I think they both shot 76 today. We do have a handicap adjustment before next week, so hopefully, those numbers adjust a bit, but I can't remember having this much fun in a long time. Not sure if other private clubs have tournaments like we do (we actually have about 30 different tournaments a year, but this is one of the 4 "majors"), but if they do, I can't recommend them enough, especially if like me, you were once an athlete and enjoyed the hell out of the pressure of the competition. It's so nice to get that feeling back again once in a while.