2010 Omaha Metro Golf Championship -- Day One

Day one of the Omaha Metro Golf Championship has come and gone and I find myself sitting in the middle of my flight with TONS of ground to make up if I want to be in the money tomorrow.

I am not very happy with my performance today.  The other day I mentioned that I had five goals for myself for this tournament.  Lets see how I did.

GOAL 1)  No 3 putts.

• This was one of my weaknesses today.  I did not putt very well.  I could not get a read on the greens.  I believe I three putted two holes on the front and one hole on the back.  I also 4-putted the final hole of the day.  I was super pissed about that one.  By the time I lined up the first of four putts, I was already mentally checked out.  I wasn't in the moment and my score paid the price for my lapse in concentration.  No more of that tomorrow.

GOAL 2)  Shoot between 82 and 86 each day.  

• Well, I shot a 92 today.  I did not strike the ball particularly well today and I believe my score could have been 5-7 strokes better, but for two poor swings and some poor putting.
  

GOAL 3)  To help me keep my composure during play, I am going into each day "knowing" that I'll probably have one blowup hole, and if/when it happens, I will not lose my temper. 

• You know, the thing about this goal was that I was not expecting my blowup hole to happen on the second hole of the day.  After a par on the first hole, I shanked my tee-shot on the second hole (a simple par-3) out of bounds.  The fact that I shanked it caught me so much by surprise, I immediately was fuming.  It happened so quickly that I didn't have time to remember that I was expecting this to happen and that I needed to keep my cool.  So, a quad-bogie later, my day was pretty much shot.  Two holes later, I slice another tee-shot out of bounds and chalk up a triple bogie.  I ended up shooting a 47 on the front side.  My back nine holes actually went a bit better, with a string of bogies and my getting to the final hole with the opportunity to shoot under 90 (which at that point would have been a victory for me).  Four putts later, I closed with a 45.  I sulked to the clubhouse, knowing my shot at winning money was gone.

GOAL 4)  I will go into each round with a game plan and will not "press" myself if things do not go as planned.

• When my round went flying off the tracks, I was happy that I didn't start pressing.  I played probably 13 quality holes in a row, but was not striking the ball well enough to make up for the two early bad holes.  And I lost my concentration on the final hole, which was not good.

GOAL 5)  No matter what my Saturday score, I will attempt to shoot a lower score on Sunday (even if it is only a one stroke improvement). 

• I believe I can definitely improve my score tomorrow.  Last year I shot a 94-88, so hopefully I can do it again.  The nice thing about tomorrow is that I have no pressure.  I am pretty much out of contention for the money, so I don't need to worry about my score.  I can just go out, swing the club, be the ball, and hopefully quality scores will follow.