Last year I spent 4+ hours practicing at the PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens Florida. The course was slowing down for the summer season as all the “snow birds” were heading North. Beautiful course … but I wish I could have gone out to play the infamous BEAR TRAP. Would my game keep me safe and dry or would I end up in the water pounding my fist at the golf gods (AKA Jack!) Some day perhaps I will go back…but for now I will watch the Pros give it a go…maybe it will be turned into a Bear Cub all gentle by the end of the weekend.

This weeks PGA Tour event is the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. I was fortunate to play both Pebble Beach and Spyglass in 2008. Both courses have their own challenges: for me Pebble was difficult due to strong winds and light rain the day we played. On #7 it was only a little chip 54 degree wedge to the middle of the green. Looks like the pros have a nice weather day today! Spyglass weaved its way through the local trees, up and down, and around the dog-legs. I could lay across the middle of the 4th green and touch both edges of the fringe with my toes and finger tips! What makes these courses difficult are the small greens – you have to be precise and have the sun on your side.

Looking forward to enjoying the final round at Pebble…is Tiger on his way back?

What a fantastic experience for my first USGA event! The Staff at the Bayville GC welcomed 132 ladies and their caddies with open arms and great warmth. Dean Hurst and his wife did a fantastic job organizing the staff and pro shop to provide superior service and always with a smile. Catalina and the other “locker ladies” welcomed us players, listened to our disappointing stories, offered hugs and a multitude of dry towels! USGA knows how to put on an event with clear information and dedicated staff of officials. I have never seen a rule official on every hole of a course during an event ever! Bayville GC-was such a beautiful piece of property with a great Fazio challenge. Your greens staff went above and beyond to turn out a course in the best shape possible with all the rain that came down. THANK YOU for all your hard work. I’m hooked! I’ll be back again!

Next month I will be taking a trip to Norfolk Virginia to play in my first USGA event ever! The US Mid Amateur. This event is different than any I have played in here in Canada. The first two days are stroke play which at the end the field is reduced to top 64 that will play in the Match Play portion of the event. Now in Match Play you lose…you go home! You WIN you keep on playing! Looking forward to this adventure as the leaves are starting to turn and cool air in the morning results in frost delays. Practice begins today!

Last week was a long week of golf out at Duncan Meadows! The wind made the course challenging and I was tired by the end of the 4 days of competition. There were some highlights out at the course: On the first day of competition a fellow Albertan Carly McNaughton got a Hole-in-One! Amazing! I finally started to birdie a few holes on the last day-Phew.
When the last putt dropped and the last score counted I finished 2nd in the Canada in the Mid Amateur category (ages 25+)! I am proud of this accomplishment, but I still feel I could have played better.
Thanks to Royale and Golf Canada for another Canadian Amateur. The Staff at Duncan Meadows also were fantastic all around!
Until next year….Lethbridge Country Club look out!

Today was the final day of the AB Ladies Amateur where we play for all the marbles! At the end of the day – third place was the best that I could do. I hit 10/14 fairways…15/18 greens and made 32 putts (nothing was dropping!) to shoot a stress free 70 (1-under). That left me at even for the tournament. Nicole Zhang won the event with a four day total of -7 and Jocelyn Alford was second with -1 total. It was a fantastic 4 days. Thanks again to Sunlife Financial for supporting Ladies Golf in Alberta!

Next week is the Royale Canadian Amateur and Mid Amateur in Duncan BC. Nicole, Jocelyn and I will represent Alberta. Thank Alberta Golf for all that you do and we will do the best we can for our province.

Not only did I wake up to watching the British Open..but the weather was absolutely fantastic for today 3rd round at the Sunlife Financial Alberta Ladies Amateur. Well..it is round 3 for the Amateur portion of the event, but the final round of the Mid Amateur (25 yrs+) and Mid Master (40 yrs+) portion of the event. There was a two hole play off to crown Kerrin Lee-Gartner as the Mid Master Champion. My game was good enough to repeat as the Mid Amateur Champion.

Here is the deal…I shot 73. Doesn’t seem like a bad score, but I am working on a little disappointment right now. This funny game! I promise you if I had triple bogied the first hole, I would not be as upset, and the 73 would have been pretty good. However, when you triple the last hole…when you were 1 under at the time and picking up some strokes on the leader…frustrating!

The other part is this – why did I triple that last hole. I could blame the bunker that I was in that was not raked and my ball sat in a blast mark…OR I could take the heat and say “HEY! Why did you hit it in that bunker in the first place from the middle of the fairway?!” So, food for thought.
I am proud of my Mid Amateur Championship title and I am happy that I get another chance to play better tomorrow at Cottonwood. Funny game!

Well…round 2 is finally complete! Today started with a good warm up on the beautiful range at Cottonwood. Then off we went down the first fairway…it got dark out! THEN THE SKIES OPENED UP! The horn blew and we were in a rain delay. Thanks to Tiffany and her speedy crew that came out in carts to pick us up. After about an hour, we set off to play again starting at 11:45 on the 2nd tee box. The course weathered well as there were more Mosquitos than Puddles out there!
For me it was a bit of a struggle today…just off which left just tough enough short game shots and just unsettling distances for par. I had a great time playing with Christie Lin from Country Hills and Kim Carrington from Willow Park…but it was a long day.
But guess what…I think I’m in Second! Stick with what you know…but tomorrow…maybe another story!

If anyone read the Calgary Herald today..you would know the theme of my golf is “second”. What is more fitting that I am sitting in second after the first round of the amateur being held at Cottonwood. Good news is that I am just 1 shot back of Nicole Zhang who shot a good round of 68 this morning. The course was playing great even with all the rain we had over the past 24 hours. Toughest pin of the day was on Number 14 – middle left on an itsy bitsy teir. Lucky bounce of the day was on Number 10 where I skidded my chip shot off a dead spot and it kicked in a strange mannor, but ended up just 8 inches from the hole. Looking forward to another good weather day and fun golf tomorrow as I tee off at 9:21 AM.

Unfortunately the Sunlife AB Amateur Media day was cancelled due to lightening and rain…lots of rain. Tiffany and crew at Cottonwood were quick to bring us in out of harms way and protect the course for the 4 day event. Too bad I did not get my round in with “Lucky” Gary Korol of Sunlife who has played with the past two Amateur champions in previous years, Carol Logan a great Cottonwood Member, and “fancy first shot” Heath Brown of CTV. It would have been a great group! Hopefully we can get that round in another time. Thanks for coming out and supporting Women’s Amateur golf in Alberta!