I finally won! (in golf, not poker duh)

Somebody pinch me please. I’m still on cloud 9 right now and I am not sure if I’ll ever come back down. I’ve managed to finally do it. I won my Club Championship over this past BC Day long weekend (Canadian civic holiday to be exact). It was certainly a grind, one that I’ve never experienced before, and one that I will never ever forget. Ever. I must be running on adrenaline right now because I’ve had very little sleep as one can expect when they party like a champ after making that final putt.

Wire to wire. That’s what they call it when you start the first day with the lead and never look back. When I say it was a grind, I mean it. I bogied the first two holes of the tournament and somehow still felt very very calm about it. I had asked an old buddy of mine to caddy for me as he happened to be in town for the weekend and man did it ever help. He’s won the same tournament twice earlier this decade and was a huge help in me getting that elusive first win.

I’ve tried many times before. 15 years straight in fact. My first attempt was back in 93’ as a junior member. I shot 70 the first round that year which earned me a medal for low 1st round. I did that again this year, only this time I never relinquished the lead. My first round score was 69, the next lowest were three guys at 75. I had a six shot lead after day 1 and realized I had never been in that position since I first entered my Club Championship 15 years ago.

Shooting 4 under the first day was definitely the key to my victory. After starting the day off 2 over after two holes I settled in and played some solid golf. As I had said previously, my expectations weren’t that high, but I knew I could still compete. I made a good birdie on the 4th and then made an eagle three on the 5th hole to get it back to 1 under. From there, I coasted along and made 4 more birdies and a bogey. It was a great start and I knew that all I had to do was shoot two or three over the next two rounds and the trophy would be mine.

I was nervous when I teed it up on day 2. How could I not be, really. In the back of my mind I knew I could do it, in fact, I remember feeling like I knew I would do it, but I never said that out loud (jinx) to anyone. Day 2 was mentally tougher than Day 1 for sure. I did get off to a better start, but I just wasn’t making many birdie putts. I would head to the 9th hole at 1 over for the day (3 under for the tourney).

I hit my tee ball into the right trees and punched out to about 120 yards in the left ruff on this par 5. I hit a shitty wedge to the front of the green and the pin was tucked on a turtle back in the back left portion. I had about an 80 foot putt and I left it 15 feet short. I remember cursing myself for being such a pussy and not getting to the hole, if not within 4 or 5 feet. I missed my par putt, and then missed the next one coming back! I had just four putted for double bogey… I was steaming, but knew there were still 27 holes left, and I still had the lead. I calmed back down again on the back 9 (thanks to my caddy who was a huge help in that regard) and shot an even par 36 on the back to finish day 2 at 3 over par.

I now had a 3 shot lead over 2nd and an 8 shot lead over third. I was more nervous than ever and I tried not to let it show. I knew they were gunning for me and just waiting for me to make a mistake. We teed off on the back 9 first on the final day so that when we finished our 18th hole (the 9th) we were closer to the club house and all the members could be there for the dramatic finish.

So I get to the 13th (our 4th hole of the day) and it is a 175 yard par 3. The guy that was 3 back had just hit into the water and I was looking to slam the door on this thing early. I wanted to get a lead that couldn’t be touched.

I ended up pulling my six iron over the left corner and chipping it on the green. I had 15 footer for par and was prepared to take a 4 and get out of there. Mr. "3 back" made a 5 which was great news for me. However what happened next, I was really not expecting at all.

I four putted again (different day)! That’s right I made a triple bogey six on the easiest par 3 on the course… the good news was I only lost one shot (he made a 5) so mentally it really didn’t feel like I was choking at all. I basically three putted from a foot and a half. A foot and a fucking half. Ok it was a side hill slider, but still it sucked. Very disappointing, but I knew I was still in charge of my fate. I refocused and started to roll the ball like I had been doing the first two days. Ironically, it was my putting that won me the tournament. I've never putted so well in a three day span, it was a great feeling of confidence and focus.

Moving on, I made a 35 footer from off the green on my 8th hole (the 17th) for birdie and that basically was the turning point. I put it into cruise control after that and the other two guys battled it out for 2nd. I hit all 9 greens on the last 9 holes. I could actually see the hairs on my arm standing straight up as the goose bumps were wiped with my sweaty palm. I finished the day with a 77 and finished the tournament at 3 over par. Good enough for a six stroke victory.

As I type this, the trophy sits on one of the file cabinets I have in my office. Every so often I relive the story again with another passer by co-worker. I just can’t help it. It’s a relief to finally get this win out of the way; it’s something that I have wanted to accomplish for a solid 5 years now at least. And now I can finally say that I’ve done it. I’ve won a multi day tournament… a 54 hole event.

The cool part about winning is the benefits that come along with it. Not only do I get my choice of any golf bag I want, they embroider my name and credentials on there as well. Along with that I get to play in two other invitational tournaments. The big one that I look forward to is called the Canadian Club Championship. It will be a trip to somewhere in Canada early next year. They will provide me with the clothing and the money and I just need to cover some expenses. I can’t wait. It’s something that I’ve wanted to play in ever since I heard about the opportunity back in the 90’s.

I didn’t tee off until 12:45 yesterday so I needed to keep my mind off of golf… so I played some cash game poker! I spewed off 1 buyin but at the time I really didn’t care because I knew it was all in the name of me not thinking about my round to be. The final round that would cinch my first victory as Club Champ.