Preparation and solid ball striking played key roles in my success at my 4th Hurricane Junior Golf Tour (HJGT) event this year at The Virtues Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio.
The day before the first tournament round, I played a practice round to get familiar with the course by hitting extra shots and taking note of trouble areas, hidden bunkers, aiming spots, deceptive greens, etc. Using this information, I created a yardage book to use during my rounds.
The morning of my first round, I was feeling confident and excited to play the challenging course. This confidence grew as I started off my round with a tap in birdie on the first hole followed by two pars! I made a few mistakes but finished strong with a par to shoot 81 which placed me tied for second by three strokes. After a brief interview about the HJGT live scoring technology, I retreated to the hotel to get some rest for my second day.
For the final round, I warmed up well on the range and was chipping spectacularly at the short game area. I had many chip-ins and all were within a few feet; I knew that it would be a good day for golf. I started off with a bogey but combatted it with a birdie on the second hole followed by 2 pars. I continued to hit fairways, greens in regulation, and even had two more birdies in my round. I saved par on the 14th by getting up and down with a blind chip shot and also on 15 by saving from 12 feet.
I shot 75 which earned me first place at +12 total for both days. I went into the playoff determined to win, but missed the green and got a bogey, forcing me to surrender the champion title. Overall, I put up a good battle and was proud of myself for overcoming the three-shot deficit.
The full leaderboard: https://tournaments.hjgt.org/Scoreboard?TournamentID=11832&TournamentDivisionID=64383&IsCombinedDivision=False
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