Big match victory

Our club has two open tournaments that are designed to test the best golfers at the club. Any member or junior can enter, irrespective of their status. These are the Club Championship, which is a 3 round stroke play event to be played in October, and the Match Play Championship, which just began.

Sean shot an 82 in an 18 hole play in event to qualify for the Match Play Championship (I shot worse and failed to qualify...ugh. The one day he plays bad enough that I could beat him, I end up playing worse).

This gave him a fairly low seed in the 16 player field, and sure enough he was slated to play Rich, an adult member and one of the top 4 best players at the club, year in and out.

Rich and Sean played their match yesterday, and Sean emerged on top with a 2&1 victory.

Apparently, Sean was up by as many as 3 holes, before Rich narrowed it to one after the par 5 hole 14. They both birdied 15 and then Sean dropped a bomb for birdie on 16 to go 2 up. On the 225 yd par 3 17th, Sean missed the green but emerged with a victory after getting up and down for par.

Sean says he shot a 72 on his ball, to Rich's 74.

But a tight match like that against a really solid opponent is big test of fortitude and a great confidence booster for Sean.

Sounds like he is playing well, which is good, because he has an AJGA qualifier tomorrow. You'd like to see them playing well going into these sort of do-or-die events.