The last week of February was one of the larger mini tour events of the year at Wildfire Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. A lot of ladies use this event as their starter event. And quite a few use this is prep before the LPGA Monday Qualifier and subsequent Founder Cup Tournament. The LPGA event only taking place 2 weeks following the Cactus Tour event.
Last year, I chose to use this as my starter event and for me it didn’t work out so well. So this year I played 3 events leading up to this one. You can read about my update from those events here.
Wildfire Golf Club was in great shape as usual and they were starting to get the stadium seating up for the LPGA event. The only thing that was challenging this week, besides that we play golf, was the weather. I was fortunate enough to miss the rain on day 2 but all 3 days were fairly cold and had a good amount of wind.
Day 1 I shot +7, 79. It was disappointing to say the least. I was frustrated in my game. I ended up taking 2 unplayable during my round and 2 shots I had to punch out after my tee shot. It felt like I just couldn’t control where the ball was going to go. Not what you want to feel when trying to compete professionally. Needless to say, I put myself out of it on day 1. I had teed off at the second to last tee time and my last hole was in the dark but that’s just golf.
Day 2 I shot even par, 72. I had talked with my dad about my round yesterday and gave me some advice on my alignment to create more confidence in my direction. I’d say it worked! I hit 13/14 fairways and had 4 birdies. The only thing that I was missing was a little more confidence in my lag putts. My back 9 I had 3 birdies and 3 bogeys. All 3 bogeys came from 3 putts. But definitely progress!
Day 3 I shot -3, 69. Finally! Not only did my putting come around but I hit the fairways and GIRs that I have been striving for. Fairways hit 13/14 and greens in regulation was 15/18 with 29 putts. No 3 putts. My mom was on the bag all 3 days, even on her birthday, and she’s my rock out on the course. She knows which club I’m going to pull before I even say it. She helped me calm down when I start to get a little ahead of myself and I used some techniques from my mental coach to slow my heart rate.
I finished the tournament +4 for 3 days at Wildfire Golf Club. Enough to bring me back into the money. Although I had a rocky start, I’m happy with the progress made on day 2 and 3 and am ready to get to the next big event with this momentum!