I played in the final of the Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort Open Matchplay tournament yesterday. It was the final round against my friend Gary. As always, it was great fun and I am thrilled to report that I won the tournament. It was interesting that during the last round I played one of my best rounds of the year and this placed extra pressure on Gary until I closed him out. I have to say that I was initially concerned about my competition because Gary is a stick and has the potential to shoot low scores at any time. I think what made my round so memorable is the strategy I employed.

As I prepared for my round, I decided to dial back my aggression and let my stroke play do my talking. Fortunately, I was able to hit the ball well, but more importantly my putting was spot on. Lets take a step back a bit and talk how I dialed things back. The first tee is a reachable par 5 with a great second hit. Yesterday, I dropped back to a 3 hybrid and left myself a 20 yard chip onto an elevated green. It was a great position as I was able to hit my sand wedge easily to the middle of the green. After a two putt, I was one up.

The next three holes I hit straight shot after straight shot. Do not think that Gary was falling behind. He matched me and after four holes we were all tied. For the short holes, Gary had the advantage. On the longer holes, the advantage leaned towards my game. No one leapt out to any kind of lead. It was a slow pace and after the front nine, I was up two. Gary shot a 3 over 40 and I was 1 over shooting a 38.

The back nine is when my game started to shine. I was relentless. In the first six holes (where I closed Gary out) I was 1 under. Nothing was challenging as I was on the fairway, hitting strong shots, and hitting the green in regulation on all 6 holes. I followed my strategy of not being overly aggressive and not taking any excessive risks. Gary tried to keep up, but was not able to keep pace on the scorecard. After 15 holes the match was finished.

Now, I am grateful to be a winner. However, you need to know something about Gary. He is 77 years young. He hits a great ball and normally has a deadly short game. Unfortunately his putting was not as sharp as other matches we played. This directly impacted the results. Gary is a great opponent and I am looking forward to playing against him in the future.

I want to thank Mike and Brenda (owner operators of the Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort) for hosting this summer long tournament. As always they are customer service is amazing and the food….amazing.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!