On Tuesday, I traveled to Alabama, so I could work with one of my coaches, Ron Stockton. I played 9 holes with him and worked on chipping bunkers and shot-making on the course. I was extremely happy with how I was hitting it!
Upon arriving at Alabama, I headed straight to a player meeting. Afterwards, I attended the Pro-Am party. Navistar hosts one of the best Pro-Am parties that we have all year, so it was fun mingling with players, sponsors and volunteers. The highlight of the night was meeting Charles Barkley. After someone introduced us, he paused for a second and then said “Wait, I know who you are.” He then explained how he knew who I was and proceeded to say something along the lines of “Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks, you just keeping paying those bills.” It was both sweet and hilarious all at the same time!
Wednesday I had a fabulous Pro-Am group who had to deal with me still asleep for the first 9 holes. Luckily they were all in stellar form and didn’t need me—they only used one of my shots and two putts in 9 holes. I woke up on the back nine and redeemed myself; we shot a -16 and finished a respectable second.
In round one, I hit the ball quite superbly. I gave myself tons of chances and didn’t really convert. But I was happy to start with a two under 70. Especially because I played at the last tee time, which left me with bumpy greens and playing the last few holes in near darkness.
I came out firing the next morning, getting it to -7 at one point, but unfortunately, a bad approach on 17 and a 3-putt on 18 left me at -5. I was still optimistic heading into the weekend. Once again, I started round three with stellar ball striking but no ability to convert birdies. I was hitting good putts, but I wasn’t getting a good line. Then I made numerous course management errors and could not get anything going. Making soft bogeys was extremely frustrating. In round four, I just felt stiff right from the beginning. It was a cold and windy morning, and I just couldn’t put the ball close to the pin. Eventually my frustration led to some silly bogeys. Luckily I pulled my head up and finished with two awesome birdies. The pin was in a ridiculous position on 18. I hit a great approach which ended up over the green, but I holed out and the crowd went crazy, which is always a great way to end the tournament.
With a few weeks off from the LPGA, I am now heading back to LA. I am looking forward to hitting the gym and working on a few things in my game!
