Hi everyone! Happy belated Canada Day! It has been a while since my last post so let's get started!
First stop. Four Winds Invitational - South Bend, Indiana. I really don't remember anything very interesting happening this tournament except that there was a huge rain delay. Otherwise, I played decently, but missed the cut by 3 shots. The cut was EVEN and I was +3.
Second stop. The Forsyth Classic - Decatur/Forsyth, Illinois -- known to always be one of the hottest stops on the Symetra Tour. Guaranteed to have sweltering temperatures and high humidity no matter what other kinds of weather are occurring anywhere else in the United States. That particular week was no exception. Again, I played decently, but missed the cut by 3 shots. The cut was -3 and I was EVEN.
Third stop. Island Resort Championship - Harris, Michigan. This is by far one of my favourite tournaments on tour. They feed us and our caddies well; the golf course is right beside the hotel/casino; they have coupons and promo cash we can use at the casino; they give us 100 $2 bills; they have a fishing tournament for the players (I caught a fish!!!); oh and the golf course is pretty awesome too! But more importantly, I had a breakthrough. This was the first time I had broken par this season. I shot 69, 70, 73 which put me at -4 for the tournament and 5 shots off the leader. This was such an awesome moment for me, and it's funny because I didn't really realize it was happening. As I came to my 18th hole on the first day, it finally dawned on me that I was going to have my first under par tournament round for the season. Albeit, I hadn't finished the hole yet, but I knew it was going to happened. There's no one that can tell you how patiently I've waited for this moment to arrive. I've been so close so many times and it hasn't happened. So why was this the week that I finally had a breakthrough? I have no idea. And it wasn't just the one round under par, it was the whole tournament that I kept under par! The course wasn't the easiest one we have played or the shortest so there's nothing that really points to this being the place for this to happen. All I know from this tournament is that "when it's happening, let it happen".
Fourth stop. Maineville, Ohio. The Prasco Charity Championship is one of the newest events on tour and they really delivered! Prasco is a Christian based pharmaceutical company and their philosophy behind starting this event was to make it a premier event on the Symetra Tour. They wanted it to feel like an LPGA event. They had lockers for us, tons of player gifts, incredible dining, shoe cleaning, and a spectacular golf course and facilities to top it all off. TPC River's Bend is owned by the PGA Tour and this event was actually the first Symetra or LPGA event to be played on a PGA Tour owned course! I played decently well again but a familiar pattern returned. I missed the cut by 3 shots. The cut was EVEN and I was +3.
Last stop. Home. Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. I had the honour of playing in the DCM PGA Women's Championship of Canada at my home golf course (Ladies Golf Club of Toronto) just a few days ago. It was such a special moment to be playing a professional event on the course that I had grown up on. A lot of my family and friends came out to watch and it felt like this was finally a chance to show people, in person, what my job is like and to showcase my home club. Everyone at the club did an incredible job and the course was in fantastic shape despite the heat. It definitely played the toughest ever in my 15 years as a member there! But once again, another familiar but different pattern returned. I shot +1 and I was 5 shots off the leader.
Patterns are a beautiful thing. Our lives are defined by them whether we want them to or not. We are habitual creatures by default and patterns arise without our conscious acknowledgment all the time. But why do patterns like these occur? I'm not quite sure, but patterns are incredibly insightful. The most practical use of patterns is to see progression or find a weakness. For example, discovering that you always shoot your best/worst score on the last day of a tournament is common one. But I think the greatest use of patterns comes from their ability to deliver tremendous perspective. The past 5 tournaments have taught me something very interesting. You have absolutely no control over anything really. All the times I missed the cut, I was 3 shots away. The 2 times I earned money, I was 5 shots off the leader. Let's take the times I missed the cut by 3 shots as an example. Every time that this happened, something unusual occurred on the last hole to get me to that number. The 1st time, I sank a 20 foot slider from off the green for a birdie. The 2nd time, I badly missed a 5 foot putt for birdie. And the 3rd time, I almost pitched in a shot from 45 yards out but instead had a 6 inch birdie putt. If anything of these things on the last hole had been slightly different, the pattern wouldn't exist. Kind of interesting/weird right? All I can say is that in a game where we feel like we should have total control because no one is slide tackling us or guarding us or preventing us from scoring, we have so little control. Things happen. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. I personally think it's divine intervention at its finest, but you can call it whatever you want. Just like in life. You can't control what will happen to you even if you set yourself up for what you think is the path you should go. As a golfer, it's important to take this mentality to the course -- knowing that you just have to let whatever's going to happen, happen. The patterns are proof. If you really thought you could control everything in your game, why aren't you shooting 54 every round? The patterns are there to give us perspective and know that something beautiful is being created using the most unusual and unpredictable mixture of events.
Thanks for reading everyone! I feel like this might have been more of an unusual kind of blog post since it's totally from my brain and how I think all the time which is weird to some people, but I hope it helps you see patterns from a different perspective!
G.O.L.F.
First stop. Four Winds Invitational - South Bend, Indiana. I really don't remember anything very interesting happening this tournament except that there was a huge rain delay. Otherwise, I played decently, but missed the cut by 3 shots. The cut was EVEN and I was +3.
Second stop. The Forsyth Classic - Decatur/Forsyth, Illinois -- known to always be one of the hottest stops on the Symetra Tour. Guaranteed to have sweltering temperatures and high humidity no matter what other kinds of weather are occurring anywhere else in the United States. That particular week was no exception. Again, I played decently, but missed the cut by 3 shots. The cut was -3 and I was EVEN.
Third stop. Island Resort Championship - Harris, Michigan. This is by far one of my favourite tournaments on tour. They feed us and our caddies well; the golf course is right beside the hotel/casino; they have coupons and promo cash we can use at the casino; they give us 100 $2 bills; they have a fishing tournament for the players (I caught a fish!!!); oh and the golf course is pretty awesome too! But more importantly, I had a breakthrough. This was the first time I had broken par this season. I shot 69, 70, 73 which put me at -4 for the tournament and 5 shots off the leader. This was such an awesome moment for me, and it's funny because I didn't really realize it was happening. As I came to my 18th hole on the first day, it finally dawned on me that I was going to have my first under par tournament round for the season. Albeit, I hadn't finished the hole yet, but I knew it was going to happened. There's no one that can tell you how patiently I've waited for this moment to arrive. I've been so close so many times and it hasn't happened. So why was this the week that I finally had a breakthrough? I have no idea. And it wasn't just the one round under par, it was the whole tournament that I kept under par! The course wasn't the easiest one we have played or the shortest so there's nothing that really points to this being the place for this to happen. All I know from this tournament is that "when it's happening, let it happen".
Fourth stop. Maineville, Ohio. The Prasco Charity Championship is one of the newest events on tour and they really delivered! Prasco is a Christian based pharmaceutical company and their philosophy behind starting this event was to make it a premier event on the Symetra Tour. They wanted it to feel like an LPGA event. They had lockers for us, tons of player gifts, incredible dining, shoe cleaning, and a spectacular golf course and facilities to top it all off. TPC River's Bend is owned by the PGA Tour and this event was actually the first Symetra or LPGA event to be played on a PGA Tour owned course! I played decently well again but a familiar pattern returned. I missed the cut by 3 shots. The cut was EVEN and I was +3.
Last stop. Home. Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. I had the honour of playing in the DCM PGA Women's Championship of Canada at my home golf course (Ladies Golf Club of Toronto) just a few days ago. It was such a special moment to be playing a professional event on the course that I had grown up on. A lot of my family and friends came out to watch and it felt like this was finally a chance to show people, in person, what my job is like and to showcase my home club. Everyone at the club did an incredible job and the course was in fantastic shape despite the heat. It definitely played the toughest ever in my 15 years as a member there! But once again, another familiar but different pattern returned. I shot +1 and I was 5 shots off the leader.
Patterns are a beautiful thing. Our lives are defined by them whether we want them to or not. We are habitual creatures by default and patterns arise without our conscious acknowledgment all the time. But why do patterns like these occur? I'm not quite sure, but patterns are incredibly insightful. The most practical use of patterns is to see progression or find a weakness. For example, discovering that you always shoot your best/worst score on the last day of a tournament is common one. But I think the greatest use of patterns comes from their ability to deliver tremendous perspective. The past 5 tournaments have taught me something very interesting. You have absolutely no control over anything really. All the times I missed the cut, I was 3 shots away. The 2 times I earned money, I was 5 shots off the leader. Let's take the times I missed the cut by 3 shots as an example. Every time that this happened, something unusual occurred on the last hole to get me to that number. The 1st time, I sank a 20 foot slider from off the green for a birdie. The 2nd time, I badly missed a 5 foot putt for birdie. And the 3rd time, I almost pitched in a shot from 45 yards out but instead had a 6 inch birdie putt. If anything of these things on the last hole had been slightly different, the pattern wouldn't exist. Kind of interesting/weird right? All I can say is that in a game where we feel like we should have total control because no one is slide tackling us or guarding us or preventing us from scoring, we have so little control. Things happen. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. I personally think it's divine intervention at its finest, but you can call it whatever you want. Just like in life. You can't control what will happen to you even if you set yourself up for what you think is the path you should go. As a golfer, it's important to take this mentality to the course -- knowing that you just have to let whatever's going to happen, happen. The patterns are proof. If you really thought you could control everything in your game, why aren't you shooting 54 every round? The patterns are there to give us perspective and know that something beautiful is being created using the most unusual and unpredictable mixture of events.
Thanks for reading everyone! I feel like this might have been more of an unusual kind of blog post since it's totally from my brain and how I think all the time which is weird to some people, but I hope it helps you see patterns from a different perspective!
G.O.L.F.