Breaking America with Rachel Connor - Up and running on the Duramed Futures Tour
24 Mar 2010 - 07:28:08
As I write this, I am sat in the lounge at Tampa Airport awaiting my flight to Atlanta - it's 3.24 am!
I'm flying to Atlanta where I will pick up my connecting flight to Mexico and my next event on the Duramed Futures Tour, The Riviera Nayarit Challenge which runs from March 26 - 28. This event will be held at The Riviera Nayarit Country Club, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico.
Less than 24 hours ago I was playing at the rain-drenched Lake Region Golf Club in Winter Haven, trying to complete my final round and make some impression on the leaderboard in my first Duramed event The Florida's Natural Charity Classic.
This was a three-day, 54-hole event. The first day was an absolute nightmare, I struck the ball well from tee to green but then I just couldn't make a putt - even missing two three-footers for par! I came off the golf course with a dismal five-over-par 77 and went straight to the putting green to see if I could sort my putting stroke out. I finished day one in position 97 on the scoreboard and things were not looking too good.
On day two once again my long game was fantastic, I should have scored much better but for, you got it, my putting! Nevertheless, my score was a little better with a one over par 73 and I started to feel that just maybe I could scrape into the 36 hole cut. Four nail biting hours later when the last few players arrived in off the course, I finally learned that I had JUST made the cut at 69th place out of a possible 70 qualifying places - that was tight! Phew!
Day three brought with it absolutely horrendous weather conditions and after some play on the golf course in the morning the Futures Tour officials finally made the decision to abandon play and award placings based on the 36 holes already played.
My first experience of playing on the Duramed Futures Tour was very positive. No I didn't score as well as I wanted to, my short game let me down - probably brought on by a few unharnessed nerves. Nevertheless, I played some really solid golf and I did make the cut which is always a good sign.
Now it's onwards and upwards to Mexico!
I would like to say a really big thank you to Karen and Joe, who took me into their home in Winterhaven last week and treated me like one of their own. Without the support of special people like this, life really would be so much harder on Tour.
Thank you!
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