2024 PNG Open | Recap

Lesson: playing good golf requires PLAYING golf ...

80 - 75, 11 over … MC hammer.

There are quite a few excuses I could probably trick myself into believing, but bottom line this week was that I simply didn’t play well.

I didn’t play ‘80-75’ bad (I’ll get into that in a minute), but I just wasn’t ready to compete at this level. That doesn’t mean I’m not ready to compete with these guys in the medium term … but I definitely wasn’t ready for this event. Everything that went into moving across the world took a toll on my game and there just wasn’t enough time to cram for the test.

I’m disappointed. This hasn’t been a super easy week and despite being in a quasi-tropical location, it has been anything but a vacation. Add in the fact that Kaylie is stoically holding down the fort without me (with two small kiddos) in a brand new country and I feel a bit guilty for not making more out of the week from a performance perspective.

On the other hand, it WAS an amazing learning experience and something that is only going to make me better moving forward. I learned how an Aussie PGA Tour event is run. I got to know the guys who work their asses off to make it happen (shout out to Graham, Andy, and John-o). I met a lot of the players who pop up at the top of every APGA leaderboard. I learned a lot about pacing myself across the practice days. I got to take part in a pro-am and understand how that works. The list goes on and on.

The other nice reminder was that the golf is just golf. Once the rounds started, it felt no different than any other event I’ve ever played. Sure, there were more people milling around and a lot more signage up around the course. But the mechanics of the game felt familiar and comfortable.

Add up the good and it absolutely made the trip worth it despite playing so poorly.

So what went wrong?

My first round started out okay. Made a comfy par on the Par-5 first, hit an awesome low four-iron into a brutal wind on the second hole and made par, wedged an approach shot to 20 feet on three (made par), and repeated that on the fourth to stay even through four.

The first crack in the armor came on five where I left a five-iron about 15 feet out to the right (to a front right pin) and got a truly horrendous bounce, ending up about thirty yards right of the green. The course was so baked out that even the smallest misses could end up a long way from the greens depending on the slopes. I did a great job of just taking my medicine and hitting my second shot to 20 feet and two putting for bogey.

I carded my second bogey of the round on the next hole after carrying a wedge about two yards beyond my target and watching it once again bound over the green to a spot that was absolutely dead. Took my medicine again and quickly jumped to two-over.

I missed decent birdie looks on seven and eight before playing the shot of the day on the par-5 ninth. After my tee shot ran out a bit too far into the right hardscrabble, I faced an interesting dilemma. The ball had come to rest nearly up against a tree route. I had about 220 into the hole and a green that would accept a run up shot, but I was nervous about the root interfering with my swing (I broke my write my sophomore year of college playing a nearly identical shot). Because there was about half an inch between the ball and the root, I figured I could get a thin 4-iron on the ball and run it up onto the green and avoid the fronting pond. I was forced to putt the ball way back in my stance in order to straddle another massive root with my left leg and I did everything I could to feel like I was going to hit above the equator of the ball. Miraculously, it came out perfect, skirted the pond and ran up and just over the green. From there, I hit what I thought was a good chip but it ran out to about six feet and I underplayed the break on the ensuing putt. I walked off the green with a disappointing par and a two-over, 39 to start the tournament.

The good vibes from that shot disappeared quickly on ten …

The wind was up all afternoon, blowing between 15 and 20mph all day. But it really picked up when we made the turn, with the tenth hole playing dead into and requiring a 250 yard carry to cover a stream meandering across the fairway. In the pro-am, we faced a similar strong wind and I managed to carry the stream by ten yards or so, so I pulled driver thinking I’d be able to do it again. I didn’t put a bad swing on the ball, but it came out a little spinny and the wind just crushed it and I watched as it landed directly in the stream.

To make matters worse, my drop left me on the inside of the dogleg, directly behind a grove of trees and the only chance I had was to hit a big slice into the wind from about 230 yards out. I hit a decent shot with a hybrid but didn’t cut it enough to get over to the green, leaving me with an impossible chip over a big mound to a hole nestled down in a little hollow. I hit my landing spot with the chip but it took a much bigger bounce than I expected. Facing a twenty five footer for bogey, I hit a great putt but it just missed on the high side and I walked away with my first double of the tournament.

This is probably where the round got away from me to be honest. I had done a really good job of thinking my way around the golf course up to that point (despite the bogeys on the front nine). After the double, things sped up a bit for me and I started pressing. And in that wind, being overly aggressive was always going to be a sin.

I had to hit a crazy good chip on eleven to make par after a poorly played second shot. I made what I thought was a good swing on the par-3 twelfth hole but misjudged the wind and didn’t get up and down. On thirteen, I piped a drive and only had wedge in … but again misjudged the helping wind this time and ended up just over the green. I had a makeable chip but babied it and missed the subsequent putt for my second straight bogey. Similar story on fourteen … second shot just right of the green, underhit chip, and missed six footer.

This is probably a good time to just mention the greens at Royal Port Moresby.

For what they are, they were in good shape and the green staff should be commended. With that said, I found it incredibly difficult to judge the first bounce and run out on my chip shots. I lost a lot of shots around the greens this week, and I didn’t feel like I hit that many bad chips and pitches. One chip would bounce hard and run, another would stop immediately. I heard this from a lot of guys so I don’t think it was my own personal struggle. Of course, the way to deal with this would be to hit more greens and not have to get up and down so much so shame on me …

I had a great chance at birdie on fifteen after leaving my second shot just short of the green on the Par-5, but gunned a chip (well, it gunned itself after hitting the green) ten feet past and I missed the putt. I followed that with a ho-hum par on sixteen (the crocodile hole) to be seven over with two holes to play.

After an okay drive on seventeen, I had about 170 to the flag but dead into what felt like a hurricane wind at the time. I tried to hit a similar shot as what I hit on the second hole (low draw 4-iron) and nearly pulled it off, but it landed about five feet short and came screaming down a big bank, stopping just shy of a pond. Left with another short-sided, impossible shot, I played a big flop that I nearly pulled off, but left just short. From there I chipped to two feet and walked away with my final bogey of the day.

A par on eighteen (nearly chipped in from about fifteen feet away) left me with a comfy 8-over par 80 (my worst tournament score in a long time) for the first round and left me eight shots off the projected cut line.

I walked off the course dejected with what had just happened. I really didn’t feel like I had played THAT bad. I didn’t make a ton of horrible swings. I didn’t have any three putts. I didn’t hit any disastrous chip shots. And I played the course the way I had planned to play it … not really trying to force anything I knew I couldn’t pull off outside of maybe that tee shot on ten. Nine times out of ten, I turn that round into a 75 fairly comfortably. And if I make any putts at all (like … ANY), it’s going to be a decent result. But alas, that is golf and it’s not about what could have happened or what normally happens, it’s about the score you sign for at the end of the day.

Mercifully, my second round was at 8am on day two so I didn’t have a long time to lick my wounds before heading back to the course on Friday.

With the wind down in the morning, I figured I’d have a chance to make some kind of score and redeem myself after the ugly number I posted on Thursday.

That hope was short-lived after I opened my round with a (another) double on the mo%^#$ $%^&in tenth hole. Again, my drive wasn’t that bad but just drifted into the right tree line where I was forced to simply advance it out into the fairway, about 55 yards from the pin. Unfortunately, my ball ended up on this random, funky upslope in the fairway and I was just uncomfortable enough to forget how far I actually needed to hit the ball. I gassed my wedge about fifteen yards farther than I wanted (bad) and ended up over the green on top of a pile of gravel (why it was there, I dont know … why it wasn’t ground under repair, I also don’t know). Totally f*cked at this point, I took a five-iron and tried to bump it up the slope, but it ran thirty feet past and I two-putted for my double. Good start!

I could have thrown in the towel at this point, but did my best to laugh it off and restart. The next seven holes were a grind, but I managed to par each and every one of them in my own unique way.

Up and down from in front of the green on eleven. Long range two putt on twelve. Good chip shot on thirteen after missing the green left. UNREAL chip from right of the green on fourteen to get up and down after a horrible, blocked 5-iron. A slightly less gassed wedge on the fifteenth, but still not great, left me fifteen feet for birdie, but I left it on the lip. Just missed a birdie on sixteen after navigating the crocodiles. And another blocked approach, but with good distance, on seventeen left me a reasonably easy two putt from the fringe.

The round started to turn on the par-three eighteenth when I finally made a decent golf swing and hit a six-iron from 180 to about ten feet. The resulting putt was as easy as could be … right edge and firm up the hill. I got the line right, but as I had all week long, I got the speed wrong and left it one roll short.

Rolling into my second nine at two-over, I had resigned myself to not making the cut (I would have needed a 64 as it turned out) and decided to use the last nine holes to work really hard at executing on my swing keys coming into the week.

On the 610-yard Par-5 first, I hit a good drive, good second, and an awesome little knock down wedge to about six feet under the hole. Unfortunately I didn’t trust the line I picked out for myself, pushed the putt a hair and watched it lip out. Par.

I made a really good swing to a bad target on the par-3 second and left myself in the worst spot possible. I took my medicine, pitching to 20 feet and two-putted for bogey.

Small aside here, I was really proud of this play. I could have tried to hit a one in ten shot here and had the ball come right back to my feet (I watched my playing partner try it). Despite being a million over par for the tournament, I did the correct thing and made sure I gave myself an outside chance for the par.

I finally notched my first birdie of the tournament (goodness, that is painful to write) on three after hitting a good wedge to twelve feet and making the putt. Hard to explain how much confidence I took from finally seeing a ball go in the hole. At this point, I rattled off six really solid holes in a row.

Easy par on four after driver/wedge, two putts. Beautiful hold up draw with a 5-iron against a hard left to right wind on the fifth that landed a foot from the pin and rolled out to seven feet (sadly I missed the putt). Great 3-wood and decent wedge on six for an easy par. Great drive and towering 9-iron into seven to set myself up for a good birdie look but left it on the low side. And a two-putt par on the eighth to play holes three through eight in one-under par, leaving me at two-over going into the par-5 ninth.

The ninth is an easy golf hole, playing downwind … and with nothing to lose I mashed on driver to try and get an iron in hand to go for the green. I hit a good drive but it kicked slightly left into the tree line where I had a shot at the green but needed to keep it under some sparse branches about 80 yards in front of me. I chose to punch a five-iron and run it up onto the green but it rode the face out of the rough and surprise, surprise, caught the very tip of the very last little branch. Disheartened, I watched as it dropped straight down into a nasty birds-nesty type lie in the rough. I hacked it out short of the green, hit my worst chip of the week, and pushed my eight footer to make a final-hole bogey and complete my 75.

One birdie, two bogeys, a double, and a whole lot of pars. Not the redemption I was hoping for exactly, but I walked away (relatively) happy that I had bounced back (a little) from my opening round disaster. I really didn’t hit the ball any better than I did on day 1. In fact, I probably hit it worse for the first eight holes or so. I didn’t putt it any better than day 1. I maybe chipped a tiny bit better. I just got a bit more luck to go my way and did a better job of getting the ball in the hole.

What’s next?

We get back to work.

I’m was able to move my flight up so I’ll get home tomorrow thankfully. I’m relieved to not be trapped in my hotel room for the whole weekend. I’ll take a day off on Sunday and then get back it on Monday. I have a very clear vision for what I need to work on and a mandate to play as much golf as possible on course prior to Asian Tour Q-School in mid-September. I have about a month to get ready for that and I’ll do everything I can to avoid the mistakes made this week as I roll into that event.

I remain excited for what is to come and the opportunities ahead. I am not keen to feel this type of dejection again and the only way to avoid that is by working my @ss off to ensure it doesnt happen again.

I’ll be back with more frequent updates now that I’m here in Australia and getting settled. Thanks everyone for the kind words on instagram or via text/email this week. I appreciate all the support and I can’t wait to share my successes with this community when they come.

Thanks again and keep climbing y’all.