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Archive for the tag “Deercroft Country Club”

02 Jul 2012

The One That Got Away


Back in 1988, I was scheduled to play in the Mid-Atlantic Section Assistants Championship. The venue Deercroft Country Club is just outside Pinehurst, North Carolina‘s golf mecca. Deercroft was also the site of the regional tour qualifying the year before.  The course played about 6600 yards from the tips, which granted is not that long but Deercroft makes you use every club in your bag.

I had played here several times on Mondays. If you’ve been in the business then you know… Mondays is play day.  So I felt good going into the first round of the three round championship. I was paired with a couple of good friends in the area and we were all chomping at the bit to get out there. At the end of the first day I found myself  3 shots behind Chris Tucker, the pre-tournament favorite out of Charlotte, NC. I actually felt pretty good with my performance considering Chris, a casual acquaintance, had spent some time on the big tour.

Kim Hasty was the Sports editor for the Fayetteville Observer & Times and she was covering the tournament. Kim and her lawyer husband David were friends of the family so I was relatively comfortable doing an interview after the round. Just to make one thing clear, I was just a lowly assistant pro and very rarely did interviews with anyone. I think that I may have been jolted out of my comfort zone by the attention and chatter that I had never experienced to this degree before.

The next day was all a blur. I do remember having a case of the butterflies on the first tee. There were about 50 of my friends and family following me and maybe total of 100 people. Somehow I managed to shoot even par that day and I was a nervous wreck the entire round. I went from a tie for fourth to a tie for the lead with Chris Tucker and one other Guy. Kim knew that I was on pins and needles and was very gentle in our after round chat. I don’t think I slept a wink that night.

Finally, I’m in the position that I’ve always wanted to be in…last group on the last day. On the first tee there were 300-400 folks surrounding me and honestly I could hardly breathe. Then on the loud-speaker I hear “Next up on number one tee playing out of Highland Country Club, Robert Rowe”. At this point I lost all use of my extremities. In the famous words of the great Lee Trevino, my driver felt like a “Wagon Tongue” in my hands. When I finally got the ball balanced on the tee and addressed the ball, there was a sudden deafening silence. I literally almost passed out! I eventually regrouped enough to put a little “popcorn guide” swing on it and start my round. I did settle down and started playing some pretty descent golf. By the time I made the turn I had a two shot lead having shot 2 under. I held on to my lead all the way through #14 and then it happened. I teed it up on #15, a 430 yard par four dog leg left, and barbecued a draw around the corner. I hit it perfectly and was feeling good. When we get to our balls I find mine one foot off the fairway, nestled down in that spongy Bermuda rough. It looked like a jumper to me, so I decided to hit a solid little 8-iron from 165. Right when I hit it I knew it had come out hot and with no spin. The ball landed 5 feet from the hole, went over the green and out-of-bounds. I go back to my spot to drop the ball into an identical lie, dropped to a 9-iron and hit it. The ball mark was inside of 3 inches from the hole but still trickled over the green. I had to call a tournament official over to stretch a string between two OB stakes and confirm that I had knocked it OB again. The rest is uneventful and depressing. I will tell you that I did birdie #18 to finish 2 back to Chris Tucker and in a tie for 3rd place.

The only press I ever had read was “Quadruple bogey costs Rowe in Assistants Championship”. This opened my eyes to the enormous pressure that the guys on tour deal with every day.

“Long and Straight”

Robert Rowe

P.S.  Congratulations to Tiger as he garnered his 3rd title of 2012 and moved pass Jack into  second place with 74 PGA Tour wins!

Photo from tigerwoodsfoundation.com

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