Once all the field is in, 7 of us congregate on #1 tee for the playoff in addition to PGA Tour officials and a photographer. Nothing like a 7-some to decide who goes to finals. We draw for tee position, I draw last and get #1. Hilarious. PGA Tour official says good luck and we were clear to proceed.
#1 is an pretty simple par 4 with a big fairway that all of us hit. Back left hole location, one guy blows it over the green while the rest of us find the surface. One guy about 30 feet away, the rest of us between 10 and 20 feet. I've got about a 16 footer, a little downhill, slightly right to left. A makeable putt. The guy over the green has no chance, chips it to 30 feet and makes bogey. The guy with the long birdie putt misses as well. Another guy has a putt on my line but just a little longer, he misses and I get a good read.
Now I've got to tell you, I feel totally different in the playoff than I did coming down the stretch. I'm not really stressed, almost like I'm just happy to have the chance. Weird. I hit the putt the way I wanted but it just doesn't break for some reason, tap in par with three guy left for birdie inside me. I watch these putts with a strange detachment, not really feeling anything positive or negative.
The next guy doesn't come close, now there's two guys left for birdie but they have putts of 9 and 10 feet, definitely makeable. The first guy hit a flat out horrible putt, knew it had no chance instantly. Got to avoid one more bullet. He hit a good putt, should have broken a shade to the right. But it did not and hung on the edge. Nobody makes birdie. 6 of us onto #2.
Par 5, 532 on the card, 90 degree dogleg left around a lake. And yes, I get to hit first again. Have laid up here all four days (because you can lay up almost green high to the right leaving a 30-40 yard pitch) making two birdies and missing a third from 5 feet. All 6 of us find the fairway. The furthest out lays up to 100 yards, then it's my turn. I have 254 to the flag, water just off the left side of the green, water in front as well although it's not in play as I've only got 199 to cover. Green is very narrow with a bunker tucked in the middle right edge. The pin is all the way back of the nearly 50 yard deep green, on a ledge, 4 paces from the right edge which it bowled in severely.
The reason I go into this description in detail is because all this means a player has zero chance of getting it close if he lays up. I laid up in regulation and hit a great shot that went 20 feet past the hole. Just cannot be done unless you can hit about a 1 square foot patch of grass with a **** ton of spin.
I go over all this and eventually come to the conclusion that the only way to make birdie is to go for it. I decide to aim at the middle of the green and put my holder swing on it. It's going to start straight and if it moves at all, it's moving right. I figure if I cut it a little bit it's in the bunker where I can get it up and down although it's not the easiest shot. If I cut it a lot I'm still dry and then will re-evaluate.
I get over the shot, it's a clean lie, but not much grass under it. But I'm not nervous for some odd reason. Flush it dead straight, lands in the middle of the green and stops a little short of the ridge leaving around 40 feet for eagle. The rest of the guys look a little stunned, offer a quiet "good shot" and then start thinking. I have forced their hand. One guy tried to go for it but bails out to the right, leaving zero chance of getting it close. The next guy does the opposite yanking it into the water. The next two guys also fan theirs into the bail out area. I am the only player putting for eagle.
The guy who laid up to 100 yards hits a good shot but is still over 20 feet away. I am now studying my putt while the other three are looking at their impossible pitch shots. My putt is going to be very slow up the ridge, breaking about 3 feet to the right. The first guy hits his pitch 25 feet past the hole. The second guy tries the impossible and leaves hit pitch short in the rough. The third guy hit his pitch 20 feet past. All totally expected. I have a putt to advance.
Feel pretty good over it, hit my line, just don't give it quite enough pace leaving it a little outside 4 feet but dead straight up the hill. I mark and wait. The guy who left his pitch short slops it on to about 15 feet for par. Three birdie putts now. First attempt is good but doesn't come all that close. Second attempt looks really good but just slides by. Third attempt never really scares the hole. I have a 4 footer for all the marbles. But first I have to wait as the guy makes his 15-footer for par. Clutch putt. The others have tapped in for their pars. The stage is mine.
It's uphill. It's dead straight. It's 4 feet. I feel none of the stress of earlier putts I've missed from this distance the last few days. I wish I knew why I felt no stress because I knew exactly what was at stake. I waste no time, get over the putt, and stroke that ****er dead in the center of the hole. Ball game. I'm going to final stage. Hell yeah!
The others were gracious, they all shook my hand and offered congratulations. The rules official did the same and stated he had already radioed in my name to the scorers so they could update everything. Then they all went on their way as they still had to determine the two alternates leaving me alone on the green. Honestly, I stared across the lake for a full 60 seconds taking it all in. It felt really ****ing good.
So 8 days after this I was flying off to Tampa to compete in the final stage of PGA Tour Champions Qualifying School. Fun stuff. Really fun stuff.
The final scoreboard for this stage.
https://www.pgatour.com/champions/to...aderboard.html