This week I played in the
Navistar LPGA classic in Prattville, Alabama. I shot rounds of 70, 69, 73, 73
to finish T44.
On Tuesday, I
traveled to Alabama, so I could work with one of my coaches, Ron Stockton. I
played 9 holes with him and worked on chipping bunkers and shot-making on the
course. I was extremely happy with how I was hitting it!
Upon arriving at Alabama, I
headed straight to a player meeting. Afterwards, I attended the Pro-Am party.
Navistar hosts one of the best Pro-Am parties that we have all year, so it was
fun mingling with players, sponsors and volunteers. The highlight of the night
was meeting Charles Barkley. After someone introduced us, he paused for a
second and then said "Wait, I know who you are." He then explained
how he knew who I was and proceeded to say something along the lines of “Don’t
worry about what anyone else thinks, you just keeping paying those bills."
It was both sweet and hilarious all at the same time!
Wednesday I had a fabulous
Pro-Am group who had to deal with me still asleep for the first 9 holes.
Luckily they were all in stellar form and didn't need me—they only used one of
my shots and two putts in 9 holes. I woke up on the back nine and redeemed
myself; we shot a -16 and finished a respectable second.
In Round One, I hit the
ball quite superbly. I gave myself tons of chances and didn't really convert.
But I was happy to start with a two under 70. Especially because I played
at the last tee time, which left me with bumpy greens and playing the last few
holes in near darkness.
I came out firing the next
morning, getting it to -7 at one point, but unfortunately, a bad approach on 17
and a 3-putt on 18 left me at -5.
I was still
optimistic heading into the weekend.
Once again, I started Round
Three with stellar ball striking but no ability to convert birdies. I was
hitting good putts, but I wasn’t getting a good line. Then I made numerous
course management errors and could not get anything going. Making soft bogeys
was extremely frustrating. In Round Four, I just felt stiff right from
the beginning. It was a cold and windy morning, and I just couldn't put the
ball close to the pin. Eventually my frustration led to some silly
bogeys. Luckily I pulled my head up and finished with two awesome birdies.
The pin was in a ridiculous position on 18. I hit a great approach which ended
up over the green, but I holed out and the crowd went crazy, which is always a
great way to end the tournament.
With a few weeks off from
the LPGA, I am now heading back to LA. I am looking forward to hitting the gym
and working on a few things in my game!