(Photo courtesy of Luke Swilor)
Canadian Tour player Luke Swilor has begun his second PGA Tour Q School run with Stage 1 at Dayton Valley Country Club in Dayton, Nevada. Follow along as Luke provides his diary entries.
Stage 1, Day 3
I didn’t play bad today. I didn’t play all that good, either. EVERY hard shot I had, I hit good. It was some of the easier shots I messed up. You’re not going to score well if you mess up the easy ones.
A bad drive on 10 (my first) cost me a bogey. I came back, though, and made birdie on 11 and 12. Nice. I floundered around for a bit after that. Hitting solid shots, nothing special, but solid. I wasn’t making anything, but in control.
Then out of nowhere I three putted on 2 (my 11th). Back to even. Next I made par on the easy par-5 3rd. I got a bit of a bad break on my drive, and I couldn’t get up and down. Missed opportunity. Then I failed to get up and down from the fringe on 6.
At this point, I’m starting to get really nervous. I don’t really know why, but I did. I haven’t been too nervous on the course this week, which is a bit odd, but once the tournament was beginning to look out of grasp, I felt it. The final three holes on the front nine are tough, and I’m about to knock myself out of Tour School.
The pressure seemed to bring my game around. I made a good birdie on the tough 7th, then hit two great shots onto the par-5 8th green. I missed the 12 foot putt, but made another birdie. I hit four very solid shots on the tough 9th as well, for a solid par. And a saved round. 71, -1, -2 for the tournament.
Well, I thought I had saved it. Scores were LOW today, though, so I’ve left myself in a tough position. The qualifying number actually moved to -7 today. The weather is supposed to get worse tomorrow, which should push scores up. Still, the number is now going to fall from -7 to -9 (most likely -8). So I have to shoot a very good round to have a chance.
I need birdies, and less mistakes. I’ve learned a lot this week. I may expand upon this later, but in this type of situation you tend to learn more than during a normal tournament. I don’t think I learned as much last year. I have a tough task tomorrow, but I feel like I’m ready for it. My game is better than it has been the last two months, so I’m ready to shoot a good score.
−Luke Swilor
More Luke Swilor:
Q School Preview
My May interview with Luke
Luke on the Canadian Tour
His blog, Luke Swilor’s Road to the Tour