No birdies, but I have a nice balcony view
Editor’s Note: This is part of a a series of daily diary entries by Alabama Golf News Editor Gregg Dewalt, who is competing in his first Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship, the largest gathering of amateur golfers in the world.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Played in another skins game today – this time at River Hills Golf and Country Club in Little River, South Carolina.
River Hills is a solid course – lots of water and bunkers. I played it about 5,800 yards but it seemed longer than that. One of the course professionals was telling us that it absorbed 14 inches of rain recently when Hurricane Debby hit the area. That prevented the maintenance crew from aerating the greens by several days, so there was still evidence of that, which made for a challenging day on the greens.
At least that’s my excuse for a no-birdie round. Had two good chances – on the first hole my 20-footer was in the heart up until it got about a foot from the hole and veered off to the left. I was almost ready to walk it in. Later, I missed about a 6-footer that simply didn’t break.
I played with a guy named John from the state of Washington but our other two players didn’t show – obviously they were intimidated by their pairing. John is in construction and he was playing from a set of tees ine back from mine. Good guy who has played all over the country. This is his 16th time to play in the Myrtle Beach World Am and he said he had only played with two people in which he had a bad experience. I hope I wasn’t No. 3.
I only got to see a couple of Stewart Cink’s shots before I left the course. He proved he still knows how to win running away to a four-shot win at the Ally Challenge. Saw the last hole of the AIG Women’s Open Championship. Couldn’t believe Lilia Vu left the putt to force a playoff short. But that’s golf, ya know.
Because I played like doo-doo, I didn’t take any course photos but I did shoot the photo accompanying this story from my new hotel. That’s the Atlantic Ocean, by the way.
The Myrtle Beach World Am begins for real on Monday morning. I’m off No. 10 tee at 9 a.m. at TPC Myrtle Beach. Looks like it is going to play around 6,200 yards, which is a little long for my short-hitting self.
Gregg Dewalt is the editor of Alabama Golf News
Have a story idea or a news item to report to Alabama Golf News? Email gregg@alabamagolfnews.com
Featured image: The Myrtle Beach beachfront by Gregg Dewalt
