Belmont Blowup

The 17th and 18th hole at Belmont can bite me.

I hit the tee box at the 17th with an 80 and only a par 4 and a par 3 left to go. Bogey golf ties me for my best score of the year. And the 17th is a short par 4 at only about 380 yards. Giddy up!

Hit my driver with a draw and I was fortunate. It rolled down the cart path and gave me about 30 extra yards. So I'm less than 100 yards out. Chunked a sand wedge. Pitched across the green. Chip on. Two putt. Nice.

Panic? No. I can still get that par on the par 3.

So what did I do? I hit an unintentional draw to the front bunker. Just 2 feet to the right and I'm looking at 8 feet for birdie. Instead, I catch too much sand and move it forward 3 feet in the bunker. Then I catch too little sand and send it across the green. Chip to within 3 feet and tap it in for another double.

Hopefully, I learned a lesson for RMGX 2008.