Pumpkin Ridge - Ghost Creek. Showed up 45 minutes early for tee time to take in the ambiance of the first LIV Tour site in North America. Bad idea. Lots of building of event sites going on, which shut down a lot of the place. Went into the shop to hear the four words you never want to hear before a round: The range is closed. So out to the course with no warm up and the skies threatening to open up. Threatening was an understatement as the rain started coming down as we approached the 1st green and didn’t let up all day. Didn’t matter. The golf course was in perfect condition.
Tee boxes, fairways, and greens were all like carpets. I hit what I thought was the middle of a green, but when we arrived at the surface the ball was just on to what was a front pin. The first cut was 40 yards deep and just perfect, looking like the green from the tee box 190 yards away. Just tremendous conditions where you were supposed to hit the ball. The other places? The rough was brutal. Miss the fairway and you’re shoes disappear as you step into the rough. Hacking it back out to the fairway was an understatement. I’ve played lots of courses around events, but nothing compares to this. The conditions were unmatched which really helped with the rain that came down all day. Ended up shooting a birdie free 81, but with the rough as deep and wet as it was I consider this an amazing score. Hit the ball better today than at Chambers, but the misses in the rough were instant penalty strokes and resulted in a worse score. I thought it would be tough to top Chambers Bay on this tour, but Ghost Creek gave it a run for its money. Tomorrow we’re off to the Reserve Vineyards… if the clubs dry out.
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