I played at Pine Needles this morning on our way home from Charlotte and the Wachovia Championship.  Pine Needles is a Donald Ross course that is known for hosting the US Women’s Open 3 times since 1996.

I started out ok, with a par, but as in the past, my short game just kills me.  Once I lose my confidence in my chipping I get really tentative and it just goes downhill from there.  I was decent off the tee but horrible around the green.  Had 3 quadruple bogeys on the front 9 for a 53.  I was either good (two pars, three bogies) or awful (3 quads, 1 triple).  The back 9 was similar – I started with 4 bogies then had a couplle of bad holes and had several doubles, and a triple.  51 on the back 9 for a total of 104.  Bleh.  So many shots left out there, particularly on and around the green.

Hopefully I will get out an hit a few balls late tomorrow – I will continue to work on my short game as it is just killing me.

Went to the Wachovia Championship down in Charlotte for the day yesterday with a group from work.  Beautiful course, beautiful day – lots of fun.  We spent most of the day around the 17th green which is a tough par 3 over water.  My only other experience at professional gold tournaments has been the two US Open tournaments at Pinehust, the PGA in Atlanta, the PGA at Medinah, and the Women’s Open last year at Pine Needles.  Compared to the Open or the PGA, the crowd was almost tiny.  You could pretty much walk up to any green and watch.  Of course, not having Tiger in the field probably had something to do with it.  I’d love to go again.