I flew into El Paso and stayed at the hotel for only one night. My travel partner, Kelly and I were introduced to a very gracious host family who welcomed us into a beautiful home for the entire week of the tournament. So I just want to send out another thanks to Bob and his family for their generous hospitality. It sure beats hotel life week after week.
Numbness in my left side
Thursday during my practice round, at about the 11th hole, I set up to a shot and felt a burning tingling pain shoot straight down into all five of my fingers and I couldn’t even grip the club. That really freaked me out. I had been having some issues with my left side for about 5 days and ignored it for too long. Amanda, the local massage therapist was excellent. She stretched, iced and massaged my upper back. Most of my pain was gone the next day and actually stayed away throughout the weekend. That was a huge relief. I will keep up with my stretching from now on and hopefully stay pain free!
Three-footer hell
The weather was gorgeous all weekend, with a few wind gusts up to 20 mph. That was nothing compared to McAllen last week. I started off the weekend with a 75. I struck the ball very well all day but had issues with my putting – 3 footers to be specific. I missed 4 of them. It was difficult to give up 4 shots that way just because it makes such a big difference on the leader board. But because of how well I was striking the ball I felt that I could make up for it on Saturday.
No peeking! Thx Doc!
After having a conversation with “Doc” Parent, my mental coach, and doing the drills that he suggested, I was a lot more confident about those 3-footers. I found out that part of the problem was mechanics but the main problem was that I was moving my head. So if I keep real still and feel my arms travel more down the target line, my percentage of making those short putts gets much higher. So no peeking!!!
Can’t I birdie them all??
Saturday was the complete opposite of Friday. I actually started off with a birdie, and I thought back to what my friend Andy always says to me when he witnesses me with an immediate birdie. “You can’t birdie them all if don’t birdie the first one!” So I was excited after the first hole and was ready for more. Unfortunately, that was my only birdie of the day and had to put up with my awful ball striking for the rest of the round. But contrary to Friday, I putted great!!! So the conversation and drills from Doc definitely helped. This game is all about staying consistent. Physically and mentally. I bogeyed the last hole by going for a par 5 in 2 and hit it in the water. I missed the cut by 1 shot and definitely learned a little something about course management from that.
Post-tourney unwinding
I tried to get a flight home Sunday but nothing was available, so I kept myself busy by going to my favorite group exercise class, spinning early Sunday morning at a local gym. I went shopping at the mall and finished the day at a Barnes and Noble bookstore doing some research on Switzerland, France and The Netherlands since I will be traveling there for a Month to play 3 Ladies European Tour events.
Yeah I missed the cut, but this is only the beginning. I have a lot more opportunities. I am flying out to Switzerland on Thursday and have already set this weekend aside to visit and play tourist around Lugano before the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open next Thursday.
Bye,
Megan Heckeroth, On Tour
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