Playing It Off
The Ottawa Open was my third event of the season on PGA Tour Americas. After weeks in New Brunswick and Montreal, where I made my first ever cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, I headed home before starting a three week stretch on the road starting in Canada’s capital city.
I arrived in Ottawa on the Sunday before tournament week, splitting up the 12 hour drive from Chicago with a stop in Toronto at a college teammate's house. A city just north of a million people, Ottawa took my breath away. Parliament Hill, home of Canada’s central government, was a fascinating landmark to see.
I arrived at the Aiello house at 6pm local time. I was met by Cassie as she took me into the grand entrance and showed me to my room. It was my first time staying with a host family for a tournament in Canada, and this week wouldn’t disappoint. Will Holan, a friend I have gotten fairly close with since being on Americas, and I shared the spacious basement that provided an abundance of activities to keep us busy when we were off the course.
The Monday through Wednesday of the tournament week was pretty standard. Will and I played 9 holes on Friday followed by 18 holes on Tuesday. I wasn’t in the Pro-Am this particular week so Wednesday included a bit of rest and some afternoon practice. I like to get most of my work done on Monday and Tuesday so the day before round 1 serves as a bit of a recovery day.
This week I was assigned a good wave (an early Thursday morning tee time and late afternoon Friday tee time) as winds Thursday were mild but became treacherous in the afternoon. A bogey free 65 put me two shots off the lead after day 1. A similar round Friday left me at 12 under for 2 rounds, securing a weekend tee time in the final group with the solo 36 hole leader.
Caddy-less the first 36 holes, I paired up with a man named David for the next two rounds. I had seen him and his floppy bucket hat at the previous events. He explained that he was traveling along with the tour as a retirement gig. He was in for the ride and provided some incredible stories even before I hit that first tee shot that Saturday afternoon.
Saturday was excruciating for the first 13 holes. Good look after good look led to only 1 birdie and lots of missed opportunities. An up and down on the driveable 14th produced birdies in 4 of my last 5 holes as I finished the day strong, 3 back of the lead heading into Sunday.
That Saturday night we played golf on the simulator in the basement and gave some pointers to Michael and his friends. It was fun, refreshing, and action-packed, just what I needed as I went to bed with a chance to win a golf tournament.
Sunday morning went by surprisingly fast, and before I knew it, I was in the car headed to the course. Paired with Riley Lewis (an all-time nice guy), I started strong, birdieing 5 of my first 7 holes. My lone bogey of the week came on hole 9 with an unfortunate 3 putt from about 50 feet. However, I followed it up with birdies on 11,14, and 16. Walking down 17 fairway, I knew I had a chance as a gallery had formed behind the green.
A safe approach to 35 feet gave me a look up the steep slope. “We’re about due to hole a long one,” David said as we walked up to the green. He was right. About a foot from the hole, I knew I had made it. With my putter raised in the air, I strutted to the 18th tee with a surge of adrenaline I will never forget. At this point I knew I was playing well and had a chance. “Someone is in the clubhouse at -26,” said David. Not knowing where I was at (maybe I was in the zone) I looked over at our walking scorer to see a 25 on the manual scoreboard. I needed one more birdie on the finishing hole, a reachable par 5.
A good drive and aggressive four iron left me in a precarious spot. Standing in the bunker with the ball on the outside of it, I was left to the fate of the golf gods. A whack with my 60 degree wedge propelled the ball perfectly, tracking right for the hole. The ball finished six inches from the cup, leading to a tap-in birdie and a tie for the clubhouse lead.
And then, we waited.
David and I, along with a couple of spectators who were kind to be following me throughout most of my round, hung out in the clubhouse restaurant as we twiddled our thumbs, waiting for the rest of the groups to come in.
I haven’t won an event as an individual since my senior year in high school, but I didn’t feel pressure for a second once I signed my scorecard. I was grateful and honored to be in this position. About 45 minutes of laughter at the table ended abruptly when a rules official came in and gave a 10 minute warning. I hit a few putts and we were off, back to the 18th tee. In a tie at 26 under par were myself, Brett White, and Nathan Franks. Brett had shot 59 hours earlier and had vaulted well up the leaderboard.
Brett and I hit good tee shots while Nathan hit it in the water. I then hit a 5 iron to 25 feet for eagle while Brett hit it in a tricky spot. Nathan had about 5 feet for par and Brett hit his chip to about 7 feet. That cleared the stage for my 25 footer for the win. Severely downhill and breaking about a foot right to left, I struck it nicely. Catching the left edge of the hole, it burned the edge and raced 2 feet by.
Brett made his 7 footer and I tapped in for a halving birdie. Then there were 2. We made the trek back to the 18th tee.
Brett pumped his down the middle while I flared mine a bit into the first cut up the right. A risky 3 iron left me in the front bunker, just clearing the water. Brett pulled his iron a bit to about 70 feet. First to go, he hit his putt about 5 feet by, a great effort from downtown. My bunker shot was next. A little bit tentative, I hit to about 12 feet just to the right of the hole, not losing my turn.
Stalking it from every angle with David, I read it about a cup right to left. When I hit it I thought I left it short (imagine that). As it got closer it looked better and better. Before I knew it, I caught the left edge of the hole sending it spinning around the cup only to be thrown back in my face. A 360 degree lip out.
Brett casually knocked in his 5 footer (impressive stuff) and just like that, it was over. But not before I learned a great deal both about myself and my golf game.
The runner-up finish moved my world ranking inside the top 900 as well as my season points ranking to 29th. I also came away with the realization that I do have what it takes to win. One shot short. How cool is that?
