Last night I wrote about the trials and triumphs of a hardened pro golfer who hit a heroic shot on the 36th hole of the Colorado Open to make the cut. Despite having played on tours all over the world and having found some measure of success, the cut at the Colorado Open mattered to Jimmy Gunn. It mattered a great deal to the Scot. It also mattered to me. Here’s why: moving day comes after cut day, and pay day comes after moving day. Today, both Gunn and I, along with others, took advantage of calm conditions on moving day and went low.
I had the first tee time of the day off the 10th tee in Round 3. I was a bit late getting out of the hotel this morning and hurried to pick up breakfast on my way to the course. After parking at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, I casually placed my full coffee on the rental car, reached in to grab a few other items, and clumsily knocked the coffee over on the way out, spilling nearly the entire cup at my feet. This, I worried, was a bad omen. I pathetically picked the cup up and drank the remaining drops from the bottom like a junkie. Unsatisfied, uncaffeinated and frustrated, I headed to the practice area.
While the putter felt unstable in my hands on the practice green, my swing felt connected and free on the range. My chipping and bunker play were, dare I say, the best they’ve felt in weeks. But the putter remained shaky through the opening holes. The rolls weren’t true, I made two bogeys quickly and started asking myself counter productive questions. Then I arrived on the 14th hole, my fifth of the day.
The 14th hole is a 340-yard par-4. The breeze picked up enough to be noticed, blowing gently in our faces. The 14th green is narrow. The bunkers around it are deep and surrounded by native grass, and difficult lies. I hit a perfect drive in Round 2 into an identical wind to 25 feet from the hole. Today, I visualized that shot before stepping into my setup and making an effortless, nearly identical swing. My Callaway ball never left the flag, grazed the cup and settled 12 feet behind the hole. That was a turning point.
My goal on the eagle putt was simple: to forget the putts from the first four holes and make a solid, fearless stroke, result be damned. The ball rolled in the dead center. A weight was lifted. I rolled in two more birdies on the next two holes, narrowly missed one on my eighth hole, and made another birdie on my ninth. By the time I reached the turn I’d shot 4 under on my front side (the back nine having started on 10). I was relaxed, focused and patient: the perfect frame of mind for shooting a low score.
We ran into the group ahead of us and the momentum slowed. We were now playing behind the leaders (who had the last tee time of the day off the first hole) and hit a three group backup on the fourth tee, a driveable par-4. Some players sat on a bench on the tee. Others waited in the shade in solitude. A few were gathered around talking.
The 2019 Colorado Open champion and assistant golf coach at University of New Mexico, Sam Saunders (not related to Arnold Palmer), birdied his first three holes of the day to take the lead. I stood with Jhared Hack, who was playing in Saunders' group, while Saunders launched a towering 3-wood at the flag. “He birdied one, two and three, and oh look, there’s another shrimp on the barbie!” Hack said as the ball was in the air. Saunders was feeling it.
I took advantage of a good kick out of the rough near the green on the same hole, got the ball up-and-down for birdie, and added two more birdies to the card coming home. The lip out for birdie at the final hole was disappointing, but it was preceded by an up-and-down on the previous hole that would have made Phil Mickelson giddy. I posted 7 under 64 on moving day and jumped 26 spots up the leaderboard to T-9. But I lost ground to Saunders, who continued his hot play and posted 8 under 63. Saunders has a two shot lead heading into the final round and I’ll start the day five back.
Moving day numbers: 2024 University of Colorado grad, Tucker Clark, shot 8 under, moving to T-3. Jim “Hard K” Knous may have a job now but he still looks like he belongs on the big stage. Knous shot 7 under in the third round to get to T-3. Northern California’s Skylar Finnell shot 6 under and sits in solo 2nd heading into the final round. 2023 BYU grad, Carson Lundell, shot 6 under and is T-9. Cut day hero, Jimmy Gunn, showed his appreciation for a weekend tee time with 5 under 66 to move to T-23. You can find the full leaderboard here.
How will I approach the final round? Well for starters, I won’t spill my coffee.
After an afternoon practice session, I returned to the Chinese massage joint an aching man, and emerged anew. “Be careful of Yo-Yo,” the manager of the establishment said of my masseuse as he led me into a room. “She’s crazy. I’ll tell her to give you medium pressure. You tell her too!” I had been warned. When Yo-Yo’s hand grabbed the back of my neck it felt like the claw of an excavator. The knots in my muscles never had a chance.
I started this week as another competitor in the Monday qualifier for the Colorado Open. Tomorrow, I have a chance to make a run at the leader, and I’ll trust my game. Playing in contention on Sunday is a great privilege and my only plan is to play as freely as possible.
If I can do that and have a little fun, it will be good enough.
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