I don’t know if it was the pre-round Chinese massage or the completely nonchalant attitude about being away from home for another week, but seven birdies and no bogeys came easily in the Monday qualifier for the Colorado Open. There aren’t many state open tournaments that hold a qualifier on the Monday of tournament week. Sure, there’s Arizona, Texas, California, Massachusetts, and probably a dozen other states with open qualifiers, but to my knowledge, the Colorado Open is the only state open with a Monday Q.
I planned to play a practice round on Sunday at CommonGround Golf Course when I got to Denver, but my lower back ached for other plans. There have been more flights and time in the car than usual lately, and my lower back was distressed after a simple putting drill. It hurt to remain in my putting posture long enough to make 10 six-footers in a row. There was a Chinese massage joint a couple par-5s from the course, so I skipped the practice round and let a strong woman push the golf ball-sized knots out of my muscles. It hurt. It hurt in the best way.
CommonGround G.C. had a detailed yardage book. The terrain was flat and the links-style course looked open. I figured I’d need to shoot about 4 under to qualify and as long as my body cooperated, I could do that without a practice round.
