It just wasn’t meant to be.
Senior Open qualifying was last Tuesday, July 2, and it was my debut as a senior. On Sunday and Monday before the qualifier, I went to Lake Forest, Ill., to play in the Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital Pro-Am. I have played in this event for about five years or so, and it is one of the largest fundraisers for the hospital, raising more than a million dollars from this event.
I thought it would be a good idea to get some competitive golf in before the qualifier. I played Sunday and Monday and played pretty well.
Three of us – George Arvanitis of the Country Club of Indianapolis, Jason LePage of Broadmoor Country Club and myself – flew up to Chicago and back through O’Hare Airport.
We all checked our golf bags at O’Hare, tipped the skycap and headed in to get on our flight back to Indy. We left on time and got to Indy by 10:15 p.m. and went to the baggage claim area and waited for our clubs.
Well, of course, the only set of clubs not to make it was mine. I explained the situation to the baggage rep for United, and he said that the clubs were still in Chicago and should be on the next flight at midnight. I told him to call me, and I would come back and pick them up.
Of course, no phone call. On Tuesday morning, I am calling the baggage number with my claim number, and the clubs had still not been located. Plan B was now in effect because I know now that my clubs are gone.
I started putting together a set of some clubs that I may have used most recently maybe five years ago. I didn’t have the driver that I had been using most of the year or the putter I had been using with a lot of confidence.
Bottom line: I just didn’t have any confidence in the set of clubs I put together. To say the least, I was very frustrated.
I ended up shooting 78 and missing a playoff by six shots. There were two players tied at 71 for medalist honors, Scott Morris and Steve Rogers, and two players tied for the last spot at 72. The two players in a playoff for the last spot were Russ Cochran and Quinn Griffing. Russ got the last spot when he birdied the first playoff hole and Quinn made a par.
Congratulations to Scott, who is a professional out at Ironwood here in Indy, and Steve, who played his college golf at Indiana University. Russ is from the Champions Tour, and Quinn is from Fort Wayne, Ind.
The frustration showed in my first few holes as I bogeyed numbers 2 and 4 and did not hit an iron shot till hole No. 7. I settled down and realized that my original thought of having to shoot 68 or 69 was way too low. The wind was blowing, and the pace of play was really slow, so I figured I needed to shoot even par to have a chance.
I three-putted the ninth hole to shoot 3-over on the front nine and still felt like I had a chance. I made a bad par on 10 as I drove it about 10 feet from the green and did not get it up and down for a birdie, which would have got me started.
I made pars on 11 and 12 and then hit a terrible shot on the par-3 13th and made a triple-bogey. From there I knew it was over and made pars the rest of the way out to shoot 78.
It was just one of those days where nothing positive happened to get my round going, and my confidence was ruined by playing without my usual clubs.
That day is over, and now we turn our attention to the Indiana State Open being played here at the Brickyard starting Tuesday, July 7 through Friday, July 10. This might be the strongest field ever with a lot of college players and also players who just turned pro after completing college.
Some notables considered older guys also are here, such as four-time champion Jeff Cook, Bill Schumaker, Denny Ford, Todd Smith and myself. Although I will not be 50 until Saturday, July 11, I am now one of the old guys.
I hope to be blogging daily and reporting on the action. The golf course is in excellent shape, and we had some rain on the Fourth of July to soften up the course and make it play longer. But more importantly, the rough will be long and lush. I think the scores will be low, and it will probably take 10-under to win the tournament, if not better.
Other staff members here at the Brickyard that are playing in the Open are Jeff Williams, my assistant professional, and Sam Foley, business development manager.
Good luck to all this week. The course will be open to the public Thursday and Friday after Open play, so book a tee time and see how you fare on a tournament course.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
May is here, and the racetrack is officially open for practice for the Indianapolis 500.
Of course, we have had some rain the first part of the month. The MAC Championship finished Saturday, May 2, and Kent State won the conference in a convincing manner. The tournament started out with 36 holes on Thursday May 1 but was delayed due to rain. They finally got started around 10:30 a.m. with a shotgun start, and believe it or not, they got 36 holes in before dark.
In the second round, Kent State blew the field away by shooting a school record 17-under-par as a team. Their scores were 66, 68, 68, 69 and 74. They count the best four out of five scores. This was an impressive score from our back gold tees in wet, soft, breezy conditions. My Ball State Cards got off to a slow start and picked up in the third round but faltered to a sixth-place finish.
I ventured down to Fuzzy Zoeller’s new course, Champions Pointe, in Henryville, Ind. This is a good course that has a good variety of holes with trees and then some open holes and some water that definitely comes into play on the closing holes.
I actually hit the ball OK, but I missed a few fairways, and the rough was just brutal. It was long and wet, as they had rain almost all last weekend, and we played on Monday so the rough was not cut. Every time I missed the fairway it led to a bogey or even a double-bogey like I had on the eighth hole. I ended up with a 78 but just chipped it horrible all day.
So after a couple of competitive rounds, I know I have to take my own advice and start working on my short game. During May it is tough to get any practice time in with all the events going on, but a few minutes around the putting green should be doable. I keep telling everyone to work on their short game and here I am ignoring my own advice. So it is back to what my father made me do when I was a junior: Work on my short game or he would not let me play a round.
This past weekend, the May festivities of our Centennial Era kicked off with the Centennial Era Balloon Festival presented by AT&T Real Yellow Pages and a Saturday evening concert by Josh Kelley and Ryan Cabrera.
Josh and Ryan rolled in about 6 a.m. in their bus from a show in Cleveland the night before and wanted to play some golf that day. So we teed it up at about 10 a.m. Saturday behind the last round of the MAC.
Josh played college golf at Ole Miss for a year before embarking on his musical career. Josh is a 4 handicap and obviously doesn’t get to practice much, but he definitely can play and could be a scratch player with a little practice. He hits it high and long.
He gets to play in all the cool events. He just got through playing in the Hootie and the Blowfish tournament and played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Ryan, on the other hand, is not so good, but he has fun playing and after about three or four holes he started hitting some good shots. He and their manager, Gabe, had a little game going. It was stroke play, and Ryan beat him pretty good the front side. They kept the match going on the back nine, but I have to admit they have their own set of rules and scoring system.
All and all, we had a great time with them. They were really into the Speedway and the golf course and were amazed at the size of the facility. Plus I was a big hit with my 16-year-old daughter, Lauren, as she got to meet them and get her picture taken with them. Thanks, Josh and Ryan.
The PGA Tour this week is at the famed TPC at Sawgrass. I played this course about two years ago, and it is tough. A few bad swings, and you are on your way to a high score.
Not sure what is going on with Tiger’s game. He has had some uncharacteristic bad finishes to rounds that I thought would not happen. Maybe it’s the layoff or he might be working on something new since The Masters. Time will tell, and the old saying is the cream always rising to the top.
As I sit here, I can hear the IndyCars practicing over at the Speedway. Remember, you can come out here during this month and play while the cars are practicing. We even have golf available during qualifications. The exception is that the golf course will not be open on Pole Day this Saturday but will be available the other three qualifying days.
Good luck to all the drivers this month as they prepare for the greatest race in the world, the Indianapolis 500. Check out our Web site at www.brickyardcrossing.com for other news and events going on here at The Brickyard.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
The return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf last week in the World Match Play was what I thought it would be: a media frenzy and probably more of a circus.
Tiger played well in the first round, birdie then eagle to start. Not bad.
After that, it looked he was just sparring with Brendan Jones, trying to get in some competitive holes for the next round in which the opponent would be a little more challenging. Well, Tim Clark turned out to have more teeth than Tiger could handle, so Tiger lost in the second round and jumped on his jet and flew back to Florida to prepare for his next event.
Interesting things happened at the World Match Play. We got to see some very talented young players show their games, such as Rory McIlroy and Ross Fisher, and we saw Geoff Ogilvy seemingly cruise to victory. His swing is probably the smoothest, free-flowing swing on Tour, other than maybe Fred Couples.
The weather has been unusual all across the country this year. This weekend, the temps are going to hit the 60s here in Indy, and you can bet every course that is open will be packed and every driving range will have a line waiting to hit balls.
We all have our fingers crossed that we get a good spring to make up for the bad ones over the past few years. We plan on opening Brickyard Crossing on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17, with a pay-the-air temperature fee for golf. If the temp is 50 degrees, your greens fee is $50, for example. Most golfers have been cooped up this winter and ready to go.
The PGA Tour’s Florida swing begins this week at PGA National. Not sure what Tiger’s next event is, but I would think it would be the World Championship at Doral. One of our other bloggers here at the Brickyard, Nationwide Tour pro Chad Collins, is Down Under playing in Australia and New Zealand. Good luck to him this week!
Keep stretching for a good swing.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
The Masters has started, and the stars are circling the top. But young guns seem to be trying to stave off the notion that Augusta is for veterans.
The thing about The Masters is that the tournament really doesn’t start till the back nine on Sunday. Most players are just trying to keep within striking distance for Sunday. My pick for the title, Tiger, is just where he needs to be for Sunday, hanging around.