2008 SHELL'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF
JEFE VERSUS JIMBO
ARCADIA BLUFFS GOLF CLUB
7th Hole: Par 4, 465 yards
YouTube version:
You know how every so often somebody will give David Feherty grief for helping out the golfers he covering by helping (Tiger) find a lost ball, telling a guy (Tiger) how many strokes he up or down by (up by), or by kicking Tiger's ball back in the fairway? Well, I faced a similar dilemma on the 7th hole of this match.
After pushing nearly every drive up to this point, Jefe hit his patented draw (hook) on the 7th tee, which was moved back to a beastly 465-yard par 4 specifically for this match (and the other 150 golfers at Arcadia today). Jefe had a bead on his line and marched straight from the tee up and down the mounds and directly through the fescue, but we couldn't locate his ball. After a lengthy 4 minute, 59 second search (8-minutes plus), it looked like all hope was lost. That was when I had the Feherty-inspired idea of going back to the video. Based on where Jefe was looking on the tape, I quickly determined that we had been searching too far left the whole time. As Jefe was rifling through his bag to dig out a new NXT Tour, I said to the guys, 'It's more on this line here,' waving my outstretched arms back and forth to designate the path. Immediately after saying that, I looked down and the ball was at my feet. 'Here it is.' Technology 1, Penalty Strokes 0. Needless to say, Bernie did not help look for the ball.
Remember how I said I wouldn't want Jefe helping with my golf swing because it would allow him to take credit for my (limited) success? Well, after finding Jefe's ball at the 11th hour (minute), I was hero for the day. If Jefe ends up winning this thing by a stroke, you better believe who's taking half of the winnings (total purse: $0) and most of the credit (priceless). Who said you can't win if you don't play?
Jimbo's drive wasn't much better, but his ball was findable. It's funny to hear his disgust when he misses that one fairway per round. Jefe and I celebrate any wayward drive that ends up in the regular rough instead of the really tall stuff. 'It's not in fescue? Sweet!' Both golfers had to lay-up with their seconds and put their third shots on the correct tier of this back-hole location. However, neither player was able to convert on their par chances. Jefe keeps the deficit to two strokes, thanks in (large) part to my quick thinking.
Jefe: I was surprised to see the tees back on #7, I hadn't seen them back on the championship set before. The extra length coupled with my recent string of shots to the right probably contributed to me hitting my tee ball quick left, into the junk. Luckily we were able to find it due to Coltrain's quick thinking of video replay, and from that point I just wanted to have a decent shot into the green for my third and get out of there with a bogey. That's what I did and I made a decent putt for 5 from what only minutes earlier looked like a sure 6 or more.
Jimbo: My frustrations immediately returned when I saw the results of my drive; weak and right. My lie was burried in the deep cabbage and I hacked my second up the fairway. I hit a really good wedge for my third and gave myself a decent chance at par, but couldn't convert. However, I wasn't too upset at making bogey after the drive.
After 8 Holes: Jimbo +2; Jefe +4
