City Champion

Woo hoo! My buddy, Cheese (Philip Mahone), won the City Championship! It was an exciting final round. Cheese started the day one shot back of the leader, Scott Garrison. After the first nine holes, Cheese was down 5 shots!! Fortunately, he's been playing well and he has a lot of confidence in himself, so he believed he could make it up. The comeback started on their 10th hole, which was actually the first hole at Meadowcreek because they reversed the nines for the tournament. Cheese birdied and Scott bogeyed, so there was a 2-stroke swing. The same thing happened on the par-5 3rd hole. Then Cheese birdied the 13th (4th) hole to pull even with just five holes to play. Scott took a gamble and tried to drive the short 5th hole, but it backfired. He made bogey, giving Cheese a one-shot lead. Philip thought to himself "if I can play the last four holes even par, I'll win". He was right. He gave himself birdie chances on every hole, but all he needed was pars. Scott made par on each hole. The last one was exciting because Scott and Cheese both had 15-foot birdie putts straight up the hill. Scott hit his dead at the hole, only to see it come up one inch short. Cheese made a routine 2-putt to win the tournament. His entire family was there, including his aging father. Cheese is an emotional guy and he barely held it together during his acceptance speech. He finally lost it when Jerry Ratcliffe, Sports Editor for the Daily Progress, asked about Philip's family during the interview.

I made sure I gave Cheese a hard time afterward for failing to mention me during his acceptance speech. With tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I told him he should have said that having to give me 8 shots a round really helped him elevate his game. He laughed.

That night, Phil's father-in-law, Joe Palumbo, invited the entire family to the Aberdeen Barn for a celebration dinner. They invited Heather and me to go too. We had a great time. Cheese looked like he had just won the lottery. He was elated. We had a great time eating, drinking, and telling funny stories. That was a fun night!

My round was less exciting. I continued to hit the ball well, hitting 15 greens in regulation as I did on Saturday. Putting continued to let me down as I shot a disappointing 76. It's frustrating. When I'm standing over a putt, I'm a bundle of nerves. It's important to be confident when you putt, but I'm standing over every putt with fear strumming every fiber of my body. I've tried all kinds of tricks. Don't worry about the outcome, just hit the ball; just think about a smooth stroke; imagine the ball going in the hole; get excited about the chance to make birdie. Nothing worked. For a while I just told myself to "trust Jesus" when I stood over a putt, and that worked for a period. I even tried singing "Amazing Grace" (not aloud) while I was putting to get a good rhythm. I stubbed the putter. Twice. I don't know what to try now!

The day was beautiful and my playing partners were fun, so I texted Heather and asked if she wanted to join me for the back nine. She immediately responded that she would, so I was excited. I had a cart to myself, so it would be easy for her to ride. Unfortunately, she was in a bad mood right from the first hole. Her butt hurt (from the progesterone shots), and riding in the cart made it worse. She was in a sour mood, to put it mildly. When she suggested that she leave after six holes, I said that would be a good idea. She was afraid I would be mad, but I was relieved.

Heather said that all kinds of little things irritate her these days. She said that most of the time she just keeps this to herself, but sometimes it slips out - like yesterday. I think her mood swings are caused by the progesterone she is taking for her pregnancy. Or maybe the pregnancy itself. I sure hope that's it!

When I got home, Heather really unloaded on me. I have to admit that some of it was deserved. She pointed out that she's always the one who comes up with things for us to do, like watch a movie, go to the downtown mall with Killer, or go out to dinner. She's right. She's told me many times that she wants me to surprise her with stuff, but I haven't done so very often. I'm going to make an effort to surprise her with something every week. I've put it on my calendar so that I don't forget. Maybe it's not romantic to put "Surprise Heather" on my weekly calendar, but that's one way I can make sure I keep it as a priority. I love her like crazy and I want to do my best to make her happy.