2010 Review of My Majors

At the start of the season, I set out my targets for the seven major competitions I was scheduled to play in. The diary changed a couple of times, and I ended up playing in 9 competitions that I would call major.

Each competition had it’s own target, but I said at the start of the season that “the overall target for 2010 is to achieve 2 or more (of the individual targets), or 1 or more if the 1 is the Club Championship”.

So how did I do then?

Worman Sword; Target – Top 12, Actual – No Return

This was a complete disaster, from a cash machine swallowing my bank card and refusing to give it back on my way to the course, to being hit by an errant drive in my first round, to the freezing cold despite being in May, and ultimately not returning a score in my 2^nd round

Forfar 36 Hole Open; Target – Top 6, Actual – Cancelled due to flooding and replaced with…

Strathmore 18 Hole Open; Target – Top 6, Actual – Tied 2^nd

I played really well in this, hitting 14 greens in regulation. I didn’t win anything on countback, but tied 2^nd was better than I could have hoped for when I turned up at the course.

Middlesex County; Target – Top 16, Actual – 30^th

Mediocrity was order of the day here. Two rounds of 5 over par saw me comfortably miss the cut, but improve on the prior year performance.

Club Championship; Target – 1^st, Actual – 2^nd

Another one where I improved on last year, but still fell short of the goal. Having said that, I couldn’t have got much closer, being tied after 36 holes and then after another 4 play-off holes, only to lose at the 5^th sudden death hole. The four years I have played in this I have finished 12^th, 7^th, 3^rd and 2^nd, so if I can maintain the year on year improvement then there is only one place to finish next year.

Aboyne Open; Target – Top 8, Actual – No Return

After 11 holes I was looking at easily hitting target here, only to come across an insanely difficult last 7 holes. The rough was unlike anything I’ve seen in years, I couldn’t keep the ball straight enough off the tee to avoid it all

Royal Montrose Open; Target – Top 10, Actual – 12^th

Close but no cigar here, but it felt like an achievement finishing 12^th. The wind was gale force, and the time I played got the worst of it, standing up straight was a challenge in itself.

Montrose Golf Week; Target – Last 16, Actual – Last 16

Qualifying was a bit of a struggle, I had a pull a few escapes out of the bag in the closing holes, but my last 32 match went as well as I could have hoped. I just didn’t perform in the last 16 match, but ultimately it was a successful week

Monifieth Open; Target – Top 6, Actual – 12^th

Poor start, moderate middle, good finish. Not quite close enough to trouble to engraver, but it was an acceptable performance

Craw’s Nest tassie; Target – Last 64, Actual – 81^st

Ultimately this will go down as a failure, but like the Royal Montrose Open, I didn’t get the best deal in regards to the weather and the draw. I have never played in conditions like those that I encountered in the second qualifying round, and the week had a great finish when I knocked it round Carnoustie Championship in 74 shots off the back tees, getting my handicap cut and picking up some cash too.

So, in categorising the 9 competitions, they come out as follows;

2 x Achieved

2 x Nearly Achieved

2 x Improved on Prior Year but Not Achieved

3 x Not Achieved

My goal was to achieve 2, and I achieved 2, so going by the literal interpretation of my targets 2010 was a success. The fact that I didn’t achieve target in any of the three most important (Club Championship, County Championship, and Craw’s Nest Tassie) takes the shine off it, and also my handicap being exactly as it was at the start of the season is a bit of a downer, but a positive way of looking at it is that I have a lot next season that I can improve on.