Today, this fairy-tail ending was more in line with something written by the Brothers Grimm. I came into the day with excitement, motivation and confidence. The conditions were tolerable. Cold with a light rain. My friends from Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne all drove up to join the followers on this Sunday. The first 6 holes were rather standard - I made my pars as my opponents exchanged birdies and bogeys. My lead was now 2 over the Dutch player Daan Huizing. The 7th was a par 3 and we had strong swirling winds. I short sided myself to a tough pin in some wet rough. The whole week the crowds were positive and pushed me to play my best. "Lets go. Up and down. You can do it", were some of the murmurs. I play a delicate flop, land it a few inches on the green and it ends nowhere other than center cup. The gallery erupts. Back to a 3-shot lead.
The downfall.
On the 9th hole, I have a 12 foot birdie putt to take a 4 shot lead. My confidence is at it's peak and I just know this putt is going in... I aggressively knock it 4 feet by and miss the short return putt. First 3 putt of the tournament, 2 shot lead.
10th hole Huizing and I have equal distance birdie putts. He makes, I miss. 1 shot lead.
11th hole - 235 yard par 3. I miss the green, cannot convert the up and down, Huizing misses a make-able birdie putt. We are tied through 11 at (-7).
12th hole. Huizing and I have 15 foot birdie putts. My downhiller tracks the hole the entire way and comes to rest on the front edge, halfway in. I take my 10 second count, hoping for a Tiger-woods Esq putt that falls after a few seconds. No luck. Huizing makes a difficult putt to take a one shot lead.
14th hole - Tight par 4 with a pin only a few paces behind the water. Both my opponents hit irons off the tee. For the first time in 4 days I am no longer the leader of this tournament. I pull the driver to put myself in position to spin a wedge to this tough pin and take back the reigns. I am a very aggressive player, and this style has paid dividends, but this time it was disastrous. I play it way to high, the wind eats it up and it misses the fairway right - Out of Bounds. I double bogey. 3 shots back - 4 to play.
15th hole - I am now in full attack mode. I hit a stellar approach to 6 feet, cannot convert the putt.
16th hole - I again go pin hunting - 4 foot birdie putt successful. 2 back, 3 to go.
17th hole - Par 4, 475. Undoubtably the toughest on the course. A solid Driver and a hard 3 iron put me 12 feet away from another birdie. Huizing bogeys and I again cannot convert the putt. 1 back, 1 to go.
18th hole - Par 4. OB left and right. I hit driver on a tight hole to put myself in position. Huizing plays his second to the center of the green. I have a 7-iron into the wind to an island green. The pin was classic Sunday, way in the back with the water only 6 paces past the flag. Full attack mode - birdie for playoff. I hit the 7 and ask for it to be good. It lands just past the pin, takes one hop... splash. Game over.
I took the bronze medal, which in retrospect was a very successful tournament, but I don't think I need to explain myself when I say I was very disappointed in the outcome. The interviews and media questions were difficult afterwards. No fun. All I could do was credit Dann Huizing for his exceptional and consistent play and admit that he was a deserving winner.
Despite a disheartening finish to the IAM, I plan to process and learn from the mistakes, and the positives. I know I can contend with the best. I hope to follow in the footsteps of Rory - who's rebound at the US Open after his Augusta heartbreaker was one of the best displays of golf I had ever seen. My "US Open" is the upcoming International Swiss Amateur - who's Champion not only receives equal world ranking points as IAM Germany, but two European Tour starts.
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