The International Italian Championship, May 12-15, 2012

Buongiorno, Lago di Como!!

Despite being on the road 4 weeks straight, and now in one of the most iconic and beautiful locations on Earth, my focus is still clear.  I'm here to win the Italian... if I can get my mind off the amazing food everywhere.

  

We are playing the beautiful and famous Villa D'este Golf Club, bordering Lake Como.  Rated one of the best courses in Europe.  The last time I was here I was in my mother's womb, as she played here carrying me.  Truly magical.  The rough is grown so thick, that for every missed fairway, we are instructed to play a provisional.  One of my round 1 group mates hit the green on the par 3, 13th and his ball rolled through.  We searched for 5 minutes and could not find it within a 3 meter radius.  I love it, as I am  generally a tee to green player, but now hedged through the new addition of my "up and down from anywhere" 64* wedge.  

The structure of this tournament is a sort of Lytham and Frankfurt amalgamation.  This probably makes no sense, so let me explain.  132 men are at the start and we first play 2 rounds of stroke play.  The top 32 make the cut and proceed in a matchplay bracket, where rank 1 plays 32, 2 plays 31, etc.  Each match goes over 18 holes and the final is played over 36 holes.  Actually the same exact format as the US Amateur and British Amateur.  You could potentially play 8 rounds of golf if you make the final, yet 100 players will be leaving after 2 rounds.

On the drive over to Italy, I had a short chat with my Mom who reminded me that the "Italians steal like the ravens", so lock your cars.  Yes yes, we will.  Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.  After our practice round, I walked from the putting green to get us sandwiches from the club restaurant.  Literally 90 seconds.  I return, my bag is in a different position and my 64* wedge is missing.  No way.  Please take any club, just not my 64.  My get out of jail free club.  My Seve-stick.  Europe is not like America where you can just drive to the nearest PGA superstore.  Not to mention I custom grind my wedges.  I will be playing this tournament without my weapon.  Time to improv.

My plan wasn't to win the tournament in the first 2 days.  The goal was to simply make the cut and qualify for matchplay.   And then win the tournament.  

I'm not playing very stress-free golf.  In fact, it's awful, but I execute proper course management and scratched my way by.  I played my two rounds in 71 and 72 and finished T19.

Round one of matchplay I play the Italian Francesco Laporta who shot 69 73 to qualify.  I'm still playing poorly but I par the first 6 holes and am 2 up.  Should be an easy match...  Francesco finally shows some fervor and birdies the 8th... and the 10th, 11th, 12th.  I subsequently do not, and am 3 down with 6 to go.  I birdie the par 3, 14 and 16 to go one down with 2 to go.  Francesco is clearly nervous, as he is now only shoving his ball forward, hoping that pars will win him the match.  I miss a chance on 17 and aggressively pull driver on the last (we started on 10), so now the 9th.  OB left, but that is the shortest way to the green, and I take the risk.  I pull my ball slightly into the trees and my gut says 50/50 chance I just threw the match. 

I am enlightened to find my ball, but I'm stymied in front of a fat timber on a rock-hard dirt path, 115 yards from the green.  Pin is short left and the green slopes massively from back to front.  Francesco is first to play and hits the green, easily in for par.  I have no choice but to try a Bubba Watson miracle.  I can't even see the green.  I take my borrowed 60*, aim right of the tree, close my eyes and hit the hardest hook I can.  I run out of the trees like Sergio in Medinah and watch as my ball shapes.  It lands on the right edge of the green, barely escaping the right-side bunker.  She kicks forwards and the aggressive hook spin takes over, and my balls moves 20 meters dead left across the entire green.  It ends up 5 meters LEFT of the pin.  Francesco is bug eyed and the patrons are applauding.  I high-five my caddy and strut to the green, putter in hand.

Francesco's par is conceded, and I spend a good minute discussing my putt with my friend/caddy Julian.  It's uphill, so just ram it in.  And that is exactly what we did.  Center cup, way too much speed, but it goes in anyway.  I rarely throw a fist pump, but given the situation and with cameras rolling, I couldn't help it.  We are going extra holes.

The first extra hole, Francesco is left with a 2 meter par put and I still have a birdie chance.  I leave my 6 meter putt short 2 inches, dead on line.  Francesco makes.

I'm just blasting it by Francesco, who continues to tenderly advance his ball.  In my mind, I'm free-rolling - I shouldn't even be here, so I'm giving 110% on every shot.  Next hole, again I have a chance to put it away and miss a 3 meter birdie putt.

Third extra hole, I make a mistake and short-side the green left, in the rough.  I attempt to play a delicate flop and land it on the fringe, as Francesco has a good chance for par.  I take my borrowed 60* and my flop lands too short, eaten by the rough.  I make bogey and Francesco makes his par.  Game over.  

I finish the Italian in 17th place, in bitter fashion.  Yes, missing my 64* was a big hurt, but I should have made the putt on the 20th hole.  No excuses.

Unfortunately no silverware in Como, but these consistent finishes earn me valuable ranking points.  I move to #70 in the European golf rankings and have the #2 scoring average (71.00) of the top 100 players in Europe.

Link to --->  European Golf Rankings  

I am now definitely over golfed and am looking forward to a week off to focus on work and surprise my cousin Sophie with tickets to the Champions League final on May 19th.  I have yet to see my apartment in Munich and I've been in Europe for more than a month!  

With this I will say Adieu for 10 days.  Next up I play the Bavarian Championship, where I plan to defend my title.  June 1-3.

  

Lytham Trophy - May 3 - 6, 2012

This week I am in Lytham St. Anne's, England, playing the Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham Golfclub.  144 best amateurs in the world are invited, and only 40 will make the cut on Sunday and play the final 36. This is one of the four “majors” in amateur golf worldwide. Winner receives an invitation to the British Open. Tino Schuster is the only non-national to have lifted the trophy, in 1999. 

Conditions are everything but pleasing, and my luggage looks like that of visitor who’s morbidly terrified of his first encounter with snow. Expected forecast: -1*C to 9*C, light rain with winds constantly shifting from 10-30 mph. “Quite nice” as said by my taxi. Wonderful. 

I arrived early Wednesday, planning to spend the day adjusting to links style golf, play an official practice round Thursday, and then the first tournament round Friday. A big cheers goes to my friend Terry Byca for organizing my hotel and helping me get settled. 

I pull into Royal Lytham surprised to see an empty range and hardly another competitor about. Bullocks - we aren’t allowed to practice until Thursday 6:30 am. I assume everyone must be arriving later tonight and head back to town to explore the city. Turns out 100+ players were 2km down the road practicing at St. Anne’s GC – I found this out one day later. Thanks buddies! 

After a few hours in town I’m legitimately glacial and begin back to the hotel. I take an alley and as I walk aside a bar I hear thumping on the glass window. I’m the only one in the street, so I walk over and awkwardly put my hands up to the glass, peering in to see who wants my attention. I see multiple hands flailing but cannot make faces. Must be some players who recognize me. I walk around into the bar and approach a table of 10…none of whom I had ever seen before.

“Hey lad, come have a drink. You’re not from around here, are you?” I think my full body Nike golf attire gave me away.

Long story short, a few locals felt inclined to grab me off the street to come drink with them. I really had no intention, but before I could say my name, the first pint was in my hand. “We” were celebrating Kate’s 25th birthday. I can’t be rude… plus, she’s rather darling. How do I always end up in these situations! 3 hours later and x number of pints deep, I have made a handful of English friends who will now be coming to Royal Lytham to watch me “win” the Lytham Trophy.

Round one – the grind.

7:30 am. I am on the range in 5 layers, trying hard to stay warm. Hand warmers, facemask, the whole set. The high winds don’t bother me, as I have always played an extremely low-spin game, but the cold affects my short game. My hands are numb and I am +4 thru 2, +6 thru 6, but fight back and end the day +7, 77. Royal Lytham, without a doubt, is the toughest course I have ever played. To my surprise, 4 players, out of 144, brought in sub-par rounds. I believed no one would.




Round two – forever a memory.

In Royal Lytham, you have to fight for pars. Make a birdie, that is a bonus. My putter is going strong and I’m making crucial up and downs. After 13 holes, the wind is howling, and I’m -1. I’ve made 2 birdies and only one bogey. I feel like I’m -8. I par 14, 15, 16, 17. I miss my first fairway on 18, but I’m not in a pot bunker – just off to the side in the rough. Normally, if you miss a fairway, you need to accept your bogey and carry on. But I want this under par round in Lytham so badly. I know I can’t hold the green, so I play long left – the only spot without a pot bunker. As we approach my ball, Nigel, my caddy who has been at Lytham his entire life, looks at me and says: Daniel, a lot of famous players have gotten up and down from here to win the Open. You can too. We play a great pitch to 2 meters and make the putt. Yesssss. 69 in Lytham. I played the third best round of the day and jumped from T94th to T21st.

**Scorecard**

I’m one of 4 German’s to make the cut and play the final 36 on Sunday. I finish with a 73 and another 77 and am completely exhausted. I have tried my best to put the difficulty of this tournament to words, but it still doesn’t do it justice. The 2012 British open will be played here in July. If faced with the same conditions, I predict less than 10 players will be under par for the tournament.

**Lytham Trophy Results**

The grandstands are already set up on the 18th green.

I'm off to Lake Como, Italy tomorrow, to play the International Italian.  I'm beyond excited to spend a full week in Como.  Our tournament venue is the amazing Villa d'este Golf Course.