Bollox and I played our match and it was quite a close one.
It started with a Bollox birdie barrage on the opening three holes of the Ocean Course. I was only able to match his birdie on hole #2, so I quickly found myself down 2 strokes standing on the 4th tee. The 4th and 5th holes proved uneventful as both players played fairways and greens and were left with long-ish birdie putts that would not find the bottom of the cup. Fortunately, I was able to catch a hot streak with my approaches on #6, #7 & #8 and converted birdies on all 3 to swing the match in my favor by a stroke. Matching up and downs for par on #9 and we moved on to Bethpage with me still ahead by a narrow margin.
After we both laid up our second shots, Bollox was first to fire his third into the 10th green. It jerked a little left on him and it landed just a little outside of the starter putter's comfort zone and he was forced to take a bogey after a good effort barely lipped out. I was able to secure the par and a two shot advantage as we played on. Shot for shot was matched on the next two holes with pars on #11 and birdies on #12 We were both poised to strike at the flag from about 43yds on #13, but this time it was my approach that went slightly awry. A good approach and putt by Bollox and a single stroke separated us once again.
After a couple of wayward approaches and near misses we traded pars on the par 3 14th and it was on to the decisive 15th. We were promptly slapped in the head. A bad decision on the approach left me staring down a 7 foot slider for bogey
that I could not convert. Bollox was on the back shelf of the green in two, but the hill proved to be a bit tricky to navigate and he had to take an unfortunate bogey. However, this meant the match was now all square through 15.
The pressure set in and the final 3-hole shootout was on with both players finding the fairway off the tee. I hit my approach first and was able to find the green with a 3-wood leaving myself ~25 feet from the hole. Bollox was unable to hit the green as his 3-wood ended up slightly right and a little short of the target. He made a great up and down from the front right rough, but I was able to regain a one stroke advantage by converting the long birdie putt. The final two holes were somewhat uneventful as we matched pars on the 17th and 18th holes and the match was concluded.
Final Scores:
Bollox - 33 35 - 68
nivlac - 32 35 - 67
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I'd like to congratulate Bollox on a match well played. It was back and forth the entire time and he definitely proved himself to be a very worthy opponent. A couple of putts with different outcomes and the match could've easily gone the other way. I enjoyed this match thoroughly. =)