Delaney Shah
Well, it has been a very busy past few months. I spent a month in Louisville practicing and played in the Kentucky Open, I spent a week in Mississippi playing a WAPT event, and two weeks at home getting ready to leave for qualifying school.
Both the Kentucky Open and Mississippi event were filled with good and bad golf, but fun memories. I was able to have a good friend caddy for me in Kentucky which was fun, and Mississippi was filled with me meeting a lot of new girls on the tour.
I left August 12 for Palm Springs, California all by myself, which was very nerve-wracking. This was the first time I rented a car myself, and since I was there for 10 days and under the age of 25, it was quite expensive! The tournament was held in Palm Desert where the average temperature is 107 feeling close to 120 at times, but had some of the prettiest views of the mountains surrounding the area from the course. The tournament was held on three different courses; Shadow Ridge, Mission Hills Pete Dye, and Mission Hills Dinah Shore, which meant three different practice rounds, three different types of courses, and three different game plans.
We were told the night before the first round that after we played all three courses, the field which consisted of 343 women would be cut to top 125 and ties to play on Sunday and the top 95 and ties would move on to Stage II. The first round of the tournament I played at Shadow Ridge. I was very nervous on the first tee since this tournament was going to define the next year of my professional career. I finished the first round at +2, putting together three birdies on my back nine to finish the first round T135. Having left a few shots out on the course, I knew I could pull a good round together the second day.
The second day I played at Dinah Shore. This is the course they play the ANA Inspiration at every year which was cool to play a course the top LPGA professionals play. This course was a completely different layout, more tree lined and not much water. I couldn't get anything going during my round, carding 4 bogeys and 1 birdie to shoot 75. Sitting at +5 total, I knew I needed to shoot an under par round the last day to make the cut.
The last day I played the Pete Dye golf course, and for anyone who doesn't know what a Pete Dye course layout looks like, it is LOTS of water running along the whole side of the fairway with big drop off, and rolling mounds on the other side to make fairways super tight. The greens are big but drop off the sides or have large mounds protecting it making you have tough lies to firm and fast greens. I started the round with two pars, but an unlucky break on my fourth hole started a downhill spiral on the front nine. I bounced back with a solid back nine until another unlucky break on my 16th hole where I had a ball get stuck in between two tree branches (which has never happened to me before), but bounced back with a birdie on the last hole to end on a higher note.
Although I missed the cut, I finished with small Symetra status, which will hopefully allow me to play in a few events next season. I am disappointed with the overall outcome but I have plenty of positives to take away from the week. I got to see how my game stood up against some of the best, and how I performed under some of the biggest pressure I have felt.
I will be competing in two more events this season, a WAPT event in Louisiana in the middle of September, and the Maryland Open in October.
As always thank you for your continued support!