Delaney Shah
The second to last event for WAPT was held in Texarkana, where we played one course in Texas and one course in Arkansas. The weather was extremely hot and humid, with temperatures feeling like 110 every day. The course in Arkansas was very nice and in great condition, but the course in Texas was a little rougher. The greens were sandy and burned out, and we only played 17 holes because one of the greens was unplayable. The girls were split into two different groups, with half the field playing one course and half playing the other course and then switching the next day.
The first day I played Texarkana CC, the course in Arkansas. The day started off strong, I started on the back 9 and had 4 straight pars before a bogey on the 14th hole which was the hardest hole on the course. I bounced back with 4 more pars to make the turn at 1-over. After the turn, I made another 3 pars before making bogeys on holes 4 and 5 from a missed 4 footer and a three putt. I bounced back with another 2 pars before finishing the round with birdies on 8 and 9 to shoot 73, 1-over. This was the second lowest round of the day on that golf course, which I felt really happy about.
The second day I played Northridge CC, the course in Texas, which I thought was a lot harder of a golf course. I started off the front nine strong, with 7 pars and a birdie (and a given par on hole 6 which was unplayable) and made the turn at -1. Feeling really confident about where my game was, I made the turn and hit a tee shot on hole 10 in the fairway which rolled all the way through the fairway almost onto the next hole behind some trees which I had to punch out. I ended up with a bogey. On 11, I had a bad swing off the tee that got amplified by hitting the cart path twice and going into the hazard. After a bad drop and a poor punch shot out, I proceeded to three putt and walked away with a triple. The next hole I hit a good tee shot that hit the fairway and kicked 20 yards left behind some trees where I had no shot to the green. At this point the frustration was hitting hard. After settling down, I made some pars coming in but also missed two putts under 5 feet that horseshoed back to me. Finishing this round at +7, I was very upset with how the round took such a big turn on the back nine. I ended up missing the cut by one which was even more frustrating for me since I played a lot of good golf and just got some bad breaks. But I would have rather had good golf and a bad score, than poor golf and a good score – especially coming into the homestretch and preparing for Q-School.
The game felt really good and one big takeaway I had from this event was my chipping. I chipped it really well both days, holing out one chip and lipping out 4 more throughout the two days. Having struggled with the soft delicate chips and being able to pull off those shots a number of times under pressure really helped my confidence this week and going forward.
After taking two days off I head to Beaumont, Texas for the WAPT Tour Championship, the last event I will play before going to Q-School. I am excited for this event because my dad is going to come down and caddy for me, making this the third tournament that he will get to watch me play as a professional. It will be nice to have him on the bag for the week and not have to carry it myself!