JA Wins Again!

JA, Jonathan Alden, played a phenomenal round Tuesday shooting a 69 to win the medalist honors at the ConCan Intercollegiate Classic despite a couple setbacks. About 20 minutes before his tee time Monday, his driver snapped while he leaned on it to pick up a tee. Fortunately, he brought an extra driver to the tournament. I ran back to our lodge and got his driver with enough time for him to hit a few balls on the range with it. On the way to the first tee, we talked about how great a story it is going to be when he wins the tournament after breaking his driver on the range the morning of the tournament's first round. A lot of kids would have been flustered about breaking their driver, but JA was looking forward to competing- to teeing it up and posting a score.

With an unusually cold winter for the hill country, the greens were not in good shape for our tournament, making holing putts extremely difficult. Fast and bumpy greens are tough to putt, especially when they have a lot of contour. JA was like most of the players in the field on Monday, having numerous three putt greens and failing to convert good birdie chances. Consequently, he posted a disappointing 79. A lot of kids after posting a high score in round one would have been disappointed, thinking that they shot themselves out of the tournament. JA thought he hit the ball well and just needed to improve his putting and he would be right there come Tuesday afternoon. So he went straight to the putting green after his round to get to work.

JA continued his good ball striking Tuesday and putted much better. After stuffing a 9 iron on his final hole to two feet, he made the birdie putt to finish off his round of 69. His great story was complete.

JA is a great golfer and a better guy. I'm looking forward to the rest of his senior year.