Originally Published on July 25, 2017 by ranchomurieta.com

Diaries written by: Don Thames

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Don Thames, Rancho Murieta Country Club's golf pro, writes about the experience of qualifying for the British Senior Open, as he did Monday. He will post occasional stories this week. Photos are by Carole Thames.

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DAY #1:

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Bridgend, Wales – Other than a few 36-hole affairs, Monday's Senior Open qualifying was the longest single day of golf in my competitive career. We started at 7:50 a.m. and left the Southerndown Golf Club in Wales at 9 p.m. In that we shot 71, we had to wait until the 1:10 pairing returned before we knew our position. After three-quarters of the scores had been posted, we were on pins and needles hoping for an opportunity to be in a playoff. In the end, the playoff materialized, with nine blokes competing for three spots.

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Don enjoys dancing and working with his wife Carole as a Licensed Real Estate Agent.  Carole Thames is active with Don in all of Don’s Professional pursuits including her role as a Caddie, Business Manager and as an extraordinary chef and friend.  Daughters, Makayla (former Sac State Women’s Golf Team Member) and Katie are the lights of Don and Carole’s lives. 

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Carole was a wreck due to our poor finish, as we squandered three shots with four to play. The last four holes were a bit treacherous, with narrow fairways lined with gorse and fern, with three of them playing into 30-mph headwinds. The matter of successful qualification was further complicated when I pulled a driver into the gorse on 15 on my way to a double bogey. The gorse, in essence, is a two-stroke penalty. This means that you have to stand up there and hit another from the tee. The other hazard is the “fern.” I believe they refer to fern in the singular due to the dense nature of this ancient vegetation.

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I was much calmer in the playoff than I was after sending my ball sailing into the gorse on the 15th. Instead of thinking of the odds as 9 for 3 – nine players and three spots – I considered my chances of advancing as 3 for 1. I was first to play and smacked a “cracker” up the left side of the gorse-lined first hole. Quietly and perhaps unsportsmanlike, I was hoping some of the other lads would not fare as well. We were four followed by a group of five. All four players in the first group made par and had to wait for the group behind to finish before proceeding. One player in the second group found the gorse and was eliminated, and another made a 50-foot putt for birdie to secure a spot. Now it was seven players for two spots, and we proceeded to the 168-yard 10th hole.

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