Saturday, February 16: I must say the third and fourth rounds almost went according to plan. In the third round I shot a nice 4-under 68, which put me in a tie for 5th and cemented my position in the second to last group heading into the fourth and final round. I was in shouting distance of the lead and only one back of second place overall. I knew I needed to get off to a hot start on the last day and just hope the leader fail to play his game. Unfortunately, neither happened.
I was 2-under thru six holes and then arrived at the reachable par-5 7th. I only had a 6-iron into the green but made a poor error missing left. I failed to get my ball on from a relatively easy spot below the putting surface, which resulted in a very costly bogey six. However, I still played my opening nine holes 1-under (35) and headed to the back-nine five shots behind the leader and two behind second.
I lost focus and three-putted from about 20 feet on No. 10, which just about put me out of contention of winning the championship. But the thought of giving up never entered my mind for a second. After another bogey on the 13th hole and lipping out for birdie on the 14th, I knew I had to regroup and step up over the next three holes — the par-5 15th, drivable par-4 16th, and par-5 17th. Earlier in the week those holes bit me pretty hard and I played them very poorly but this time I figured them out. Standing on the 15th tee 1-over for my round and looking like I was going to finish a couple shots back again, I put my head down, swallowed my pride and played solid golf. I went birdie-birdie-birdie and quickly went from -4 for the championship to -7 and a tie for 3rd. I had a chance on the last from about 15 feet to get it to 8-under but my putt slipped past the hole on the right.
RELATED: View Portuguese Amateur Results
Going out in 1-under and standing on the 14th tee 1-over for my round and finishing 2-under on the day (70), it made the trip to Portugal that much more successful. I ended up shooting rounds of 70 (-2), 73 (+1), 68 (-4), and 70 (-2) for a total of 281 (-7). I finished T3 overall, and there’s no doubt my finish provided me with another momentum booster moving towards my ultimate goal of hopefully playing for the United States of America on the Walker Cup Team in September.
Starting the week with little knowledge of the course, I have to give a special thanks to the GUI boys — Pat Murray, Gavin Moynihan, Eddie McCormack, Alex Gleeson, and Tony — for showing me around. And of course a ton of credit to my caddie Pat Finn. I really don't know where I would be without his support. For him to take me under his wing, make the trip over to Portugal with me, and to open up his home and let me spend time with his family over the next couple of days (before I head off to Spain for the Spanish Amateur), I really can't thank him enough. It truly means the world to me!
I’m off the for the next five days and I plan on going back to Dublin to practice at Carton House Club in Dublin, Ireland. Then it’s off to Spain for the Spanish Amateur, where it’s 36-holes of stroke play qualifying, with the top 32 qualifying for match play. Hopefully everything keeps going well and the momentum continues to build...
Thanks again for all the support, Portugal has been so much fun!
