Saturday, April 27 -
Today was the traditional Am – Am competition at The European Club and it was probably the best weather Ireland will have for the rest of the year! It did not rain once and was sunny and fairly warm all day long even though the wind blew hard. The course was amazing and was very difficult. I realize how lucky I’ve been to play so many of Ireland’s best and most storied courses.
The tee shots MUST be accurate because the fairways are narrow and guarded by so many bunkers. The greens were not much easier either and many of them had false fronts or edges that made the ball roll down slopes away from the hole. On the 18th tee, I met the owner and designer of The European Club, Pat Ruddy. He spent a lot of time with the team and took pictures with all of us. He spoke at the reception after the round and told some stories about the tournaments held at The European Club including the Irish Am won by Rory McIlroy in 2006.
We also got to meet the members of the Irish team and the pairings were announced for Sunday. Alternate shot (fourball) will be played in the morning and I’m really excited to be paired with Jim Liu in that session. The other pairings are Joe Saladino with Brian Komline and Max Buckley with Mike Miller. We’re feeling really good about getting off to an early lead!
I can't believe it is already time for the matches to start but I’m looking forward to getting off to a good start tomorrow!
