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Round 1 of the Valspar Championship is in the books. Managed a 3 under par round, only 2 bogies which is good considering the disaster at The Players. All in all it's good start...

The round: https://youtu.be/cx-9LiaIl6s?si=QoE8iw6XMAIkOE5N

2026 Valspar Championship - 2nd Rd - Pin Position

Video link to 1st Rd
https://youtu.be/qlEq1NlRMH0

SCG, as you may be figuring out, I like to play a round as soon as I can (as long as it's in the evening.)

And I fell back to earth in round 2, although not a total disaster. I shot 72; just could not get the hang of the faster greens and my swing was somewhat looser than round 1. Tripled the third hole as I needed two chips to get on and then three-putted. Fought my way back to even, then dunked the ball on 12 and 13. Saved par on 12 with a nice chip-in but doubled 13. Birdied 14 but missed short birdie putts on 16 and 18, and there you are.

Not really an awful round, just a bit sloppy.

Here's the video, in higher quality and WITH SOUND.

https://youtu.be/Z8wW-nxMLM8?si=Cg0uEfFquiopqkue

Should have stayed in bed!

Hit too many trees, was in too much rough (even after hitting good shots) was in too many bunkers, and could not chip or putt. A +12 83.

Apart from that a good day to be playing golf.

I knew I had a 10:30 tee time but reading the exploits of dwg and dko I was afraid to tee it up for Round 2 but I'm glad that I did!

Started with a birdie at the first, drove it left for bogey at 5, at the 7th I jumped on the birdie train with 3 straight birdies to end the front nine and go out in 33, back 9 started with a missed 10 footer for birdie, birdies at 15 and 16 and missed 2 easy birdie putts on 17 and 18 to come back in in 33 for a 33-33=66 5 under par! 8 fairways, 12 greens, 24 putts. Hopefully safely within the cut range.

Jim

Nice one! I felt the second round conditions were harder than the first.

I got in a groove and remembered advice I saw earlier in this thread about rolling the ball onto greens, which worked well for a few of the wayward drives that I hit and then the putter heated up a little bit to give me a nice round.

Jim, yeah, when I'm in the rough (regular or heavy) after a drive I try to play short of the hole because of the roll. If rolling it up is not an option, I go for the front bunker. Occasionally I get a little frisky and hit a punch shot hoping to roll through the bunker. I think that's worked maybe once.

And I think you'll be good for the weekend at -2.

Well round two was a tale of two nines. Struggled to an even par on the front but made a mockery of the back nine finishing with a 6 under 65. It helps when you only have 20 putts for the round.

The round: https://youtu.be/iUioJxdDemI?si=NOwCmVodT6_y450s

Are you accepting appointments for short games lessons?