It has been a great couple of days. Kevin worked through the bad feeling he had with his golf swing on Saturday and had a few great rounds on the golf course both Sunday and Monday. Muirfield was playing firm and fast on Sunday but once again he showed patience and a solid short game. Both of these were tested late in the day as his wedge flew into the flagstick on the par five 15th and ricocheted off the green, down a slope, 15 yards away into a difficult position. But he was able to get it up and down to save par. The very next hole, par three 16th, our tee shot found the water but he walks up to the drop zone and was able to get that up and down from 120 yards to save the bogey. As most players would have just packed it in after those two shots, Kevin once again showed his maturity and grind it out. We finished the day with a birdie on 17 and shot a nice round of three under (69) finishing T-46th. But more important, his finish gained us those extra valuable FedEx points and we moved up two spots on the list to 103rd.
Because we had to be in Memphis for the 36 hole US Open qualifier in just over 12 hours; Kevin decided to fly private using his new sponsor, Wheels Up, and brought me along for the ride. I do have to say it was one of the coolest experiences in my 44 year life. Little did I know, it was only about to get better!!
I met Kevin at the golf course about 7am Monday morning. I was joking with Kiz telling him it was a bit of an anniversary for us because it was here in Memphis at Colonial Country club in 2008 where we first met. I was caddying for Doug LaBelle and we showed up to play a practice round. We went to the first tee and Kevin was standing there with his good friend Mike Hostilo waiting to play their practice round. We ended up playing two rounds together, striking up a good friendship, and now six years later, I'm back carrying his bag. Can you say fate???
Since I save all my old yardage books, without any practice rounds and not being back here since 2008, all we had to lean on were my old notes from those books. We started on the "tougher" South course with some on and off drizzling rain. With 145 players trying for 13 spots, I knew if we just managed our way around and gave Kevin plenty of birdie looks, we would do fine. An early three putt bogey was washed away with three straight birdies on 7, 8 and 9 making the turn at two under. One more bogey and two birdies on the back had us shooting three under (69) for the first round. We had only 20 minutes before round two so we had a quick lunch. When I took a look at the scores, I saw that there was only one score better then ours on the South course. With all the other low scores on the North course, I knew we where in perfect position. Starting on 10, Kevin birdied 10, 12 and 16 getting us to six under through 27 holes. Another nice birdie on the par three 2nd as the rain started and then another birdie during a torrential downpour on the very next hole put us in the drivers seat. The rain finally stopped and the winds laid down for the final five holes but now we had to deal with mud balls. One more birdie with a bogey coming in had us shooting five under (66) for an eight under total for 36 holes. Eight under was good enough for T-3rd and a trip to THE US OPEN.
Completely worn out, it took awhile for it all to sink in. Having one of my biggest accomplishments in my playing career occurring at Pinehurst #2, winning the 1992 North South Amateur, I am excited to be heading back to a place that means so much to me. Having to play nine rounds of golf in six days during that week in 1992, I leaned on my bother/caddy, Darrell, to get me through. I would have never won that Championship without his help. Now, to be going back as a caddy, I just hope I can do as good of a job as he did 22 years ago.
As for Baby Kiz, Brittany and Kevin had a plan in place just in case we qualified for the US Open. Brittany and the baby are doing well, so if Baby Kiz does not arrive this week, they have scheduled an appointment to induce Monday morning. If Baby Kiz decides to come this week, Kevin and I have our plan worked out and we will get him home. It's definitely an exciting time for the Kisner family. Please keep them in your prayers.
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