I hope you all had a great weekend but I know I am looking forward to the long weekend ahead.
This past weekend was the HOTT Kyle Open, a three-round B-Tier tournament in Kyle, Texas hosted by Team Justice. Huge thank you to Patty and Mitch, Fishead and Adam Case and the rest of the crew for all you do!
On Saturday Morning, the energy was buzzing. I had a game plan to keep me in check. I brought my head phones, I had my new Zuca Cart, and after saying a few hello’s I disappeared from the crowd to get focused. After a few practice throws I lost my new glow Alpha but couldn’t dwell on it, I had a tournament to play. I started on the shortest hole on the course (hole 5) and ended up taking a 4 the first round. The nerves got to me, but I was able to overcome that within the next few holes. My drives and upshots were confident, but my putts were weak…nervously weak. A new goal of mine is to figure out what I’m doing differently in tournaments where I putt really well and tournaments where I am a nervous-wreck. I think once that is figured out, I’ll feel like I belong in the Pro division. After the first round I was down by 4 strokes for the lead.
Saturday afternoon was the start of the second round. I started on hole 5 again, but this time birdied it. I thought “Yessss…this is going to be a great round, I can feel it”. My round did indeed feel a lot better than the first round. I was able to get off the box cleaner, I incorporated a lot more forehands with my light blue Alpha and felt confident throwing it in the wind. My backhand was just turning over a little too much for my liking, so I was thankful to have that trusty Alpha in the bag. It came down to the last two holes. They are two of the longest and least-shadiest of holes and I think that mentally got to me. I know that on those two holes all three rounds I lost 3 to 4 strokes. My third round was very similar to the my second. Stephanie Vincent ended up taking the win, congrats girl. I ended up just barely holding on to 2nd as Kristina Gold turned up the heat in the 3rd round to only end up 1 stroke behind me. Whew! Way to power through Kristina!
This tournament I just wasn’t connecting on my putts. I can’t wait to figure it out. For now, I am going to work on coming up with a clear routine so that each time I putt, I am doing the same thing regardless of the distance. I am going to incorporate Yoga into my daily activities in hopes that I can learn to clear my mind and focus on my body and breathing. I am also going to just keep signing up for tournaments knowing that it will get easier as anything does with practice.
I’d like to give a huge shout-out to my boyfriend Andrew Wikert. He just moved to the Pro division as well and cashed this weekend!!! This was his first time to cash and he was ecstatic. This is one of the happiest times I’ve seen him. He too has worked hard to get where he is at and it’s definitely showing. I am so proud of you.
Hott Kyle Open Results
Open Men: Mason Ford
Open Women: Stephanie Vincent
Pro Masters 40+ : Russel Shoffner
Pro Masters 50+ : Vinnie Miller
Advanced Men: Connor O’Reilly
Am Masters 40+ : Armando Martinez Jr.
Am Masters 50+ : Glen Hall
Intermediate Men: Frank Valtierra
Recreational Men: Adam Dyer
The last event of the HOTT tour is the 20th Annual Oktoberfest and HOTT final. If you didn't make any other HOTT tournaments you can still play this one. It's a b-tier at the beautiful Moody's disc golf course in Red Rock, Texas October 6-7. Hope to see you there!
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