Well, it wasn’t to be. I was eliminated by Chan Song on episode two of Big Break Greenbrier. I thought I was going to be able to sneak by after hitting the fairway in the draw/fade wall challenge, but I got called out and wasn’t up to the task.
First, I want to say that episode two was the worst day for most of the competitors, we all (myself certainly included) hit some horrible shots. But golf is a game of whose misses are better.
Next, about the challenges. Hit the green from 130 yards, easy! Well, no matter how I try to explain it, it’s still easy. I stunk. But, it was more difficult to get the balls close together than it seemed. The green sloped severely back to front from the middle of the green forward. Any shots hit in the front half of the green with any spin could have spun right off the front, as we witnessed when we were allowed two practice shots each before the competition. Normally that yardage is a perfect 54 degree wedge for me, but in the practice, I spun the 54 a ton and was worried about it, so I hit a pitching wedge. The wall challenge was pretty self- explanatory. Although, if you had the moxie, you could hit a dead straight ball on the draw side and still hit the fairway. When it was my turn – I knew Ray hits it a bit farther than I do – so I wanted to pound the draw so I still had a chance if I missed with the fade, but I overhooked it. The fade side was a bit tougher because the initial line was off the fairway and a straight shot would miss.
Finally, I didn’t have my A game in the elimination challenge. I under-read the break on my chip on the first hole, poor. I just hit a horrific putt on the second hole, partly due to nerves. And the third hole, I made a bad club choice on my chip. I gotta hand it to Chan though. He played steady and made a couple nice five-footers to seal the deal. It’s tough putting your fate in someone else’s hand and watching him capitalize. I was really upset to put myself in that situation, and I was rather cold to Chan when congratulating him on his win. I apologized to him, and wish him the best going forward!
Keep checking back to the Big Break Greenbrier show page for all the awesome online content. See some more behind the scenes action, as well as what we do once we get the boot!
Cheers,
Liam Friedman