August Golf Report

What a month! I won four matches to start before losing my fifth and final match of August. Yesterday I was soundly defeated in a high-stakes match at one of Japan’s finest courses. Next week I’ll be paying off the bet, and I hesitate to go into all the details, but I can say that it involves ramen. 

August started with sartorial elegance on a cerulean morning at Higashi Hirono. Two birdies on the day, with accompanying dances, and I was optimistic that I would have another undefeated month. I won the next day at Yamaguchi, and then again in a hard-fought 2&1 victory at The Orchard that we celebrated into the evening.

Then it was back to Japan, and a truly dominating performance in the mountains of Nagano, with three birdies on the fast bentgrass greens of Minami Tateshina Golf Course. 

So when I teed it up yesterday, I was expecting another birdie-filled performance and another victory to close out the month. But I won’t make excuses. If I were to be so mean, I might say that I should not have stopped after nine holes to have soup, and salad, and wagyu beef served with daikon and soy sauce. Maybe I shouldn’t have had the ice-cold jug of Asahi with the beef at 10:30 in the morning. Perhaps the coffee after my mid-round meal caused my paroxysmal tee shot on the 10^th. Maybe I should have asked to see my opponent’s handicap card before I agreed to play him at scratch. Maybe I should have brought a full set of clubs. 

With more big matches coming up in September, and then the Micah Woods Invitational in October, I must make a rapid recovery from this stunning loss.