Skills Competition Information
Tommy traveled to Odessa, TX via plane. They got up at 3:00am Arizona Time. Left to the airport at 4:00am. Departed Tucson International at 5:00am. Arrived in Dallas at 7:20am.
Got on a connecting flight to Midlands, TX on a rickety plane and later arrived in Midlands at 9:52am. Flight time was about an hour.
Picked up a van, which took another hour, and arrived at the hotel in Odessa at about 11am. Total Travel time was about ~7 hours.
If they had driven direct, google had previously said about 8 and a half hours, now it says nine. So saved… 2hours? I guess that’s worth it, Tommy said it was worth it. Plus, he got to see Dallas briefly.
We got sent a video of the hotel. He’s happy that it seems to be the nicest one they’ve stayed in so far. Plus all the teams are staying in the same hotel and as a bonus, he’s next door in the hotel to his friend from home, Remi.
The Hotel is the Odessa Marriott and Conference center.
They hit the range Sunday and putted around at Odessa Country Club. Monday they had a practice round. The weather was windy and is expected to remain windy throughout the course of the tournament, ~25mph. He said on Sunday his 8 iron into the wind that normally goes 175yds was only going about 100yds. Pretty windy.
They also had a drive, putt, and chip competition with reps from each team. Tommy didn’t get to represent, but his friend Remi from Spanish Fork did who attends Eastern Wyoming did and ended up winning the long drive competition. He was awarded a plaque for his efforts. They had a banquet afterwards with an awards show. The food was supposed to be BBQ, but he said it was just typical muni fare. Then they went back to their hotel.
Skills Competition Winner
Competition Winners: (Left to Right)
Frank Vucic – Indian Hills (IA) – Putting Competition
Remington Newell – Eastern Wyoming College – Long Drive 389 yrd.
Shoichiro Kato – McLennan CC (TX) – Closest to the Pin 14 inches
Tuesday tee time is 12:39 paired with Howon Kim from Ranger College in Texas and Chase Hume from Northeastern JC in Colorado. Wind is not as bad as forecasted, 16mph.
Round 1 Pairings
Round 1 started good and the winds kicked up and Tommy said he struggled on the back nine.
Here’s how the whole team did.
Round 2 Pairings
Round 2 was pretty much the same story, but slightly better on both the front and the back. He said at 17 the wind was howling and pushed his ball into water.
After the second round, they went to a bbq place where Tommy had some alligator at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux – Odessa Restaurant, although he said it tasted like chicken, haha.
Here’s how the whole team did.
Solid
Wait for It!!!
Round 3 Pairings
Round three didn’t go as planned. Wind was heavy, but I think it started to take a toll.
Tommy said they went to a bbq place after and had the best steak he’d ever had a restaurant. He was pretty bummed because shooting the highest score had meant he wouldn’t get to play on the final day. His coach decided to let Tommy play, despite shooting the team high, citing Tommy’s consistency and not shooting the overall high score.
One funny note about his playing partners. He said Chris Choi reminded him of his friend CJ in almost every way, commenting, he even drives a bimmer!
It seemed very draining and he hit the hay pretty early.
Here’s how the whole team did.
Round 4 Pairings
Central Alabama was ranked #3, but had a disastrous day two and is now in 13th. Iowa Western also faced difficulty and had tumbled a bit while Pima did very well and moved up.
Tommy Finished 98th out of 131 players. Below is how the team did day 4.
below is the final individual standings.
Below are the top team rankings heading into nationals.
Below is the final team standings, Pima did 6 spots better than their ranking.
A picture with his friends from home. The two play for Eastern Wyoming in Torrington, while Tommy is down in Tucson. Branden killed it on the par 3s shooting the best average for the tournament and Remi won the long drive.
