Third round of the JFOCC

The third round started with a slew of excitement for me. Too much excitement, in my opinion! I pulled my teeshot on the first hole, and trying to hit a miraculous second shot, a 157 yd shot that required a 30 yard hook, I turned the ball over too quickly, and slammed my ball into a tree that I was praying to God I would avoid. To the moron who said trees are 90% air, all I have to say is this. NUTS TO YOU. Through my OWN clinical studies, I have come to the conclusion that trees are made of 12% air, not 90%. The other 86% are made up of squirrels, bugs, birdpoo, and BARK. LOTS and LOTS of BARK. Anyway, as I heard my ball go through the heart of a squirrel, clamber about in the branches, there was an eternity of silence, before I saw a splash in the creek in front of me. Mind you, the creek is some 24 feet wide, and I find it utterly hilarious that my ball ended up in the middle of it. I took a drop, some 114 yards from the hole, and stuck it to about 4 feet. After draining my putt, I had nothing to do or say to B. I just looked at him, shook my head, and laughed. He said (for the first of two times that day) "Great bogey."

After a few ho hum pars, I came to the fifth hole. I stuck a 7-iron from some 153 yards or so to about twelve feet right of the hole. It was a tough hole location, and as B and I walked up to the green, a very vocal fan shouted out the me, "Now you actually have a putt at a birdie!!!" I had no idea how to take the "compliment" at all, so I waved at him, smiled, and muttered something under my breath. Lo and behold, my putt fell in the hole, and to that guy-thank you. I think. I went on to birdie the 9th hole in simple fashion, and made the turn in -1 with a 33. Again.
After birdieing the 10th hole, I made a good par on the 11th. Standing on the 12th tee, I felt great, but was distracted in my downswing when I saw a flurry of movement to my left. I pulled the CRAP out of my tee shot, and my ball ended up next to a huge evergreen tree. Thank god it wasn't actually IN said tree, but it was pretty damned close! B and I chatted very VERY briefly. As opposed to trying to play another hook shot, where another forest of trees stared down at me. I decided to just chip out some 40 yards. I took my sand wedge, and sometime between when I set up to my ball and the moment I came to strike the ball, one single branch appeared in the middle of nowhere. It was seriously like a twig. And of course, my studies proved accurate again. I hit the branch, er, twig, and the ball came straight down. Thankfully I had a full swing, and hit a wedge from 133 yards. I pulled it, and the ball ended up some 50 feet short and left of the hole. Stellar. I ended up leaving my 50 foot par putt some 8 feet short (don't ask me how, I thought I whacked the Hell out of the ball), and thanks again to Ron Stockton's teachings, I made the putt. B told me again "Great bogey." We just laughed, and I ended up making three birdies coming in. Including a great birdie on the last. I was 57 yards to the flag for my third shot, with some 3 paces behind the flag before the rough comes up, and I hit it pin-high, about 4 feet, which sent the crowds through the roof. I canned the putt, and before I knew it, I was one stroke behind the leader, NYC. I was to be in the final pairing, and man, it felt GREAT to be in that position again!!!