Yes, opening of the golf season is here but no one told the weather man in Chicago! The temps were in the mid 50′s and rain ( making for a bad hair day). The tournament was held at St.Andrews Country Club in West Chicago, about 34 miles form home.
We think the most important part of any junior golf tournament is that no matter where you finish, the winner is the person who gains knowledge from the lessons the course and tournament have to teach. We will start with BirdieSister Myah Jackson. Myah was in a field of 6 with some very strong competition, featuring some of the Mid-West’s best players in her age group. The conditions were tough and so was the scoring. The girls played from a distance of 4800 yards. After day one Myah found herself down 5 shots to the leader and 2 shots ahead of third place. Myah was not able to overcome the deficit that she put herself in, but did manage to hang on to second place by 4 shots.
Erica Jackson also opened her season with a lot of rust. Her level of focus on day 1 was nowhere near where it should have been. However, with the help of a 4 shot deficit after day one, she regrouped and refocused the second day to pull out a well fought victory. For more info see: http://juniorclassicgolf.net/ .
The Tiger Woods Foundation National Junior Golf Team (TWFNJGT) was originally created, in recognition of Tiger’s work with underserved youth, when the Junior World Golf Championships granted 18 permanent exemptions to the Foundation. “These exemptions create opportunities to enhance the growth of junior golfers through international competition,” Earl Woods said.
April gets our season into swing. We will get off to a slow start and hopefully work our way into success by the end of the year. Here is what we have going on this month:
April 17-18 Plantations Junior Golf Tour – Junior World Qualifier, Red Tail Run Golf Club – Decatur, Il.
April 24-25 Illinois Junior Classic – St. Andrews Golf & Country Club – West Chicago, Il.
The BirdieSisters participated in their third “Jekyll Island Cup” on Sunday and Monday of this week. The goal was to move up the ranks. Unfortunately, even though we attempted to arrive in time for 3 days of outdoor course practice, our delayed flight and terrible rain storms limited practice to one day outside prior to the tournament. While the temps reached the low 50s during the afternoon on tournament days, the practice round day and the mornings and late afternoon temps on tournament days were in the 30s and 40s with winds and some rain on day 2.
Erica Jackson showed everyone that she can really play this game. On day one, her first eight holes served as a warm-up to her 6 straight pars. Then, after a double boggie on 15, the horn blew to halt all play due to night fall (Erica had teed off at 2:15pm due to a frost delay). Erica resumed play at 7:40am the next day on hole number 16. Unfortunately, she had lost her par streak and ended up with 2 boggie’s and a double boggie to finish the first round. At 12:09pm the same day, Erica hit the course again for her second round of 18. She was on fire — a boggie on hole number one, followed by 8 straight pars to finish the front 9 at one over par. However, after a long day of golf, the rain and winds began to surface and Erica began to wear down on the back 9 with a few pars, several boggies and one double boggie. Nevertheless, she managed to drop her score by seven (7) shots. Although Erica played some of her best golf, she only ended up with an 8th place finish. As we mentioned previously, the field was small but tough! In fact, the winner shot one under par.
Myah Jackson had to switch golf courses because the scheduled course experienced rain damage and became unplayable. She competed on a 100 year old golf course that looked every bit of its age. Unfortunately, Myah’s first day was one of her worst in the last few years. She struggled with her chip shots and her putting. However, like Erica, on day 2 Myah dropped 7 shots giving her a 9th place finish. As anticipated, both BirdieSisters got into their groove on day 3. Unfortunately, day 3 was day 2 of the tournament instead of day 3 of practice as we had planned. If their day 3 play is an indicator of their future play — look out!!!
The teams for the ” World Youth Team Challenge” are set! Erica has a phenomenal partner in Ms. Brooke Dillon and she is looking forward to this great opportunity . The tournament will be held in Bolingbrook Illinois at the Golf Club. For all the info and pics see: http://www.ijgc.com/WYTC2010/TeamUSAMidwest.html .
Let us tell you about our newest project, The BirdieSisters Golf Show! The show will air weekly beginning this Friday, January 29th at 11 a.m. EST. Our first few shows are pre-recorded but once we get more comfortable, it will be live.
We are so excited about this opportunity. We’re going to start our show by interviewing our fabulous radio team. You’ll get a chance to hear all of the people behind the scenes who help us do what we do. We’re going to have several other renowned guests, teaching segments, and lots of surprises in store for our listeners. Please be sure to listen in at www.wstrradio.com at 11:00 a.m. EST this Friday so you can hear our first show.
After you hear the show, let us know what you think! Thanks for your support!!
For the second year in a row the BirdieSisters set their sights on a championship at the “Doral – Publix Junior Golf Classic.” And, for the second time they came up a little short. This is by far their most difficult tournament of the year because they loose a lot of ground on their competitors in the winter, not being able to practice outside. They do their best to keep up by working on mats and in golf domes; however, there is no substitute for the golf course.
When we arrived on Tuesday it was 88 degrees. We checked into the beautiful Doral Resort and Spa, changed into shorts and headed straight to the golf course to practice. It took all 9 holes for the BirdieSisters to get into a groove. In fact, it was dark when they finally made it to the 9th hole. They could barely see the ball. The next day turned out to be a better experience. The BirdieSisters played 18 holes and became a lot more comfortable on the course. Thursday was the official practice round and the BirdieSisters each played their 9-hole tournament course. However, Myah wasn’t able to finish her practice round due to rain storms.
The tournament began on Friday. Erica teed off from hole number 10 on the Red Course at 8:00 am. Immediately thereafter the rain came pouring down. Before Erica’s group could finish hole number 10, the siren sounded to suspend play until the rain stopped. After about 30 minutes play resumed, and so did the pouring rain. Nevertheless, the tournament continued. Finally, during the middle of play on the 15th hole, the siren sounded again to suspend play. Myah had begun playing at 9:30am and was on the 2nd hole when the siren sounded. This time, a decision was made to cancel the first day of the tournament and play a one day championship round the next day. We were all drenched, especially Erica who had played 6 holes with no umbrella.
Saturday presented sunshine and much cooler temperatures — high 60s. Erica teed off at 9:00 am and Myah teed off at 10:30 am. By 11:00 am temps were climbing into the mid to upper 70s. Both Erica and Myah had strong starts off the first tee, something they have struggled with in the past. Additionally, both Erica and Myah were successful at driving their balls right down the middle of the fairway throughout the tournament — another area where Erica has struggled in the past. While putting showed improvement over last year, both Erica and Myah struggled with their approach shots. Although their final scores weren’t great, we are pleased with the improvement observed in both their mental and physical game. If the BirdieSisters can maintain this level of play and couple it with more time playing outside, look out! For more information and scores visit: http://www.firstteemiami.org/tournaments/doral/scores2009/
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Midway Arpt., IL